Turkish Airlines continues to grow
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkish Airlines (THY) has shown "impressive growth" according to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ''THY's net profits have increased by 31 percent (in three years) and reached 106 million USD,'' stated Erdogan. Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim backed up the PM's sentiment saying that THY will have carried 16-5 million passengers in domestic flights alone by end-2005.
THY were adding three new aircraft to the fleet – an A330' jet named Gaziantep – which was celebrated in a ceremony at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Thursday. In attendance at the ceremony were; PM Erdogan, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan and other high-level Turkish dignitaries.
Attendees were carried from Ankara's Esenboga Airport to Istanbul by another new plane, Boeing 737-800, which has just been added to the fleet.
Erdogan stressed that the THY carried 50 percent more passengers in 2005 compared to 2003. To this point in 2005, the THY has carried close to a total number of 14 million passengers in domestic flights, said Erdogan.
Addressing the guests at the ceremony, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim has remarked that the civilian aviation in Turkey has shown incredible growth in the past two years. ''The number of domestic passengers rose by 63 percent. We expect the number of total passengers carried in domestic flights in 2005 to be 16.5 million,'' told Yildirim.
Yildirim noted that the number of airplanes in the Turkish civilian aviation has reached 222. ''The 59 airplanes THY has purchased is not included among the 222 airplanes,'' commented Yildirim.