A Boeing 777F cargo plane of Turkish Cargo, a brand of Turkish Airlines (THY), is pictured at the Eurasia airshow in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, Turkey April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

ISTANBUL, June 20 (Reuters) – Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS) is considering joint ventures and initial public offerings for its cargo business and regional carrier as it assesses options for growth both internally and through of agreements, said the president of the Turkish national airline. .

The airline also plans to participate in international bond markets, including issuing Eurobonds, to fund future investment and growth, Ahmet Bolat told Reuters.

The company was considering strategies for its subsidiaries Turkish Cargo and regional carrier Anadolujet which serves northern Cyprus, Europe, West Asia and the Middle East.

“Among these, we are evaluating different strategies such as joint ventures and IPOs,” Bolat said, adding that this could include a plan to transform AnadoluJet into a no-frills carrier.

“In addition to our core Turkish Airlines brand, we also plan to renew the AnadoluJet fleet with next-generation narrowbody jets.”

Turkish Airlines announced last month that it had decided to buy six A350-900 passenger planes from Airbus (AIR.PA).

It has received 9 jets since the start of this year, bringing its total fleet to 377, making it ninth in fleet size among global airlines, Bolat said.

The company is looking to expand into the air cargo and logistics sectors, he added.

Bolat said the carrier had recovered from the pandemic and many financial indicators in May were above 2019 levels, but did not elaborate on year-end expectations.

Turkish Airlines’ passenger numbers increased by 8% and the load factor increased by 2.5 points in May compared to the same period in 2019. The company stopped publishing its end-of-year targets in start of the pandemic in 2020, but asked about the earnings outlook, Bolat said the company’s performance will be in line with last year.

The airline posted a profit of $959 million and revenue of $10.7 billion in 2021.

Writing by Ceyda Caglayan and Azra Ceylan Editing by Ece Toksabay and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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