KARACHI – President and the CEO of the Turkish Airlines Dr Temel Kotil has said that the calendar year 2011 would be an impressive year for the airlines industry.
The air industry was faced with crisis in 2008, which improved in 2009. He noted that 2010 was a mediocre year for the industry; however he firmly believed that 2011 would be a prosperous year marked by expected growth in the number of air travelers across the globe.
The CEO expressed these views while talking to newsmen in Karachi. He arrived in Pakistan to explore avenues of expansion and growth of Turkish Airlines in Pakistan.
He said that the official air carrier of Turkey was a dynamic airline which was set to grow even further and will soon be among the top airlines of the world.
Dr Kotil said that this was his third visit to Pakistan and had plans to further elaborate and look to improve relations between Turkish Airline and Pakistani people. He said that Turkish airline was a very strong airline, being the eight largest in the world with a fleet of 152 aircraft flying to 172 destinations. He stated that volume of passengers had tripled in the last six years, while in future another 90 had been ordered. Turkish airlines hoped to operate with a fleet of close to 200 aircraft by phasing out the older planes.
He pointed out that the average age of aircraft operated by Turkish airlines was 6.2 years which compared favorable with the seven plus year of other European airlines. He said that Turkish airlines was flying to 72 destinations in Europe and also had a very strong presence in the African continent flaying to 17 cities. He said that passengers were always satisfied by the service and quality of comfort offered on Turkish airlines planes.
He believed that tourism between the two countries had a lot more potential and should be seriously explored and tapped. The Turkish airline CEO Dr Temel Kotil concluded by saying the personnel of Turkish airlines were striving to make Turk Hava Yollari one of the best airlines in the world.
