Turkish Airlines' market capitalisation surpasses Germany's Lufthansa
Turkish Airlines quickly overcame the negative financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, while Lufthansa's recovery period has been more difficult.
Due to the decline in passenger demand during the pandemic, it was difficult for airline companies to raise funds through capital increase.
The market value of Turkish Airlines reached $10.26 billion (191.3 billion Turkish liras), exceeding that of the German flag carrier Lufthansa whose value is $9.73 billion (€9.28 billion).
The share price of the Turkish flag carrier, which was at 20.02 Turkish liras ($1.54) on December 31, 2021, jumped by 592.3 percent to 138.6 Turkish liras ($7.43) on Monday.
On the other hand, the share price of Lufthansa rose by 25.7 percent from the beginning of this year.
While Turkish Airlines quickly overcame the negative financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased its profits in 2022 thanks to its moves on a global scale, Lufthansa's post-pandemic recovery was not easy.
As of the third quarter of the year, Turkish Airlines' total revenues, $6.1 billion, exceeded its total revenues in the same period of 2019 by 52 percent, while air cargo revenues increased by 110 percent to approximately $880 million over the same period.
The firm's net profit was $1.5 billion in the third quarter.
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Post-pandemic recovery
The pandemic caused a major crisis for the global aviation industry. The Lufthansa Group, which also owns Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels and Austrian Airlines, came to the point of bankruptcy.
The governments of Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, and especially the German government, saved the company from bankruptcy by providing a €9 billion ($10.3 billion)* bailout package in 2020.
Due to the decline in passenger demand during the pandemic, it was difficult for airline companies to raise funds through capital increase.
With passenger demand recovering, Lufthansa Group raised €2.14 billion ($2.5 billion)* in October 2020 to pay back a part of the public rescue package.
On the other hand, Lufthansa Group announced operating profit for the first time in the pandemic crisis in the third quarter of 2021, as flight demand increased following the lifting of global travel restrictions.
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*Exchange rate based on averages from the European Central Bank.
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