Turkish Airlines covers the world more than any other airline
Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil is a man with a vision. Looking ahead to 2020, the year in which Istanbul has lodged a bid to host the Olympic Games, he sees the centres of the airline industry shifting from West to East with cities like Istanbul, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the heart of growth. By this time, he envisages, the airline will be carrying 100 million passengers annually.
CEO Temel Kotil
Speaking to a group of Sri Lankan journalists in Istanbul last week, the affable CEO, a leading academic at the Istanbul Technical University and Head of Research and Engineering at AIT, New York before joining Turkish Airlines a decade ago, was upbeat about his airline’s rapid prowess.
The facts speak for themselves. Turkish Airlines is flying to more countries than any other airline in the world – a staggering 197 countries and 239 destinations. This September that figure will move up another notch as the airline launches another Far East destination with the addition of direct flights from Istanbul to Kathmandu, Nepal. Turkish Airlines is the second biggest in terms of international destinations and ranks the fourth largest in the world in terms of network size.
The airline has picked up some rather prestigious awards to confirm its status and these sit pretty in the boardroom of its Istanbul office, testament to their success. Notable among them is the Skytrax award for the Best Airline in Europe, which Turkish Airlines has managed to garner for the past three years, beating stiff competition from other established airlines.
Part of its ambitious marketing strategy, is its sponsorship of major sporting events- golf and tennis tournaments and premier brands like FC Barcelona. Star footballer Lionel Messi is brand ambassador for Turkish Airlines. There are more sponsorships in the offing but Mr. Kotil is reluctant to divulge details as yet.
There is also less obvious but canny marketing. With Africa very much in their radar, Mr. Kotil gives the example of the Kenyan woman whom the airline spotted wearing a Turkish Airlines baggage tag as a ring. The airline hosted her and her family (husband and five children) in Istanbul and invited her to make a commercial for the African market.
Istanbul’s geographical advantage, its location as a bridge between East and West is something they fully intend making use of. Europe obviously is at present their biggest network with 94 European destinations; 45 flights weekly to London, 30 to Frankfurt, 28 to Paris and 25 to Rome to name a few.
Africa, he stresses, is an important emerging market for Turkish Airlines, using the metaphor of apple trees. “We are planting new apple trees in Africa, in Asia. In Africa and the Middle East we have more cities than other airlines.”
The key to maintaining customer satisfaction is exceeding their expectations, he believes, in terms of lower price and superior service quality.
Innovations such as the ‘Flying Chef’ – the move to have their own in-house trained chefs serving up freshly prepared meals on board their Business Class flights has paid dividends. Turkish DO&Co’s catering for Turkish Airlines was adjudged the best in economy class flights worldwide in 2010.
In 2011, the airline was adjudged second best for economy, business and premium economy class catering holding on to that accolade in 2012 as well.
“We are very ambitious but we are logical, that’s why we get good results.We believe in what we are doing and our belief guides us,”Mr. Kotil says.
As for Sri Lanka, Mr. Kotil is looking forward to the airline launching daily flights to Istanbul later this year. At present Turkish Airlines has five flights a week to Istanbul from Colombo, routed through Male.
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