THY will avoid price competition, CEO says

Turkish Airlines (THY) CEO Temel Kotil said it would be unreasonable for THY to go into a price competition in order to compensate for the decline in the number of tourists visiting Turkey, adding that the company currently is not discussing issuing bonds.

Speaking to Bloomberg News, Kotil said the impact of the decline in the number of tourists visiting Turkey on THY is exaggerated. Stressing that the fall in the number of Russian tourists particularly affects charter flights, Kotil noted this does not affect THY as it is not a player in short-distance tourism destinations. He also noted that the growth in domestic flights and transit flight traffic is strong enough to help THY avoid price competition.

According to Kotil, the share of transit passengers has risen to 60 percent from 50 percent, and THY carries 20 million transit passengers a year. He said the company had managed to compensate for the falling number of domestic passengers by increasing the number of transit passengers, adding that THY's world market share depends on the number of transit passengers carried.

Kotil added that THY would have an easier time tackling the decline than other airline companies, considering the large number of destinations to which THY flies. "THY is an airline company conducting flights to the greatest number of destinations in the world." He suggested that price competition might bring losses for some airline companies and advised them not to get into such an "unreasonable" competition.

Kotil also said THY has already obtained $3 billion of financing for the purchase of airplanes this year and is likely to obtain financing for the next year's purchases through traditional means. He added, "Now, therefore, we are not talking about issuing bonds for financing in 2016 and 2017."