Turkish Airlines is planning to use wide-body aircraft for one of its Istanbul-Doha flights this summer as an initial step to increase its passenger capacity to nearly 20% between the two cities.
"We want to provide better services to our customers, particularly business travellers from Qatar," Turkish Airlines senior vice president for region 1 sales division Ziya Taskent told Gulf Times in Istanbul last week.
By replacing its 180-capacity narrow-body aircraft with a 250-capacity plane, the airline will further provide quality service, he says. One of its Doha flights will continue using a narrow-body aircraft.
The airline is considering upgrading both flights with wide-body aircraft after a year.
“We are always giving more importance to the feedback of passengers,” Taskent said while observing that two-thirds of all Turkish Airlines passengers from Doha use Istanbul as connection point.
About increasing the number of flights to Doha, Taskent said there is enough capacity to meet demands for the two countries and agreement between civil aviation authorities of Qatar and Turkey remains a factor to consider.
Citing that construction of Istanbul’s new airport is underway, he expressed confidence that the new hub will further boost passenger capacity when it becomes operational.
Poised to be the largest airport in the world, Istanbul’s third international airport is designed to accommodate more than 150mn passengers annually. It will have six runways, four terminals and 396 aircraft park positions.
Turkish Airlines also expects delivery of at least 40 new aircraft this year. It has a standing order of 209 aircraft: three Airbus 330 and nine Boeing 777 (wide body); 103 A320s and 91 B737s (narrow body) and three A330-200 (cargo).
About expansion, Taskent noted that they are planning to launch new flights to five regions: five in Africa, six in Europe, six in America, one in the Middle East, and three in the Far East.
While the number of international passengers from Asia Pacific and the Middle East is expected to grow faster compared with other regions, the airline's plans are hampered by some limitations because other countries see such expansion as political rather than a “transportation issue.”
“But there are lots of new destinations on the table which I cannot announce right now,” the official stressed.
Turkish Airlines currently flies to 287 destinations in 113 countries, including 34 destinations in 13 countries in the Middle East, making it the fourth largest network in the world. It aims to increase its fleet from 304 to 450 in 2023.