MALATYA
Turkish Airlines will become the fourth largest airline in the world with 810 airplanes in the next 10 years, says Ahmet Bolat, chairman of the board of directors.
In 2005, when the flag carrier had only 65 airplanes, big European airlines considered Turkish Airlines a “boutique airline,” Bolat said.
“In an environment where other airline companies in the world were growing at an average rate of 3.5 to 4 percent, THY grew by 12 percent in the last 20 years. Today, we have nearly 470 airplanes,” he said, noting that it has become a global brand.
The number of employees, which has grown from 10,000 to 94,000, will increase to 150,000 in the next 10 years, according to Bolat.
In 2023, the company’s revenue amounted to $21 billion while its service exports exceeded $16 billion, he said.
As the flag carrier, Turkish Airlines has been organizing Türkiye Promoting Events across the world, Bolat noted.
“Those events, which were launched in 2022, have been held in 18 cities in America, Asia, Europe and Australia, reaching out to millions of people,” he said.
The promotion campaigns led to an increase in the number of passengers, according to Bolat.
Global air traffic picking up
Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Oct. 3 that total air passenger demand in the world went up by 8.6 percent in August on a yearly basis.
Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, was up 6.5 percent year-on-year in August and load factor was at 86.2 percent, a record high level, the association said.
Over the same period, international demand increased by 10.6 percent and domestic demand rose by 5.6 percent, it added.
