Turkish Airlines has seen cargo revenue fall despite tonnage increasing and profits breaking the $1 billion barrier.

Total cargo revenue fell from $973 million in 2014 to $935 million in 2015, despite cargo and mail carried increasing by 8.7 per cent to 720,440 tonnes. Cargo carried on passenger aircraft fell from $554 million to $540 million and freighter revenue was down from $419 million to $395 million.

Turkish Airlines chairman of the board and the executive committee, Ilker Ayci says: “It has been a challenging year with fierce competition in the global aviation industry, combined with political and economic instabilities and significant currency fluctuations.”

Revenue for the airline fell from $11 billion in 2014 to $10.5 billion in 2015 though profit increased from $845 million to over $1 billion.