Having strengthened its reliable brand identity and position in the market with its global cooperation agreements, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has taken an important step to develop new cooperation deals of international significance, this time concerning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
THY and the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW) inked a declaration of intent for a strategic partnership, according to the statement released by the carrier.
THY Chairman İlker Aycı and BVMW President Mario Ohoven, Albanian President Ilir Meta, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier, Turkey's ambassador to Berlin Ali Kemal Aydın, and prominent names in the business, politics, arts and sports circles attended the signing ceremony held during BVMW's Annual General Assembly in Berlin on Monday.
The declaration of intent suggests that THY will provide commercial logistics solutions and high-quality transportation services to BVMW member companies with its wide flight network and quality service reaching 124 countries in the world, while BVMW, with its 900,000 members, will supply a suitable platform for THY's operations. In addition, German companies are expected to benefit from various advantages that THY's extensive corporate frequent flyer program, "Turkish Airlines Corporate Club" offers.
"The advantages and cooperation that we will provide to BVMW members in different areas on a global scale will expand in the medium and long term," THY Chairman Aycı said, stressing that with this agreement, they aim to increase their market share in the corporate travel segment and to become the most preferred airline in business travel around the world.
Meanwhile, THY took part in the BVMW General Assembly held in 2018 as a sponsor and the keynote speech of the meeting was by THY Chairman Aycı. In addition to the brand visibility of the flag-carrier airline, opportunities for consultation between the companies to improve the economic cooperation between the two countries also emerged during this year's meeting.
Meanwhile, the airline carried 75.2 million passengers last year. The total number of passengers was up 10 percent year-on-year in 2018. It aimed to carry up to 74 million passengers in 2018.
It carried 5.7 million passengers in January this year. The company previously said the total number of passengers carried this year is set to reach 80 million, including 33 million on domestic flights and 47 million on international flights.
Founded in 1933, THY currently flies to over 300 destinations in more than 120 countries, holding the title of the airline that flies to the most countries in the world.