Airlines Are Posting Profits and Still Sounding the Alarm

Two big airlines reported third-quarter results this week with the same plot twist: demand is strong, but fuel is eating the margin. LATAM Airlines Group posted net income of US$441 million, up 16.3 percent, on revenue up 18.4 percent to US$4.57 billion. Yet its adjusted operating margin fell from 18.1 percent to 12.5 percent.

The cause is stated plainly in the results. LATAM says jet fuel prices were 52.1 percent higher than a year earlier, an estimated US$520 million hit. Its raised 2026 guidance, with revenue of US$17.6 to 17.8 billion, assumes jet fuel at US$180 per barrel in the fourth quarter. The airline also reported 390 aircraft in its fleet and a ratings upgrade from BB to BB+ by S&P and Fitch.

Turkish Airlines tells a similar story at larger scale. It carried 28.5 million passengers, up 4.7 percent, with a load factor of 87.1 percent and revenue up 19.3 percent to US$8.3 billion. But profit from main operations fell about 12 percent to US$929 million, and the airline says jet fuel costs are up 118 percent since the start of 2026. Q3 fuel expense was roughly US$2.61 billion.

Turkish also dropped its earlier target of 10 percent passenger-capacity growth for 2026 without naming a replacement. For travelers, airline earnings are not fares, but sustained fuel pressure is the kind of cost that carriers tend to manage through capacity cuts, fewer marginal routes and pricing, so it is worth watching how winter and spring schedules develop.

Sources: Travel PR News (LATAM), Travel PR News (Turkish Airlines)