Turkey's global brand Turkish Airlines (THY) is one of the best Turkish companies competing in international markets. The company's investments in its fleet, onboard flight services, immediate transfers at airports and flights to 289 destinations in 115 countries puts THY on a different plane to its rivals. While the familiarity rate of the company was just 12 percent 12 years ago, it has now risen to 64 percent along with its sponsorship deals with the Batman movie, Euroleague and Superbowl, meaning that 64 people out of 100 count THY as one of the top three airlines in the world.
This familiarity opens up a new field for THY as well. Passengers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East fly to every corner of the world from 289 destinations with THY planes. Implementing a growth model based on transit passengers for the next 12 years, THY increased its number of out-to-out passengers by 21 percent during the first four months of the year with an aim to reach 60 percent by the end of the year. The company's biggest goal from now on is to carry European passengers, and new routes are planned accordingly.
THY's ninth destination in the U.S. and 15th route in the Americas, the Atlanta route has recently been opened, following Panama and Bogota. Around 35,000 tickets were sold in Bogota within 60 days. What is more, according to THY Marketing and Sales Vice General Manager Ahmet Olmuştur, the Slovakia-Kosice route will be opened on June 16, meaning THY will practically be flying to every major destination in Europe. The Vietnam-Hannoi route will be opened on June 27 followed by The Seychelles route on Oct. 31. The company also plans to fly to Bali in 2017. Stating that 2,500 reservations were booked even before any promotions were made, Olmuştur said they were following a strategy to increase the number of out-to-out passengers, and that the Seychelles did not have any other Europe-scheduled airlines. Olmuştur also noted that Turkish Airlines have the biggest flight network in Europe and that 50 to 60 percent of the passengers making up the Seychelles market were European.
Indicating that the Atlanta route had been in development since 2010, Olmuştur continued: "The headquarters of many international companies such as Coca Cola, IBM and EY are located in Atlanta. We have big expectations about this location here regarding cargo transport. We fly to the primary cities of the US, and now therefore pass on to the secondary ones. Our plan is to touch up the bigger picture from now on. Around 54,000 passengers have booked their flights for 355 days. Atlanta will provide a good share of ethnic passengers who want to go to Italy, Germany, Beirut, Tel Aviv and India. This is an important spot to reach ethnic customers, whose number will increase during the summer.
