Airline based in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines, continued to show its dominance as a global airline. In an industry that is very difficult to make money, the airline's operating profit increased nearly three-fold in 2012.
One of airline the fastest growing destinations and add buy aircraft at a rapid pace in the world. In addition, Turkish Airlines also bagged many awards, including most recently the award for "Best Airlines in Europe" from Skytrax, which was announced at the Paris Air Show in June.
In an interview with Business Insider, Chief Executive Officer Turkish Airlines Dr. Temel Kotil said his company excels not only by offering good service, but also have the benefit of a very strategic geographical position.
"Our position is in the middle," he explained, which makes Turkish easily connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Africa with areas such as Europe. This helps increase the number of passengers in Turkey 16.7 percent annually, third place after Indonesia (18.2 per cent) and Thailand (17.7 percent), according to statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Kotil explains, Turkish Airlines has a simple plan to continue to develop the company with a focus on adding destinations. Currently Turkish Airlines has been serving 230 airports in 103 countries. Since May 20, the company also has issued 10 press releases related to the different opening new routes to destinations.
"Of course we will continue to grow. We are very aggressive in opening new destinations, "he said while hinting to open 100 new destinations within the next decade.
Opening of new destinations will be accompanied by the arrival of more aircraft. Turkish Airlines currently has 228 aircraft in its fleet. "It's still not enough," said Kotil.
According to Kotil, the number of aircraft would double by 2020, with a total of 415 aircraft. Turkish Airlines fleet is now mostly in the form of single-aisle aircraft, and the company will consider ordering larger aircraft, more sophisticated, and as fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner or the Airbus A350 XWB.
Kotil acknowledged, current fuel costs are very high. The fuel cost on average accounted for 33 percent of global airline operating costs. However, Kotil said that to increase the current capacity is much more important than buying a more economical aircraft. "No problems whatsoever (aircraft) you have," he said.
Photo by Turkish Airlines