Turkish Airlines to introduce wide body aircraft in Qatar route

By Sachin Kumar

DOHA: Turkish Airlines Turkey’s national carrier is planning to increase seat capacity by around 20% this year between Turkey and Qatar. The carrier will introduce wide body aircraft with more seating capacity compared to the existing narrow body aircraft.

“Initially for the summer one of the flights will be upgraded to wide body. Capacity for narrow body the one which we operate as of now is about 180 seats. The capacity of wide body will be above 250 seats. So we are increasing the capacity by almost 20% between the two countries” Ziya Taskent (pictured) Senior Vice President Sales (Region 1) told The Peninsula.

He added that enhancing the capacity is more reasonable step than increasing the flight frequency. “There is enough capacity for all the demand between the two countries. The next step for Turkish Airlines is enhancing the capacity by using wide body aircraft instead of narrow body aircraft which is the most reasonable step” said Taskent.

Currently the airline files two daily (14 weekly) services of A320 aircraft to Istanbul from Doha and about two-thirds of all Turkish Airlines passengers from Doha use Istanbul as connection point. One of the youngest airline fleets in the world Turkish Airlines now operates 304 aircraft comprising 75 wide body 219 narrow body and 10 cargo aircraft.

Taskent said that construction of Istanbul’s new airport is in progress and it will boost country’s aviation sector once it is operational. Istanbul’s third international airport is designed to accommodate more than 150 million passengers annually and will have six runways four terminals and 396 aircraft park positions.

Turkish Airlines reported a 2015 net profit of $1.69bn up from $845m for the previous year and surpassing a billion dollar level for the first time in its history. The carrier transported 61.2 million passengers on its 453000 flights creating a load factor of 78 percent in 2015.

Turkish Airlines was selected the “Best Airline in Europe” for the fifth time in a row said Taskent. The airlines currently flies to 49 domestic and 235 international destinations a total of 287 destinations in 113 countries including routes inaugurated in 2015 such as San Francisco Miami Maputo Taipei and Manila.

Providing close to 47 thousand jobs together with its subsidiaries Turkish Airlines is considered the biggest exporter of Turkey generating over $7bn of exports with more than 70% of its ticket sales being made abroad.

The Peninsula