Turkish Airlines plans to strengthen its operations to the former Yugoslavia next year in face of increasing competition from rival airlines. The carrier, which has this year shown signs of financial recovery following geopolitical and security uncertainties on its home market, is aiming to boost frequencies rather than introduce new routes. “Currently there are no plans to add new destinations, but maybe in the future. Furthermore, increasing frequencies to points in the former Yugoslavia is being evaluated. The former Yugoslav market is important for Turkish Airlines, making a contribution to the airline’s global network”, the carrier told EX-YU Aviation News. Turkish Airlines has been rapidly expanding its operations in the region and is the only carrier serving all of the capital cities within the former Yugoslavia. It has also successfully outperformed all of EX-YU's national airlines, which have, over the past three years, suspended operations to Istanbul.
The Turkish carrier noted that it has seen its passenger numbers grow on the Croatian market this year and is encouraged by the performance of its Dubrovnik flights, which were launched last year. Over the summer, the airline boosted frequencies to Dubrovnik from seven to nine per week, while Croatia Airlines began codesharing on the route. Turkish said that it continues to handle a significant number of transfer passengers to and from Croatia, primarily to the Far East and the United States. This is despite increased competition from the likes of Emirates and Qatar Airways. Meanwhile, the carrier plans to add an additional two weekly services between Istanbul and Podgorica next year for a total of two daily flights.
Turkish's operations in Serbia are constricted by a stringent bilateral Air Service Agreement between the two nations, however, the carrier's General Manager for Serbia, Mehmet Alagoz, recently said, "We strongly believe in the significance of incoming tourism to Serbia. We invite tour operators to Belgrade and other parts of Serbia, encouraging them to organise group tours and we also support them to sell packages to Serbia". He added, "Turkish Cargo is an important sub-brand of Turkish Airlines. We listen to market demands and find solutions for the increasing needs of the market, as we want to be a stable partner in the countries we operate to. In 2014 Turkish Cargo launched its first scheduled freighter flight to Belgrade, and in 2016 to Niš. The launch of the Niš line is our response to the growing cargo transport demand in this region. Turkish Cargo operates to two destinations in the Balkans, both of which are in Serbia. I believe that many in the business sector will feel the positive effects from the launch of this service and that increased exports will provide a greater chance for Serbian products to access international markets".
Turkish Airlines has recently been linked to several other ventures in the region. The Macedonian government and the Turkish-run Skopje Airport have submitted a proposal for the carrier to launch transatlantic flights from the Macedonian capital, which is currently being evaluated. On the other hand, last year, the Turkish Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cihad Erginay, said Turkish Airlines is interested in launching flights to Mostar, investing in Sarajevo Airport and establishing the country's new national carrier in collaboration with the Bosnian government. However, these are yet to come to fruition. The Albanian government has also recently said it would establish a new national carrier in collaboration with Turkish Airlines.
Comments
Maybe TK will consider bringing back their early afternoon flight that was suspended due to political pressure.
http://www.parlament.gov.rs/upload/archive/files/lat/pdf/zakoni/2016/3668-15%20LAT.pdf
uvođenja saobraćaja, zajednički utvrđuju ukupan kapacitet koji će se obezbeđivati i
frekvencije letova koje će određeni avio-prevozioci svake strane ugovornice obavljati u ugovorenom saobraćaju. Navedeni organi mogu povremeno da razmotre i izmene prethodno utvrđeni ukupan kapacitet i frekvencije u obavljanju saobraćaja."
Hopefully this will change when the new airport opens in Istanbul.
They had some talks with TAV these days about opening IST-OHD route...
Mislim da ljudi ovdje u beskraj pretpostavljaju, nitko ne zna koliko to Turska daje para za Turkish, nema dokumenata koji potvrđuju da se daju pare, nego se samo pretpostavlja jer "nema šanse da netko ima uspješan model i da toliko raste a bez da mu država daje kamaru para". Dokazi? Hajmo dokaze u protivnom je sve to pusto i bezvezno naklapanje.
Air Serbia were slightly cheaper but I flew them already so wanted to try something new :)
Turkey's national flag carrier carried 6.9 percent more passengers in the first nine months of 2017 compared to last year, setting a new record, the airline announced Monday.
Turkish Airlines carried 51.6 million passengers in January-September 2017, the company said in a statement.
Over the same period, the airlines' total passenger load factor, which is an airline industry metric that measures how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity is used, rose by 4.3 points to 79 percent.
The carrier carried 6.7 million passengers in September, up 13 percent compared to the same month last year.
In September, the company's total passenger load factor climbed 5.7 points to 81.5 percent.
The airline said the highest increases last month were seen in its North America and Far East regions, of 10.3 and 6.3 percent, respectively.
Turkish Airlines earned $4.6 billion in total revenues in the first half of 2017, flying to 301 destinations in 120 countries.
Last year, Turkish Airlines carried 62.8 million passengers, up 2.5 percent from 61.2 million passengers in 2015.
As of Monday, Turkish Airlines has a nearly $3.19 billion market value, based on stock exchange market figures.
It was actually my worst experience with some airline.
http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/turkish-airlines/
Tako da TK ne leti u sve gradove exyu, vec samo u sve glavne gradove i Dubrovnik.
If KVO gets opened it is logical first flight to be to IST
- On departure airport I got no boarding pass for both flights, only to IST. After I requested BP to be issued for both flights they told me it would happen at the gate (?!)
- At the gate they told me that I would get BP to AYT in IST (!?). After my insisting to speak with manager they "suddenly" managed to issue BP for second flight.
- they forgot stroller for baby at the gate - simply nobody put it on the plane to IST. Although it was later on delivered to our hotel we had to spend some time without stroller.
- Our luggage was damaged once we finally arrived to AYT
- on the way back the plane from AYT to IST was delayed due to bad weather in IST and we missed connecting flight from IST (it was not TK fault)
- As there were no more flight from IST on that evening we had to spend night at the airport. There was no organized accomodation alhough they saw our family with 2 small children.
- As we had to spend night at the airport we asked at least for our luggage as the diapers for kids were there. After 3 hours of waiting they finally concluded they cannot locate where our luggage was and threw us out of the office where we were waiting. Fortunately, we managed at midnight to find still the place at the airport to buy some diapers.
- In the morning when we finally boarded the plane and arrived to final destination all our luggage was soaked as it was raining all night before (they didn't even bring it to the covered area but left it somewhere out)
- Never again TK!
Lufthansa, KLM and Air France were all too expensive (about 800 euros) for this period but it depends... sometimes you can find pretty good prices from Air France as well.
Someone mentioned here that LYKV can't handle heavier aircrafts, limiting it to turboprops only.
Ideally, with flights to Vienna (OS) and Istanbul, alternating days, LYKV would have a great combination of frequencies and connectivity.
my2cents
https://www.aeroinside.com/incidents/airline/thy
I wonder why they don't have more people flying with them. Oh yes, but they are cheap. Too cheap for my taste. LH or OS anytime.