Turkish Airlines set to expand India operations in 2012
01 Aug 2011
Istanbul: Turkish Airlines is looking ahead to expanding its India operations in 2012 when it expects to double its weekly services to 28 and make Hyderabad the third Indian destination on its network.
The flag carrier currently operates a daily service to Delhi and Mumbai.
According to Turkish Airlines CEO, Temel Kotil, the carrier will extend services to other Indian cities after Hyderabad and will also look to extend code share facility with Air India in a bid to get more Indian passengers to fly to, or through, Turkey to other destinations.
"We are looking at Chennai and Kolkata after Hyderabad. India is a very important market for us and we need to fly to at least five cities there," Kotil said.
With a fleet of 170 aircraft, Turkish Airlines covers 74 European cities through 144 routes. It operates Airbus 330-200 and Airbus 330-300 aircraft for its India operations and says it registers average load factors of 70-75%.
The CEO said the airline aims to make Istanbul, Turkey's capital, the preferred transit point between Asia and Europe, as it takes only three to four hours to fly to any European city from there. He added that free city tours would be offered to passengers having a long stopover in the city.
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