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TK on a mission to woo THAI 
TK on a mission to woo THAI
Turkish Airlines president and CEO,
Temel Kotil, says code-sharing with Thai Airways International is an
important step that the airline must take if it is to develop Bangkok as
its Southeast Asian hub.
He was reiterating statements made,
earlier this year, during a visit to Bangkok, when he said that
negotiating a code-share deal with its Star Alliance partners,
particularly THAI, was a top priority.
In an interview, 6
November, held at his office in Istanbul he told reporters, cooperation
with THAI was part of his long-term plan, which also includes adding 22
long-haul aircraft to its existing long-haul fleet in less than two
years.
B777-300-turkish-airlinesMost of the 22 new wide-body
aircraft will be used for services to Asia. However, he declined to give
more details of where the airline would fly, until board approval has
been secured.
“Yes, a key factor is working with THAI. Bangkok
will be a major hub, but if we are to put more flights into Bangkok then
we will need support from THAI to code-share on services in Asia to
feed our trunk route to Istanbul. We are working on it and we hope to
establish a working relationship with THAI very soon.â
Star
Alliance members need to negotiate individual agreements with each
other, but the alliance views code share mechanisms as a priority to
sell connectivity, particularly to business travellers.
The
airline intends to increase frequency to Bangkok from its present twice
daily services to as many as four flights daily, but that would be based
on having a code-share agreement with THAI.
“We would be happy
if THAI flew its own service to Istanbul, as that would help us achieve
the same goal as Bangkok to become an important aviation hub to connect
Asia, parts of the Middle East to Europe,â he said.
At present,
TK sells round trip fares from Bangkok from Bt24,000 to Bt50,000 in
economy and Bt88,935 to Bt103,000 for business class.
Branding
itself "European", TK hopes to become the airline with the most
extensive cover of European cities.
"We want to fly to all
European cities. It is very ambitious and could take us 20 years or even
50 years, but that is fine. This is a long-term strategy," said Mr
Kotil.
The airline has steadily shifted to a long-haul policy by
adding more destinations to balance an already strong European and
domestic network.
It forecasts 26.77 million passengers, this
year, with 13.93 of them on international flights. That will include
12.83 on domestic flights and around 2.01 million international transit
passengers connecting to other TK services at its Istanbul hub. It hopes
to serve as many as 40 million passengers by 2012.Source: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2009/11/tk-on-a-mission-to-woo-thai/
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