Turkish Airlines to create 7,000 new jobs in 2018, eyes 100 mln passengers: Turkish Airlines chair

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s national airline plans to create almost 7,000 jobs in 2018 and transport 100 million passengers annually once Istanbul’s third airport opens, Turkish Airlines Chair İlker Aycı said on Nov. 24 to state-run Anadolu agency.

“We aim to recruit between 6,500 and 7,000 people in 2018 along with our subsidiaries,” he said.

Aycı also said the company would start flying to new destinations next year, insisting that opening Istanbul’s new airport would increase its capacity.

“Our aim is to carry nearly 69 million passengers this year. When opening Istanbul’s third airport resolves our capacity issues, this figure should hit 100 million passengers in a short space of time,” he said, adding that narrow-body airplanes could reach 60 country capitals from Istanbul.

With the opening of Istanbul’s third airport, the company’s aim is to make Turkish Cargo one of the top five cargo companies in the world by 2023, Aycı said.

He also said new partnerships deals with Turkish Airlines in Istanbul’s new airport were likely to go ahead.

Aycı mentioned Africa, China and India as regions in which the company plans to grow.

“We will keep growing in Africa. We also put a special emphasis on China and India,” he said, adding that the company was working on several ways to enter the closed Chinese market.

Aycı also noted that Turkish Airlines now flew to 51 destinations in Africa and planned to increase this number to 55.

According to Aycı, Turkish Airlines is more valuable than its listing value on the main stock exchange, adding that the company would likely close this year at 25 percent of the EBITDA margin.

The total number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines rose by 7.5 percent between January and October, compared to the same period last year, the airline stated on Nov. 13.

During the January to October period, the company carried 57.8 million passengers, up from 53.8 million passengers in the same period of 2016, according to a company statement to the Public Disclosure Platform.

The increase in the number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines domestic and international lines were 8.3 percent and 6.9 percent respectively.

The load factor also increased by 4.5 percent, up to 79 percent in the mentioned period.

In October, the airline carried 6.2 million passengers, indicating a year-on-year rise of 12.7 percent.

There was an increase of 13 percent in the number of passengers carried in domestic lines and an increase of 12.4 percent in international lines in October.

The total load factor increased by 6.3 percentage points to 81 percent, while the International L/F increased by 6.6 percentage points, according to the statement.