THY is caught in a perfect storm of rapid growth and home market collapse

Turkish Airlines (THY) has reported its biggest loss since the turn of the century in first quarter (Q1) of 2016 as direct traffic to Turkey collapsed. THY posted a loss of 1.24 billion liras ($421 million) for Q1, from a 373 million liras profit for Q1 2015. Shares fell close to ten percent on the news. THY also took a $306 million write-down of foreign currency debt involving mainly yen-denominated bank loans. Turkey has of late been overwhelmed by the Syrian civil war, which has seen bombings by Islamic State and Kurdish militants, significant military tensions with Russia and a