Turkish Airlines.... Europe’s Fastest Growing Airline Company

[merlin]

Turkish Airlines has increased its total number of passengers to 6,353.598 during the first half of the year, a 21.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2004.

The company’s revenue has been realized at 767,512 million new Turkish liras (YTL), a 26.1 percent increase.

THY Deputy General Manager for Trade Halil Tokel said they are the fastest growing airline company in Europe and explained, “If we continue at this pace, THY will have doubled in size in three years.”

THY, also experiencing intense competition at home after private airline companies began scheduled domestic flights, increased its revenue, the number of passengers and occupancy rate with the performance it displayed during the first half of the year.

Yet, increases in fuel costs will bring an additional cost of $150 million to the company along with the $100 million in additional costs from the increase in salaries following the signing of a contract with Hava-Is Syndicate.

THY has grown by 26.11 percent by activating its idle capacity according to Tokel as he informed that Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, route will begin to operate by the end of the year.

The occupancy rate of Oslo was 80 percent, while it was around 70 percent on the Casablanca and Lisbon routes.

Foreign centers, in which THY has the highest occupancy rates are as follows: London, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Pairs, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Jeddah, Stuttgart and New York.

In the domestic lines, there is a huge demand for Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Bodrum and Trabzon flights.

Tokel acknowledged the biggest challenge was experienced due to the price increase in fuel prices from $40 to over $60 that prevented the company from achieving its highest level of profit in its history.