The pandemic has not made transatlantic travel easy. Since 2019, few airlines have increased service across the pond, and none have increased as much as Turkish Airlines.

Boosting monthly capacity by over 85% in August 2023 compared to August 2019, Turkish Airlines is making its move. Acquiring aircraft and growing through the pandemic, the airline made a bet that international passengers would return, and Turkish would be the airline to move them.

Seat share has also nearly doubled for the airline, rising from 2.4% of transatlantic available seat miles in 2019 to 4.6% today. While still a small portion of the overall market, Turkish now rests solidly in ninth place, rivaling Iberia and Air Canada.

Few cities have been added to the network since 2019, notably Vancouver, Seattle, and Dallas/Ft. Worth. Yet, frequencies have been boosed on almost all flights, particularly those into North America.

Finding a Turkish Airlines flight that operates less than daily is much more difficult today than in 2019. The distinction matters as connection options through IST into Asia and Africa have increased, putting the airline in direct competition with the likes of Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad.

The world is buying fewer smartphones

What if we told you peak smartphone was 2017? Well, it was.

According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, the largest number of cell phones shipped during a year was 1.6 billion which happened six years ago.

The trend since 2017 has been downward, save for the 2021 year which could be considered delayed buying for 2020. Whatever the blips, the trend is down. Why?

Several theories exist, including a cooling global economy, although this trend started while economies were hot. However, our take is that the rapid growth market for smartphones has turned into a replacement market. The number of people throughout the world without a cell phone is as small as it has been.

Cell phones are lasting longer, as well, especially since Apple’s scheme of planned obsolescence was uncovered in… wait for it… 2017. Coined “Batterygate” by the press, Apple ultimately settled for $500 million for throttling older phones in order to incentivize customers to buy new iPhones. The effect on consumer trust? iPhone market share has only risen since into the slowing market.

Fool me once…

It’s coming… again.

We are already receiving nominations for the 2024 Cranky Network Awards. Airline network planning departments worldwide are making travel plans to the Bay Area in hopes of landing their very own Cranky.

The self-proclaimed greatest collection of airline network planning leaders in the world will once again be in one place watching two suave cohosts hand out awards for the best network planning moves of the year.

One night only. February 22, 2024.

You should do a chart on…

If you could choose one topic you’d like us to dive deeper into, what would it be?

We like to create valuable charts. But, it’s not easy coming up with new ideas amid the endless hours delivering data-driven edge to our customers. In our quest to provide a valuable weekly newsletter we can keep guessing what you find most valuable, or you could just tell us.

If you have an idea for data visualization, reply to this email and let us know what analysis you’d find most valuable. We’d love to hear from you and will happily name-drop.

If you were forwarded this email, score!

As valuable as it is, don't worry; it's entirely free. If you would like to receive analyses like this regularly, subscribe below.

Then...

You can pay it forward by sending it to your colleagues. They gain valuable insights, and you get credit for finding new ideas!

Win-win!

Subscribe here