Turkish Airlines rules out EX-YU acquisitions

Turkish to avoid investment in EX-YU airlines

Turkish Airlines has ruled out any interest in acquiring stakes in carriers in the former Yugoslavia following its experience with B&H Airlines several years ago. The announcement comes at a time when the remaining national airlines in the former Yugoslavia, those that are still fully state owned, look for a partner, including Adria Airways, B&H Airlines, Croatia Airlines and Montenegro Airlines. Mehmet Baspinar, Turkish Airlines’ Vice President for Marketing and Sales in Eastern Europe and the Balkans says that strict European Union laws and regulations, which are enforced across the region, forbid the Turkish carrier from becoming a majority shareholder. As a result, it cannot effectively enforce its strategy, as was the case at B&H Airlines.

Mr. Baspinar says, “We want to become the largest airline in the region and a major player in the world. More and more the world today tends to lean towards the East, as was the case in the past. Therefore, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, including, Ukraine, as well as the Caucasus and Turkey are very important to the strategy of our company development”. However, at the same time, the Turkish carrier, which has previously been rumoured as a potential strategic partner for Croatia Airlines and the former Jat Airways, is unwilling to invest in other airlines and airports in the region. Furthermore, the Vice President for Marketing and Sales ruled out a possible acquisition of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, which is in the process of being privatised. “We do not own any airports. However, it is possible that another Turkish company could be interested”. Yesterday, the Slovenian state investment fund SOD, announced it will likely call for the submission of binding bids for a 75.5% stake in Ljubljana Airport in July.

A former manager at Croatia Airlines, who wished to remain anonymous, is not surprised by the carrier’s decision. “Turkish Airlines has a grand plan to become the largest airline in the world by network size by 2038, on the centenary of the death of the father of the Turks Kemal Ataturk. However, Turkish Airlines does not base its growth on equity purchases, rather on organic growth”. Turkish Airlines handed back its 49% stake in B&H Airlines to the Federation government in 2012 for free, citing problems with the Federal administration.

Turkish Airlines has been rapidly expanding its operations across the former Yugoslavia in recent years. The airline is currently the dominant carrier in Sarajevo, operating flights from both Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports in Istanbul to the Bosnian capital. Earlier this year, the airline introduced a second daily flight to Zagreb, taking over slots once used by Croatia Airlines on the route prior to its suspension. Furthermore, the Turkish carrier has a strong presence in Pristina where it handled 136.632 passengers in 2013 and is the most popular flag carrier operating in and out of Skopje. In addition, Turkish Airlines has seen a big jump in passenger numbers to Ljubljana so far this year. "We are studying the possibility of gradually increasing the frequency", Mr. Baspinar said. “Flights will initially increase from seven to ten, and later to twelve per week”, he concludes.

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Aviolet

EX-YU Aviation News will bring you news on the launch of a new charter brand in the region, Aviolet, tomorrow at 09.00 CEST. Until then, you can view exclusive photos HERE.

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Comments

  1. Anonymous09:07

    Aviolet... I think we, on this blog, could come up with a better name than that... It sounds too much "ruski" and old, like some wanna be company from the middle of Siberia and with aircraft maintenance equal to zero.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:25

    Nothing to dio with this item but WHY ARE JU FLIGHTS TO AND FROM STOCKHOLM LATE MOST OF THE TIME. LAST NIGHT AFTER 0100 .NO EXPLANATION FROM FLIGHT DECK.
    AND CABIN CREW TRAINING NEEDS SHARPENING UP. THIRD FLIGHT IN A ROW THAT THE SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT HAD TO BE STOPPED SO THE CABIN CREW COULD rush down the aislen to ARM SLIDES AND CROSS CHECK.
    12 times with air serbia this year, was a big fan, now disappointed each time.
    Pity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:35

      Razlog je sto na toj liniji vecinom leti A6 avion sa etihadovim kokpitom i nasim kabinskim osobljem. Problemi u usaglasavanju procedura, cekanje aviona sa prethodne linije.... Ima tu jos par razloga. Od 1. Juna bi trebalo biti bolje kada jedan od A6 aviona predje na JU reg.

      Delete
    2. You shouldn't discusse about things you don't know anything about! You don't know cabin crew procedure of arming the slide and whene is comande is given! They are not forget about arming the door, they need to wait for thr push back, and some times that can take more than few minutes,no need not to start demo breafing.
      Cablin crew are very profesional and in compare of the outher,they are polite and guests friendly.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:27

    TK has great losses just like Ex Yu flag carriers, why should they buy more failure. Almost 250 million EUR as of the last year and now its rising...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are many companies which make losses in order to expand.
      After that, they make huge profit.

      Best example is Germany´s cable TV provider Sky Germany which made about 1 Billion € losses while expanding. After that, the company generates an profit of about 400 million € every year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:41

      It makes no sense to compare cable providers with airlines. Different industries, and more important, different margins. Basic philosophy works the same alright, but the catch is not to go too deep into losses, otherwise you would never turn the ship around. The "best" part is, no matter what you do and which strategy you choose, you never know if next year you will be destroyed by someone who can burn more cash than you.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:30

    Posle dužeg vremena moram da ti priznam Purger da si više nego objektivno preneo iskustva; moja su vrlo slična, posebno jer sam leteo njima više puta od tebe! Ne slažem se oko par sitnica, no to nije vredno ni pominjanja ni rasprave.

    Po prirodi sam od početka skeptik kad je Air Serbia u pitanju, što ste možda i primetili jer mnogo ne komentarišem u poslednje vreme, pa mi ni očekivanja u startu nisu bila velika, stoga nije ni bilo razočaranja... Mnogo stvari je tu odrađeno na brzinu... Neki servisi su od početka jednostavno morali da postoje... Naravno, usluga je NEUPOREDIVO bolja nego kod Jat-a i realno svakim danima je sve bolja ali je još jaaako daleko od željene (u kom pravcu će se dalje kretati - videćemo)... Mišljenja sam da su zapravo najbolji u biznis klasi i da tu nude zaista osetno više nego neposredna konkurencija. Ekonomska apsolutno nije ništa posebno kad se porede sa konkurencijom, više/manje - prosek! Do duše jedino je hrana osetno bolja na linijama dužim od regionalnih (kakva je ova za OTP) gde je ista stvarno katastrofa (moje iskustvo sa hranom na letu za SKP je slično, buđavi sendviči koje u odlasku probaš a u povratku ni ne uzimaš...; sa druge strane za AMS, SVO i CDG hrana je bila sasvim OK, čak bih rekao i ukusna)! I naravno mlado letačko osoblje, gde možda najviše odskaču i kod kojih se oseća ogroman entuzijazam. Tu su me najviše pozitivno iznenadili!!

    P.S.
    Kad ste pomenuli kulturu putnika u odnosu na cenu karte, pade mi nešto na pamet, moram da primetim da low cost kompanje imaju neuporedivo kulturniju publiku negoli ove mainstream! EasyJet posebno... Bar iz mog ličnog iskustva...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. zoran16:50

      Voleo bih da odgovorite na sledeće :

      Šta je to što je željena usluga i uporedite sa sličnim kompanijama ovde u Evropi? Imam grozna iskustva sa Lufthansom, Alitaljom, Erfransom, ali zato dobra sa Tap-om, Svisom, Aeroflotom. Lufthasine i Ostrijanove letilice (Cityliner) u regionalnom saobraćaju su neudobne, usluga je za klasu gora nego u Er Srbiji, zbog njih sam tri puta propuštao interkontinentalne letove i uspeo da dobijem kompenzaciju samo jednom jer su puni sebe a nas smatraju gradjanima drugog reda. Nema onlajn čekina. Ok biće ga. Redovi za čeking su dugački. Pre mesec dana sam u Lisabonu čekao u redu 1 sat jer su mi rekli da moja karta (TAP+ER Srbija) ne može biti čekirana onlajn. U Bankoku sam 3 sata prolazio kroz red na pasoškoj kontroli. U Oslu je sa onlajn čekinom prolazak do gejta najmanje 50 minuta.

      Skoro sam leteo i iz Milana i iz Brisela. Jedan Boing i jedan A319. Bez ikakvih problema osim 30 minuta zaostatka na letu iz Milana zbog gužve na taxiway. Juče čitam Purgera i ne mogu da verujem. Čak i da je tako bilo kao što je napisao, vidim da je uživao u tome. Ja inače ne smatram da avio kompanije treba da budu ponos bilo koga već da prevoze putnike jeftino, sigurno i na vreme. Meni je i JAT bio OK.
      Prtljag: Lisabon poslednja dva leta, Lufthansa 3 puta u posednjih 5 godina u Minhenu jedan let direktan i dva transferna. O Rimu ne treba trošiti reči ako si u transferu jer ti je šansa 50%.

      Gospodo lako je pljuvati a vrlo teško dati korisan savet.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:21

      Bogami jako si nesreće imao. Bolje da ne letiš više Lufthansom očito te neće. Vidiš ja odradio više od 50 letova sa LH i nikada kasnio, uvijek zadovoljan. Nisu med i mlijeko ali reči da su koma je budalaština. I u Singapore su se pobrinuli za mene kao LH miles and more preko Star Alliance. Ovo što pišeš ja doživio nikada nisam. No eto očito si ti imao veliku nesreću ako ti je i Jatova usluga bila bolja od toga.

      I upravo radi toga tih moilijun i pola putnika leti Lufhansom dok čak 103 miliona putnika leti Air Serbiom. Oh, čekaj obrnuto je!

      I reči da je CityLine Embraer 190 bolja opcija od Air Serbijinog pandana ATR 72 koji je regionalni avion stvarno svaka čast.

      P.S.
      Kompanija se ne zove Cityliner nego CityLine. Toliko o tvom iskustvu u letu sa njima.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous01:18

      "I u Singapore su se pobrinuli za mene kao LH miles and more preko Star Alliance."

      Ovde svako uzima sebi za pravo da druge uči pameti...

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:22

    Etihad - Nacionalni zračni prijevoznik Etihad iz Abu Dhabija je dobio po svojoj međunarodnu ekspanziju očito veliki zajam od vladajuće obitelji. Tri milijarde dolara, koji su odobravani bez kamata prije nekoliko godina, ne moraju biti otplaćeni prije 2017.

    (FAZ str.19) (Izvor: Finanznachrichten.de)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      I to a i cena goriva koju placaju. Njima je break even load factor verovatno ispod 50% sa tim uslovima poslovanja.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:31

      Mozemo samo da im zavidimo, a i da im .... pod prozor.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous10:41

    Aviolet sounds retarded IMHO.

    It's like lozac vatre. If it is Avio, of course it is Let. Only good thing is that is easy to pronounce for most of the clients in the world.

    And WHEN will JU return to IST?? Is JU suffering major loss there? Maybe Nemjee could tell us about the LF. Letting Turks have all should stop.

    I hope JU would return to IST at least after the summer season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:44

      Hope again.

      TUP SE S ROGATIM NE MOŽE BOSTI!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:07

      suffering major loss at SAW, sorry*

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:16

      I took a look at wiki and saw that JU is one of the few legacy carriers that flies solely to SAW but not to IST. Plus I assume it is one of the few companies that flies with ATR to one of the Istanbuls airports.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:30

      JU odavno ne leti atr-om do istanbula, ne siri dezinformacije.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:10

      Air Serbia to Istanbul flying with B737 and A319, no ATR72!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:55

      SAW is not an appropriate airport for legacy carriers.
      1. its service is oriented towards Turkish passengers on both domestic and international flights. As a foreign passenger you may feel like lost in a distant part of the world.
      2. its way too far from the city
      3. major traffic jams on the asian side of Istanbul happen in the afternoon, and its the time of JU's current SAW slot (14:30h to 16:30h). Time one needs from/to the airport to Taksim square is about two hours using direct Havatas bus service.
      3. Ataturk airport is almost as double closer to the European side city center and is connected with metro.
      4. Ataturk offers better connections, it has flights to some 150 countries on all continents, while SAW has some 40 international destinations, all in short haul range.

      Delete
  7. This move by Turkish Airlines makes absolute sense, especially since they have decided to pursue rapid and aggressive expansion in SAW.
    The main problem TK is faced with is that they have built their business at Ataturk airport which has no room for future expansion. Yes, the Turkish military has left the premises which has enabled the management of the airport to add additional parking spots but that is a far cry from what's really needed: an additional runway and more terminal space. Anyone who has transited at the airport knows what a mess it really is. I remember back in 2009 when I was there for the first time, it had already become quite problematic to move around or find an empty spot where one can sit.

    This situation at Istanbul Ataturk will be a huge problem for the carrier because:

    1. The Turkish government has no money, or political will, to build their mega airport north of the city- which would turn out to be an environmental disaster for the whole Istanbul area. There was even a plan, at one point, to do what the Japanese did and to build an artificial island in the Black Sea where the airport would be located. This proved to be too expensive hence why they have decided to go with the other plan.

    2. Persian Gulf carriers have managed to work magic with their own terminals. We have just witnessed the opening of the new Doha airport as well as the plans for the new Abu Dhabi airport. There is no point to speak of Dubai since they have been the aviation pioneers as far as this business model goes. Another possible threat for Turkish Airlines is Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) which has recently joined Sky Team and which has introduced a new corporate identity so as to make it more friendly to the international traveller. In addition to that, they have extremely competitive fares for transit passengers- naturally, they are one of the few airlines which does not have to worry about its fuel bill.

    Besides introducing new flights from SAW, Turkish Airlines has also opted for larger aircraft for its fleet. In the future, the short to medium-haul flights will be solely operated by the B737-800 and the A321. Of course, this will not solve the problem but it will merely make it slightly more bearable.

    To make a bad situation even worse, Sabiha airport has limited room for expansion. Sure, there is one part of land where they could build an additional terminal (as they are planning to anyway) but after that, that's it.

    The bottom line is that, in the future, Istanbul will have two major airports where both will be suffering from major congestion. The government should start looking for a swift solution (which at this point can only be in the form of a super-mega-third-airport in the middle of nowhere) otherwise by 2038 they will not have the biggest airline in the world, but the biggest aviation mess in the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nikola13:42

      s obzirom da mi je dosta engleskog za danas, reći ću na srpskom. IST i SAW nemaju mesta za dalje širenje, tako da Turska mora da gradi nov aerodrom u Istanbulu ako hoće da se TK dalje širi i razvija

      Delete
    2. Верујем да и сама Турска то зна али је проблем што нема где. По мени, турсkа држава треба да одвоји буџет и да купи простор око садањег аердрома где би се инфраструктура проширила. Ситуација је постала крајње алармантна, посебно што нови ваздухоплови стално пристижу!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:32

      Nemjee stop talking crap, there is no issue of runways at IST (besides their lenghts) but only of the terminal. It can harm your reputation trying to show yourself smarter than you really are.

      Delete
    4. Зато ти као анонимус дефинитивно држиш до своје репутације. Анонимуса има милион, а Немјее је само један.

      Delete
    5. Hmm... funny you say that there are no issues with the runway, obviously you have never witnessed or experienced a rush-hour at IST... or unfavourable winds which are rather common there. But I guess that's all crap anyway...

      Delete

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