Turkish seeks THAI codeshare

ISTANBUL : Turkish Airlines wants to forge a partnership with Thai Airways International as part of an aggressive growth plan centred on Asia.

Turkey's flag carrier is keen to establish a co-operative service accord, known as codeshare agreement, with the Thai national airline to grow its traffic - especially through Bangkok, which it wants to make its Far East hub.

Turkish Airlines (TK) sees co-operation with THAI as crucial to its Asian bid, which will use most of the 22 long-haul wide-bodied jets the airline is taking on to support its Asian network.

"Those 22 long-haul aircraft, which will start coming over a two-year period starting next October, will be deployed to support our Asian routes," said TK chief executive Temel Kotil.

Discussions on TK's codeshare agreement with THAI have continued for some time but have yet to be concluded due to what industry sources say is an unenthusiastic attitude from THAI.

"Sometimes it [discussions] takes time. We're open-hearted. I don't want to blame them," said Dr Kotil.

THAI executives said TK is eager to set up the codeshare so it can carry more passengers connecting from THAI's network to Istanbul, TK's main hub.

But Dr Kotil said a codeshare agreement would have a win-win effect for both airlines.

"If our codeshare agreement goes well with THAI, we can focus more on Bangkok and utilise our partner's capacity to feed us more [passengers] while we feed them also," he said.

TK has been operating between Istanbul and Bangkok for two decades. The airline plans next month to double the flights on its non-stop Bangkok-Istanbul route to 14 per week.

THAI suspended its service to Turkey some years ago.

Dr Kotil said the codeshare with THAI "will shape our plan to Thailand. We can go more than twice daily. Bangkok is promising for us."

He welcomed any THAI initiative to offer flights linking Bangkok and Istanbul.

"We'd love it if THAI flies here. It does not matter who carries the passengers. What we are after is Istanbul becoming an active hub," he said.

TK already has codeshare agreements with 24 airlines.

Much of TK's aggressive growth plan is geared towards expanding its profile in Asia, but its expansion has been largely restricted by bilateral air traffic rights.

Basically, all big cities in the Far East that are not in the airline's network - including in Vietnam and the Philippines - are on its radar screen, said the chief executive.

The airline currently flies to 12 cities in the Far East from its Istanbul hub, with Jakarta as the latest addition.

TK's 118 international destinations are spread across nearly 70 countries and are served by a fleet of 133 aircraft.

In addition to seeking new routes, another crucial part of TK's Asian strategy is to ramp up frequencies on existing routes, including destinations such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Delhi.

The airline's aggressive expansion plan is driven partly by a substantial increase in its capacity, as it is taking delivery of many high-capacity aircraft over the next two years, but the Turkish Government also aims to turn Istanbul into a major air hub in the region.

Ankara has already signalled a go-ahead for a new international airport project near Ataturk International Airport - which processed 28.5 million passengers last year - which would be able to handle 60 million passengers and be operational in the next five years or so.

But Dr Kotil insisted that the pressure to grow Turkish Airlines comes from the airline's desire to grow.

Turkish Airlines has been one of the world's fastest-growing airlines and has dealt with the global economic crisis that hit the aviation industry fairly well, he said.

Its total passengers have surged by 116% in the last five years - up from 14.13 million in 2005 to 22.53 million last year - and are set to hit 26.77 million this year. Next year, the airline expects to carry nearly 30 million passengers.

Its net profit has soared by 327% in the last five years to top 598 million last year.