Friday, December 16, 2011

Turkish Airlines aims to carry 38 million passengers next year

Turkish Airlines (THY) CEO Temel Kotil has said THY will target 38 million passengers and $7.8 billion in revenue for 2012, with the expectation of 17 percent growth in passenger numbers and 20 percent growth in terms of revenue.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Thursday, Kotil said THY is expected to conclude 2011 close to predicted figures, which were 33 million passengers and $7 billion in revenue.

Kotil says the number of trips in Europe went down in accordance with the decline in purchasing power. He said travelers have started to turn to cheaper airlines, which make business conditions for some airlines in Europe even more difficult. The CEO explained that the competition is getting harder for those airlines that “go home and sleep after the workday is done,” adding that “dynamic airlines like THY attracted extra passengers because they always strive to do more.”

Kotil noted the ongoing flight cuts in Europe and said, “We expect the number of flights operated by European airlines will continue to decrease in 2012 and this will be beneficial for THY as more passengers prefer to fly with us since we have a great network of flights to locations all around world.”

“As THY begins operating flights to more locations and offering tickets that are 30-40 percent cheaper than those of competitors, it attracts more travelers,” Kotil said. He said that THY plans to expand its flight locations to many new places. For example, the number of flights to the Somali capital of Mogadishu is planned to increase from one to two flights per day starting next month. He also said that THY plans to increase the number of flights to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa from one to two flights per day at the start of summer.

Kotil also stressed that the Middle East has been a region where THY has generated a lot of revenue since 2003, but explains that the Arabs are not visiting Turkey in larger numbers. Rather, the network of flights provided by THY carries passengers from countries such as the US, Canada, Brazil and Germany to the Middle East. He said THY plans to increase the number of transit passengers to 40 percent in 2012 up from 38 percent in 2010.

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