Already a highly successful airline ranked among the top 10 globally in terms of capacity and performance, Turkish Airlines is now on the hunt for more routes as it continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and offer more travel destinations to it’s ever growing following of travel hungry passengers.
Serving around 28 million passengers in 2020, around 40% of it’s total passengers pre covid-19, it’s aim for 2021 is to reach between 50-60%, and then back up to normal levels of between 90-100% in 2022. The New Airport at Istanbul which officially opened 2 years ago will be central to helping the airline reach those targets.
Since opening the Airport has welcomed 10 new airlines which have bought over 300 new connections and there’s still more to come, with a new route to Australia currently being discussed. Kadri Samsunlu who is the CEO of Istanbul Airport said ‘such a connection would unleash huge potential giving passengers access to more than 40 Turkish Destinations as well as being able to use the route as a gateway to more than 120 European Airports’. He went on to add that further expansion is also expected in Asia & Africa, as they want to increase passenger numbers from these locations, as it currently only stands at around 5%.
Turkish Airlines also has a number of subsidiary’s, one of which is AnadoluJet who recently announced a new route from Birmingham to both Antalya & Dalaman which will start on July 19th of this year, just in time for the Summer holidays. Another new route has also been established with Fly Dubai who will be launching flights to Trabzon and Bodrum.
When it comes to cargo, Turkish Airlines also excel in this sector too, ranking in 6th place compared to their international counterparts. Growing it’s market share 4.8% in the first quarter of 2021 and playing a huge role in delivering key equipment and supplies during covid.
