Turkish Airlines Fast Growing Star of Skies

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Turkish Airlines: Fast Growing Star of Skies
Article in Asian Case Research Journal · June 2014

DOI: 10.1142/S0218927514500023
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ASIAN CASE RESEARCH JOURNAL, VOL. 18, issue 1, 35–59 (2014)
acrj
Turkish Airlines:
This case was prepared by
Mert Günerergin (İzmir Fast Growing Star of Skies
University of Economics,
Turkey), Associate Professor
Asian Case Res. J. 2014.18:35-59. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Gonca Günay (Bilgi Uni- “I’m so proud to be chosen as a global brand ambassador for Turkish
versity, Turkey), Feride
Deniz Zaptçıoğlu Çelikdemir Airlines. They have been providing travelers with excellent service for 77
(Yaşar University, Turkey), years, and I’m glad that U.S. travelers, including my fellow Angelenos,
by mr Mert Günerergin on 10/22/14. For personal use only.
and Muhittin Sağnak (İzmir

University of Economics, are able to experience Turkish Airlines first-hand. Turkey is a country
Turkey), as a basis for class rich in natural beauty and thousands of years of cultural history, and I’m
discussion rather than to illus-
trate effective or ineffective
proud to partner with Turkish Airlines to bring that majesty to people
handling of an administration around the world.”
or business situation.
— Kobe Bryant (Turkish Airlines Commercial, 2010)
Please send all correspon-
dence to Associate Pro-
fessor Gonca Günay, İzmir Kobe Bryant is really excited nowadays because he has been
University of Economics,
Sakarya Cad. No: 156 selected as the global brand ambassador of Turkish Airlines
Balcova/Izmir, Turkey. E-mail: which has been operating and rendering a high quality
gonca.gunay@ieu.edu.tr
service for 77 years, making you “feel like a star”. At the time
of its first international flight to Athens in 1947, no one could
predict the extent of its flight network in 2011. Over 77 years,
they managed to achieve rapid growth, which now enables
them to plan their first direct flight to “Los Angeles” on the
other side of the world.
1. Company Background
Turkish Airlines was founded in 1933 as Turkey’s

first flight carrier under the name “STATE AIRLINES
ADMINISTRATION”, as a department of the Ministry of
Defense. In 1956, it was reorganized and operated under
special legislation which led it to be renamed Türk Hava
Yolları A.O. (Turkish Airlines Co.). Over the years, it has
continuously expanded its fleet; in 2003, when the airline
© 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. DOI: 10.1142/S0218927514500023
S0218927514500023.indd 35 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

36 ACRJ
operated 64 planes, a decision was taken to acquire 63

new planes, bringing the total over 100. Since then, Turkish
Airlines added new flight destinations and aircrafts to
enhance its value.
On 10 November 2004 Turkish Airlines established
its own flight academy by 28th Turkish Airlines Board’s
order. Turkish Airlines Flight Academy which was based
at İstanbul, started training with 16 cadets on 1 May 2006.
Between the years 2004–2006, the number of pilots is
increased from 600 to 1200, and the number of cabin crew
from 1700 to 2600; representing a rapid increase in terms of
human resources.
In addition to Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines started

operating from Sabiha Gökçen Airport, and expanded the
operations to Ankara Esenboğa in 2006. The aim of estab-

lishing access to all points reachable from Turkey, flight
network was increased over 100 points abroad by the estab-
lishment of 24 new flight destinations in 2006.1
Turkish Airlines decided to join Star Alliance on 4
August 2006. More than 3,000 customers per month reach
Turkish Airlines’ website via the Star Alliance website.
Turkish Airlines had been nominated “The Best Airline” in
its region and received the Aircraft Finance Journal’s “2008
European Deal of the Year” award for financing of aircraft.
The “Operational Excellence” award was given to Turkish
Airlines from Airbus Co. It also won the Sky Trax Award for
the “Best Airline in Southern Europe”.
At the same time, it sponsored to Euroleague 20102 as
well as Manchester United3 and Barcelona football4 teams. In
2010 Turkish Airlines worked with global famous names such
as Kevin Costner5, Kobe Bryant6 and Caroline Wozniacki7 in
its commercials.
Turkish Airlines is known for its impeccable service,
flight safety and connectivity worldwide. With its global
headquarters in Istanbul, it is a gateway between east and
west at a location that allowed visitors an unrivaled glimpse
into world history, the chance to experience one of Eurasia’s
most cosmopolitan destinations and is a hub for travel to
other cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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turkish airlines: fast growing star of skies 37
2. Mission and Vision
Since mission and vision are crucial for corporations to deter-

mine their strategies; Turkish Airlines also give considerable
importance to commonly shared values and vision. They
believed that the corporate vision and values shared with its
employees played a major role in overcoming the global eco-
nomic crisis. As their main aim is focusing on corporate level
growth, they determined their mission and vision as follows:
2.1. Mission
“To become the preferred leading European air carrier with

a global network of coverage thanks to its strict compliance

with flight safety, reliability, product line, service quality and
competitiveness, whilst maintaining its identity as the flag
carrier of the Republic of Turkey in the civil air transportation
industry”.8
2.2. Vision
To become an air carrier with;

• a continued growth trend over industry average
• zero major accidents/crashes
• most envied service levels worldwide
• unit costs equating with low cost carriers
• sales and distribution costs below industry averages
• a personnel constantly developing their qualifications with
the awareness of the close relationship between the benefits
for the company and the added value that they contribute
• an entrepreneurship that creates business opportunities for
fellow members in the Star Alliance and takes advantage of
the business potential provided by them
• a staff well adapted to modern governance principles by
observing the best interests of not only shareholders but
also stakeholders9
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38 ACRJ
3. Corporate Growth Strategies
“Turkish Airlines continued to progress successfully. Building its strat-

egies based on long-term goals and visions — rather than short-term
gains — our company turned the crisis atmosphere into an opportunity,
becoming the fastest growing airline...”
— Hamdi Topçu, Chairman of the Board (2009)
Chairman of the board of Turkish airlines Mr. Topçu has

acknowledged how proud they are that they had been able to
convert the crisis in the airline industry into an opportunity.
He emphasized the importance of their growth strategies and
focusing on vision.
As the effects of the financial crisis on the airline
industry increased in recent years, traffic volumes decreased

around the world and low-cost airline companies gained
ground up by lowering prices and attracting price-sensi-
tive customers. In an effort to lower operational costs, most
firms tried to reduce their air travel expenses and increased
their use of alternative routes. Unfortunately the Association
of European Airlines’ number of passengers fell by 5.8%. On
the other hand, Turkish Airlines was a fast growing airline
company, with growth rate of 11.1%, carrying 25.1 million
passengers. Operating a fleet of 132 aircrafts, Turkish Airlines
was able to sustain its success by its network.10
In 2009, while the world’s leading airline compa-
nies decreased their capacity due to global economic crisis,
Turkish Airlines managed to grow and increase their capital.
Operating profit increased by 26% to $486 million, and sales
revenues grew by 17.5%, reaching $4.7 billion. According to
the fleet expansion plan, 105 new aircraft had been ordered.
In addition to this, the number of aircraft grew 4%, from 127
to 132. International routes accounted for 79% and domestic
routes for 21% of revenues from scheduled services. More-
over, cargo transport increased 20% to 238,000 tons.10 13 new
destinations have been added to the Turkish Airlines flight
network, bringing the total to 156, including 37 domestic and
119 international destinations.
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3.1. Domestic Growth
Turkish Airlines continued to increase the number of

its domestic destinations and flight frequencies. In 2009,
increase in the number of domestic passengers was 5.7%. Of
all Turkish domestic customers, 46.6% chose Turkish Air-
lines to 37 destinations throughout the country. In addition
to expanding its domestic flight operations, Turkish Airlines
established the Anadolu Jet brand.11
Anadolu Jet was originally established to operate
domestic flights. Its flight operations were based out of
Ankara to 25 destinations every day of the week. Through
its affordable product policy and convenient flight sched-

ules, Anadolu Jet offered passengers an economic and com-
fortable means of travel, featuring a complimentary in-flight

meal service. Anadolu Jet carried approximately 2.8 million
passengers on its domestic flights in its first year. Its inter-
national flights also began in June, now Anadolu Jet joined
the global competitive marketplace. Other than rendering
services, Anadolu Jet support social activities by being trans-
portation sponsor of various concerts and arts organizations
in Anatolia. It expanded its sponsorship of the “Anadolu Jet
in Support of Anatolian Teams” campaign, which supports
Anatolian athletic teams, and also participated in national
and international fairs and other similar events in cooperation
with various agencies, tour operators, tourism companies,
and city culture and tourism offices, creating opportunities to
forge face-to-face relationships with its passengers.12
For 2009–2010 winter schedules, flights were scheduled
for each day of the week from İstanbul to Diyarbakır, Elazığ,
Erzincan, Erzurum, Konya, Trabzon and Van, and in the
summer season to Bodrum and Dalaman. In 2009, Anadolu
Jet’s flight network comprised flights from Ankara to
Adana, Adıyaman, Antalya, Batman, Çorlu, Diyarbakır,
Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul Sabiha
Gökçen, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kars, Kıbrıs, Malatya,
Mardin, Muş, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon, Van and in the
summer schedule, to Bodrum and Dalaman.11
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3.2. International Flights
In 2009, the number of international passengers flying with

Turkish Airlines rose by 16.3%. Transporting 13.4 million pas-
sengers to 119 destinations in 5 continents, Turkish Airlines
kept growing even during the 2009 economic crisis. Interna-
tional passengers accounted for 53.4% of the total passengers
carried by Turkish Airlines.
Passenger traffic in the Middle East grew faster than
any other region. Since routes connected the Middle East to
the Far East, Europe and Africa, the number of international
passengers increased by 43%. Compared to the previous years,
the capacity of the region grew by 35.3% and the number

of passengers rose 26.3%. By adding Meshed as Turkish
Airlines’ third destination in Iran, the number of destinations

in the Middle East increased to 19.11
Since the Far East is another region which had high
growth rates, Turkish Airlines had increased its passenger
capacity by 28.3% to destinations in this region including
Bombay, Delhi and Hong Kong. With the addition to the
network of Jakarta, which is a center for faith tourism and
high commercial purposes, the total number of destinations to
Far East rose to 18.11
Turkish Airlines experienced the highest level of
growth in Africa, where the number of passengers increased
by 49%. Since Africa is an emerging aviation market, routes
were established to Nairobi, Bingazi and Daccar, increasing
the total number of flight destinations to 13 and capacity
by 58%.
In America, Turkish Airlines currently offered non-
stop direct flights to New York, Chicago, Washington D.C.,
and new destinations Toronto and São Paulo. Being Turkish
Airlines’ third destination in North America, Toronto expe-
rienced a 36.3% rise in the number of passengers and incre-
ased capacity by 39%. Furthermore, by including São Paulo
as its first destination in South America, Turkish Airlines
further improved product diversity and increased customer
satisfaction.11
As Turkish Airlines continued to position itself in the
competitive global aviation industry as one of the world’s
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leading brands, it engaged in a series of innovations and

developments in its production planning activities. Sched-
uled flight operations from Antalya to Paris, Düsseldorf and
Stockholm, and Eskişehir to Brussels were also launched.11
Turkish Airlines added yet another class to its
economy, business and first class services for its international
flights. Passengers would be able to enjoy a more comfort-
able flight with affordable prices. The aim was to combine the
comfort of business class with the accessibility of economy
class. The implementation of Comfort Class was planned to
begin on Turkish Airlines’ new Boeing 777 aircraft on flights
to Beijing, Shanghai, Narita, Bangkok, São Paolo and Toronto.
Comfort Class was planned to expand also to New York,

Chicago and Washington flights.11
3.3. Cargo Fleet Growth
Turkish Airlines Cargo enhanced its presence in the transit

market by making its passenger and cargo flight sched-
ules compatible. Having a flexible schedule structure that
varied according to cargo potential, maximum utilization
was ensured. A flexible product policy allowed for changes
according to market demand. Turkish Airlines Cargo
increased the amount carried by 19.7%, to reach a 57% share
of the Turkish air cargo market. Turkish Airlines Cargo
posted the highest growth rate among all member airlines
of the AEA (Association of European Airlines), with a 32%
growth in its scheduled cargo traffic, and generated revenues
of $304 million. Turkish Airlines made scheduled cargo flights
to a total of 22 destinations, including five flights per week
to Maastricht and Frankfurt, three flights to Tel Aviv, Milan,
Zurich and Paris, two flights to Almaty, New Delhi, Tbilisi,
Damascus, Amman, Madrid, Beirut, Cairo and Cologne, and
one flight to London, Dubai, Algeria, Casablanca, Pristine,
Tiran and Tripoli. The majority of the cargo transportation
was operated to Germany, England, France and the Nether-
lands in Europe, and to Thailand, Japan, China and India in
the Far East.13
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42 ACRJ
4. Turkish Aviation Sector and Competitors
With the motivation of Turkish Ministry of Transportation’s

motto “Every Turkish citizen should get on a plane, once in
a lifetime” airline sector had an accelerating growth. As a
result of high growth rate which is approximately 53%, com-
petition in the sector had escalated and airline companies are
forced to provide better service quality with high variety of
occasions to customers. Thus aviation became ordinary rather
than being luxury.
As it is approached to year 2009, total number of
domestic flight destinations increased from 25 to 45 where as
international flight destinations from 60 to 130. As of 2009,

authorized by the ministry, there are 17 airlines, 61 air taxis,
29 General Aviation Corporations, 25 Agricultural Campaign

Corporations and 12 Aerostat Corporations which make total
number of 144 aviation corporations.
Government’s effective and sustainable policies about
aviation have a great impact on increase of airline traffic,
number of passenger and cargo. It is noted that airline traffic
of year 2009 had been 1.06 million which has a composition
of 419 thousands domestic flight, 369 thousands internati-
onal flight and 277 thousands transit flights. Respectively,
41 million passengers and 484 thousand cargos in domestic
flights and 44 million passengers and 1.24 million cargos in
international flights had been transported. With respect to all
these numbers it is expected that the profit of this sector to be
over 10 billion dollars.14
Although Turkish Airlines has the widest network
both nationally and globally, as the Turkish airlines industry
started to be more liberal. This situation caused many other
private enterprises to enter the Turkish airline market.
Pegasus, Atlas Jet and Onur Air are the important ones of
these enterprises.
4.1. Pegasus Airlines
As a joint venture by three companies, Pegasus Airlines was

founded in Istanbul in 1990, with the belief that everybody
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has the right to fly. Having launched its first flight in May
1990, Pegasus was bought outright by ESAS Holding in
January 2005. After this date, Pegasus Airlines had been
changed responding with a dynamic and flexible approach to
airline clients’ expectations. Pegasus introduced the ‘low cost
model’, which became the company trademark and brought
an affordable and accessible way of flying to the Turkish
public.
After introducing its first domestic flights on 1
November 2005, Pegasus has become one of the leading
airline companies in Turkey. With their fleet composed of 38
aircrafts, Pegasus now flies to a total of 49 destinations in 22
countries.
For its schedule within Turkey Pegasus serves Adana,
Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig,

Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya,
Mardin, Samsun, Sivas, Trabzon and Van. Internationally
Pegasus has scheduled flights to Amsterdam, Athens, Basel,
Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Cologne, Copenhagen,
Donetsk, Dusseldorf, Erbil, Kharkov, Krasnodar, London,
Marseilles, Milan, Munich, Nicosia, Paris, Pristina, Rome, St
Etienne/Lyon, Skopje, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tbilisi, Tehran,
Vienna and Zurich.
Still with its ‘low cost model’ in Turkey, Pegasus Air-
lines offers its guests economic and secure opportunities
by making ‘high cost’ investments in flight security and
technology. Pegasus has also built a flight training centre
with the latest flight simulation technology, this new equip-
ment putting it into the top 10% of companies out of the
world’s 582 airlines with such a simulator. Pegasus is now
offering maintenance services to other companies in the
airline sector, while also offering crew, pilot and technical
education.15
4.2. Atlas Jet
Atlas Jet has been established on March 14, 2001 by Öger

Holding A.S., licensed to carry out “Passenger and Cargo
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44 ACRJ
Transportation on Unscheduled Flights, Domestic and Inter-

national and has carried out its first flight on June 1, 2001.
Atlas Jet started with two aircrafts, now they are operating
with 17 aircraft with a capacity of 2473 seats.
By increasing its domestic and international flight
numbers by 75 in the short run, Atlas Jet has altered its
position toward expansion as an IATA member airline. Atlas
Jet will continue to cooperate with Öger Group and keep inc-
reasing its operations and capacity.16
4.3. Onur Air
Onur Air functions since 1992 with the principle of excellent

quality, service and provides reliable services in the aviation

sector, and has been running domestic scheduled flights in
addition to its international lines starting from 2003. Onur Air
has 30 aircraft fleet and 7018 seat capacity.
Onur Air has flights to 80 destinations in 20 countries
in international lines, and to 12 destinations in domestic
lines. In addition, Onur Air is the first and the only airline
company that has received the EN9110:2005 Quality Stan-
dardization Certificate in Turkey. The company always
provides value added services for its passengers and continu-
ously grows thanks to its punctual operations and reasonably
priced flight policy.17
5. Quality and Security Strategies
“Our target is to be the leader worldwide in terms of quality…”

— Temel Kotil, CEO (2009)
In a TV show which Mr. Kotil was hosted, he stressed their

passion about quality and security. He explained that one of
their major objectives is to be the most secure and qualified
airline enterprise and how much they valued their quality
and security strategies.
Turkish Airlines took further steps to improve quality
and safety by preserving its standards at the same time, and
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managed to get approval processes conducted by national

and international authorities. The Airline determined one of
its duties as ensuring experience free of annoyance by con-
tinually improving the products and services it offers. In
May 2006 Turkish Airlines acquired the TS-EN ISO 9001:2000
Quality Management System Certificate, which was renewed
in 2009 as the TS-EN ISO 9001:2008. In addition to this,
Turkish Airlines supported efforts for a cleaner environment
by implementing an ISO 14001 Environment Management
System Project. It also gave priority to its employees through
its work on OHSAS 18001 Work Health and Safety.18
Turkish Airlines’ regulations and national and interna-
tional standards are controlled regularly. Moreover, opera-

tional training units (both flight and ground) provided quality
assurance audits. Turkish Airlines was also successfully

verified by external audits carried out by the Civil Aviation
General Directorate, EASA, JAA Mast Team, France Civil
Aviation and British Civil Aviation Authorities.14
6. Human Resources Management
Turkish Airlines focused on both customer and employee

satisfaction developing human resources strategy that is
in accordance with this goal. The foundation of Turkish
Airlines’ success depended on its human resources develop-
ment strategy and its investments in training and motivation
applications, all of which helped to maintain its competitive
edge and leading position. In 2009, with a 10.7% increase in
the number of employees, Turkish Airlines had total number
of 12,750 employees. In order to strengthen team spirit
among employees and ensure lasting trust and harmony, a
“Personnel Relations Office” was established through which
employees are able to communicate their needs and expecta-
tions. Turkish Airlines provides its employees with important
social benefits such as wide-ranging transportation network,
private health insurance, private health insurance discounts
provided to the employees’ families, allowances for birth,
nursing, death and marriage, kindergarden or kindergarden
allowance for the female employees with dependent children,
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46 ACRJ
free or discount domestic/international flight opportuni-

ties, visa facilities, contract accommodation opportunities all
around the world.19
In order to meet the growing need to facilitate follow-
up on employment processes, “Turkish Airlines Human
Resources Management System” software had been intro-
duced. During this process, the flight attendant employment
process was restructured, and the nearly 50,000 applications
received in 2009 were processed in a faster and more reliable
manner.15
In line with its customer satisfaction-oriented service
philosophy, Turkish Airlines employed more people fluent
in foreign languages such as Korean, Japanese and Chinese.

Additionally, Turkish Airlines provides flight training for
cockpit and cabin personnel, renewed its technical equipment

by purchasing new simulators and training aircrafts, and
increases the number of their training sessions.
Training sessions include different categories such as
first-aid and defibrillator training. Almost four thousand
cockpit crew completed trainings of conversion, type and
recurrent. The Flight Training Academy in cooperation with
the Flight Training Center enhanced its capacity 330% just
about meeting pilot rotations. Training was conducted for 24
different companies functioning in Asia, the Caucasus, the
Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
7. Investment And Growth
Turkish Airlines has taken important steps in adapting to

the changing conditions, as well as maintaining its growth
process. Moreover, it also transformed its public institution
identity into an incorporated company. At the end of 2009,
49% of shares belonged to public, via the Secondary Public
Offering (SPO).
According to a statement made by Turkish Airlines, the
Turkish national carrier’s 2009 net profit was $375 million.
Additionally, operating profit increased by 26%, to $486
million and sales revenue increased by 17.5% to $4.73 billion.
According to the statement approximately 79% of scheduled
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service revenue was obtained from international flights, and

21% from domestic flights.20
The financial and operational results of Turkish
Airlines, which were higher than expectations, are a good
indicator that is set to achieve its 2011 growth target. Hence,
Turkish Airlines has the confidence that it will be able to
continue to apply long term growth strategies without
experiencing any profit or quality loss.
8. Marketing and Sales

“We had feedbacks expressing that our brand investments have positive
effect on Turkish brand’s prestige of Turkish Airlines. We will keep our
brand investments to become the leader of airline industry.”

Turkish Airlines is therefore assured of its place as a major

player in world aviation. Turkish Airlines was an airline to
receive four stars in all categories because of its commitment
to high quality services and a customer-oriented philosophy.
International flight passengers of Turkish Airlines enjoy
the world-renowned catering by Turkish Do&Co, featuring
an assortment of international cuisines as well as authentic
Turkish dishes. Turkish Airlines recently won the SkyTrax
World Aviation Award, also known as the “Oscar of the
Aviation Industry,” for the “World’s Best Economy Class
Onboard Catering”.21
Turkish Airlines made a deal with the world number
one female tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki, who was
chosen to become the new face of Turkish Airlines Business
Class brand and recently announced that legendary basketball
star Kobe Bryant had been named as the global brand ambas-
sador for the airline until 2013. Turkish Airlines is planning to
launch its first non-stop flight from the West Coast of U.S.A.
beginning March 2011, and Kobe Bryant was chosen to intro-
duce the four times a week service from Los Angeles’ LAX
Airport to Atatürk Airport in Istanbul. A global advertising
campaign featuring Mr. Bryant was planned for 2011, the first
television advertisements were scheduled to run in the U.S.A.
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48 ACRJ
and the Middle East in the first quarter of 2011, after which
it would be broadcasted globally to more than 80 countries.
Besides U.S.A., the campaign would focus on the Middle
East and the Far East, where the basketball player has a
large fan base. The campaign would also include billboards,
print and online components. Kobe Bryant was scheduled
to make several appearances on behalf of Turkish Airlines
in the coming year, including for the planned Los Angeles
launch.
Also in 2010, Turkish Airlines announced a sponsor-
ship agreement with Euroleague Basketball, an important
international basketball contest. According to the agreement,
“Euroleauge Basketball” was renamed as “Turkish Airlines

Euroleague Basketball”. This agreement would last for five
seasons, with the option of extending it to an additional five

seasons. This agreement was also very important for Euro-
league as it was the first time in history that the league had
associated its name with a brand. Turkish Airlines and Euro-
league Basketball had worked together beforehand, during
the 2010 Final Four in Paris, when Turkish Airlines was one
of the Euroleague Basketball’s main partners. The agreement
had other advantages besides economic investments such
as Euroleague Basketball’s corporate responsibility program,
Euroleague for Life whose projects sought to encourage and
motivate people to choose sport as a way of life. Turkish
Airlines took an active role in those projects as a partner in
terms of social responsibility strategies.
In addition to the agreement with Euroleague Basket-
ball, Turkish Airlines signed long term sponsorship contracts
with both FC Barcelona and Manchester United FC. According
to the terms of this sponsorship contract, all the advertising
materials and logos of Turkish Airlines will be displayed on
the internal screens of the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona
and Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester.22 Turkish Airlines
would make commercial films with the players of the football
clubs and carry out the promotion of this sponsorship deal in
all the arenas of advertising and mass media. As a result of
this sponsorship, Turkish Airlines has agreed to transport the
players of both teams to all tournaments and training camps
as well.
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9. Turkish Airlines’ Future
Within the growth strategies, Turkish Airlines’ current posi-

tion seems satisfactory; however, Turkish Airlines aim to
exceed its targets to sustain its growth in the market. As
Chairman of the Board of the company, Hamdi Topçu
emphasized, Turkish Airlines would focus on becoming
a well-known global brand and added that Turkish
Airlines received offerings from four airline companies from
the Balkans, four European, one African, two from Turkic
Republics to acquire them. At the present time, Turkish
Airlines evaluated the offers and planning to acquire those
in accordance with the Airlines’ profile. He also declared that

they will be expecting 30% growth rate, with 8 billion dollars
revenue in the following year.

“In order to be effective in the global market and to achieve this aim, we
have our brand ambassadors such as Wozniacki and Kobe Bryant and we
made sponsporship contracts with reputable sports clubs which will also
enhance the brand value of Turkish Airlines in the future as well”.
Additionally, Mr. Topçu announced that there will be two

new considerable sponsorship agreements which will enforce
their international brand awareness. Mr. Topçu noted with
pride that Turkish Airlines is increasingly living up to its
brand image embodied in its motto “We are Turkish Airlines,
we are globally yours”.23
References
1. Turkish Airlines Official Website 2010, A Brief History:

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-INT/corporate/about_us/
history.aspx, accessed October 2010.
2. Skylife 2010, Breathtaking Contest, November 1.
3. Turkish Airlines Media Relations 2010, Turkish Delight for
Manchester United, March 15.
4. SkyLife 2010, Turkish Airlines is the new sponsor for Barcelona,
January 1.
S0218927514500023.indd 49 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

50 ACRJ
5. SkyLife 2009, Turkish Airlines’ new ambassador, Feburary 1.

6. DHA News Agency Website:
http://www.dha.com.tr/haberdetay.asp?tarih=17.04.2011&Newsid=
132434&Categoryid=2, accessed December 2010.
7. Hurriyet Daily News: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/
n.php?n=caroline-wozniacki-named-face-of-turkish-airlines-
business-class-2010-12-20, accessed December 2010.
8. Turkish Airlines Official Website: http://www.turkishairlines.com/
en-INT/corporate/about_us/mission.aspx, accessed October 2010.
9. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Misson and Vision.
10. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, 2009 Milestones.
11. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Total Fleet Traffic.
12. Anadolu Jet Official Website: http://www.anadolujet.com,
accessed October 2010.

13. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Cargo.
14. Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communicaion,

Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Annual Report 2009.
15. Pegasus Airlines Official Website, Corporate Information,
http://www.flypgs.com.tr/en/about-pegasus/pegasus-history.
aspx, accessed February 2012.
16. Atlasjet Official Website, Corporate, http://cmss.atlasjet.com/
en/corporate/aboutus, accessed February 2012.
17. Onur Air Official Website, Corporate, http://www.onurair.com.
tr/hakkimizda.aspx, accessed February 2012.
18. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Quality Concept.
19. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Human Resource.
20. Turkish Airlines Official Website: http://www.turkishairlines.com/
tr-TR/corporate/investor_relations, accessed October 2010.
21. Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009, Marketing and Sales.
22. Manchester United’s Official Website: http://www.manutd.com/,
accessed October 2010.
23. Zaman Gazetesi 2010 Website, 10 Havayolu sirketi bizi alin
diye THY’ye basvurdu: http://www.zaman.com.tr/haber.
do?haberno=962988&title=10-havayolu-sirketi-bizi-al-diye-thyye-
basvurdu, accessed October 2010.
S0218927514500023.indd 50 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Exhibit 1
Exhibit 1: Financial Indicators 2009
Financial Indicators 2009
1 January - 31 1 January - 31
ONGOING OPERATIONS December 2009 December 2008
Income from Sales $4,730,641,365.56 $4,023,639,248.92
Cost of Sales (-) -$3,453,203,216.57 -$2,985,064,124.06
GROSS PROFIT / (LOSS) $1,277,438,148.99 $1,038,575,124.85
Marketing, Sales and Distribution Cost (-) -$542,260,077.32 -$417,844,662.90
General Administrative Cost (-) -$175,846,517.85 -$133,929,018.92
Other Operating Income $61,276,207.89 $37,252,285.45
Other Operating Cost (-) -$133,893,284.48 -$138,073,638.45

OPERATING PROFIT / (LOSS) $486,714,477.24 $385,980,090.02
Share of Investment in Profit / Loss
(Equity Method) $8,615,412.49 $2,347,466.16

Financial Income $116,306,154.78 $938,285,059.14
Financial Costs (-) -$116,122,283.33 -$468,769,312.66
PROFIT BEFORE TAX / (LOSS) $495,513,761.18 $857,843,302.67
Tax Income / (Expense) -$119,613,619.98 -$112,524,462.48
PROFIT FOR PERIOD / LOSS $375,900,141.20 $745,318,840.19
Earnings per Share / (Loss) $0.43 $0.85
Source: Turkish Airlines Annual Report, 2009.
Source: Turkish Airlines Annual Report 2009
S0218927514500023.indd 51 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

52 ACRJ
Exhibit 2
Exhibit 3: Numbers of Domestic Passengers
Total Passengers Carried Graphics
Domestic Flights 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Number of Flights 65448 78910 87162 92593 97697
Kms flown(000) 36049 45282 51016 53372 56313
Available seat kms (million) 5457 7123 8117 8448 9038
Revenue Passenger-kms (million) 4016 5213 5924 6417 6819
Load Factor (%) 73.6 73.2 73 75.6 75.4
Available ton- kms (million) 647 806 946 1000 1047
Revenue ton- kms (million) 394 504 570 615 652

Overall load Factor (%) 60.9 62.5 60.3 61.5 62.3
Revenue passenger (000) 7197 8906 9984 11063 11692

Cargo (tons) 29233 32085 35518 34305 33037
Mail (tons) 1088 1295 3555 3427 3549
Excess Baggage (tons) 1490 1460 1538 1589 1450
Total Passengers
Number Carried
of Domestic (000) (000)
Passengers
11692
11063
9984
8906
7197
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source:
Source: Turkish
Turkish Airlines
Airlines AnnualAnnual Report
Report, 2009. 2009
S0218927514500023.indd 52 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Exhibit 3
Exhibit 3: Numbers of Domestic Passengers
Number of Domestic Passengers
Domestic Flights 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Number of Flights 65448 78910 87162 92593 97697
Kms flown(000) 36049 45282 51016 53372 56313
Revenue Passenger-kms (million) 4016 5213 5924 6417 6819
Load Factor (%) 73.6 73.2 73 75.6 75.4

Overall load Factor (%) 60.9 62.5 60.3 61.5 62.3

Cargo (tons) 29233 32085 35518 34305 33037
Mail (tons) 1088 1295 3555 3427 3549
Number
Numberof of
Domestic Passengers
Domestic (000)
Passengers (000)
11692
11063
9984
8906
7197
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source: Turkish
Source: Turkish Airlines
Airlines Annual
Annual Report, Report
2009. 2009
S0218927514500023.indd 53 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

54 ACRJ
Exhibit 4
Exhibit 4: Numbers of International Passengers
Number of International Passengers
International Flights 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Numer of flights 61689 73626 81737 96735 116256
Kms flown (000) 132852 161920 181131 208752 255556
Revenue passenger- kms (million) 17301 20170 24327 27848 33311
Load factor (%) 71.1 67.7 72.6 73.6 70.1

Overall load factor (%) 65.8 61.8 64.9 65.6 61.2

Cargo (tons) 111326 123777 141990 157629 197672
Mail (tons) 3327 2715 3159 3529 3802
Numberof
Number of International
International Passengers
Passengers(000)
(000)
13410
11534
9652
8041
6937
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source:
Source: Turkish
Turkish Airlines
Airlines Annual
Annual Report, Report
2009. 2009
S0218927514500023.indd 54 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Exhibit 5
Exhibit 5: Cargo Transfer Numbers
Cargo Transfer Numbers
Cargo Traffic 2008 2009 09/08 (% change)

Number of flights 189328 213953 13,0
Passenger flights 186733 210990 13,0
Cargo flights 2595 2963 14,2
Cargo-Mail (tons) 198890 238060 19,7
Passenger flights (tons) 144154 178511 23,8
Cargo flights (tons) 54736 59549 8,8

Cargo-Mail revenue (000
USD) 323952 304279 -6,1

Passenger flights (000 USD) 232213 229954 -1,0
Cargo flights (000 USD) 91739 74325 -19,0
Cargoand
Cargo and Mail
MailDevelopment
Development(tons)
(tons)
238060
198890
184222
159873
144974
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source:
Source: Turkish AirlinesAirlines
Turkish Annual Report,
Annual2009. Report 2009
S0218927514500023.indd 55 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

56 ACRJ
Exhibit 6
Number of Personnel
Exhibit 6: Number of Personnel
Personnel Breakdown by Title

Number of Personnel
Manager 692
Pilot 1.622
Cabin Crew 3.925
I.T. Personnel 195
Foreign Office 1.403
Engineer, Lawyer, Doctor 136
Expert, Dispatch, Trainer 771
Technician 73
Officer 3.319
Worker 614
Total 12.750
Personnel Breakdown by Unit
Number of Personnel
Departments Affiliated with The Board of Directors 4
Departments Directly Affiliated with General Manager 30.817
Deputy General Management ( Human Resources ) 347
Deputy General Management ( Financial ) 416
Deputy General Management ( Commercial) 2.966
Deputy General Management ( Flight Operations) 5.930
Total 12.750
12750
Personnel
11520 587
10324 10453 403 Breakdown
330 105 by Work
Status
Part Time
12164 Full Time
10348 11117
9994
2006 2007 2008 2009

12750
11520 Personnel
10324 10453 Breakdown
6579 by Gender
5967
5214 5352 Female
Male
5110 5101 5553 6171
2006 2007 2008 2009
Source: Turkish Airlines Annual Report, 2009.
S0218927514500023.indd 56 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Exhibit 7
Organizational Chart
Source: http://www.turkishairlines.com/
S0218927514500023.indd 57 21/7/2014 5:22:57 PM

58 ACRJ
Exhibit 8
Marketing and Commercial Materials

Exhibit 8: Marketing and Commercial Materials
Source: Turkish Airlines Official Website: http://www.thy.com.
S0218927514500023.indd 58 21/7/2014 5:22:57 PM

Exhibit 8 (Continued)
Source: Turkish Airlines Official Website: http://www.thy.com
S0218927514500023.indd
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Turkish Airlines Fast Growing Star of Skies

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See

Turkish Airlines: Fast Growing Star of Skies

Article in Asian Case Research Journal · June 2014

Muhittin Sagnak Mert Günerergin

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

and Muhittin Sağnak (İzmir

Turkish Airlines was founded in 1933 as Turkey’s

© 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. DOI: 10.1142/S0218927514500023

S0218927514500023.indd 35 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

operated 64 planes, a decision was taken to acquire 63

In addition to Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines started

operations to Ankara Esenboğa in 2006. The aim of estab-

S0218927514500023.indd 36 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

2. Mission and Vision

Since mission and vision are crucial for corporations to deter-

“To become the preferred leading European air carrier with

a global network of coverage thanks to its strict compliance

To become an air carrier with;

S0218927514500023.indd 37 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

3. Corporate Growth Strategies

“Turkish Airlines continued to progress successfully. Building its strat-

Chairman of the board of Turkish airlines Mr. Topçu has

industry increased in recent years, traffic volumes decreased

S0218927514500023.indd 38 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Turkish Airlines continued to increase the number of

its affordable product policy and convenient flight sched-

fortable means of travel, featuring a complimentary in-flight

S0218927514500023.indd 39 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

In 2009, the number of international passengers flying with

the capacity of the region grew by 35.3% and the number

Airlines’ third destination in Iran, the number of destinations

S0218927514500023.indd 40 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

leading brands, it engaged in a series of innovations and

Comfort Class was planned to expand also to New York,

3.3. Cargo Fleet Growth

Turkish Airlines Cargo enhanced its presence in the transit

S0218927514500023.indd 41 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

4. Turkish Aviation Sector and Competitors

With the motivation of Turkish Ministry of Transportation’s

international flight destinations from 60 to 130. As of 2009,

29 General Aviation Corporations, 25 Agricultural Campaign

As a joint venture by three companies, Pegasus Airlines was

S0218927514500023.indd 42 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig,

Atlas Jet has been established on March 14, 2001 by Öger

S0218927514500023.indd 43 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

Transportation on Unscheduled Flights, Domestic and Inter-

Onur Air functions since 1992 with the principle of excellent

quality, service and provides reliable services in the aviation

5. Quality and Security Strategies

“Our target is to be the leader worldwide in terms of quality…”

In a TV show which Mr. Kotil was hosted, he stressed their

S0218927514500023.indd 44 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

managed to get approval processes conducted by national

tional standards are controlled regularly. Moreover, opera-

assurance audits. Turkish Airlines was also successfully

6. Human Resources Management

Turkish Airlines focused on both customer and employee

S0218927514500023.indd 45 21/7/2014 5:22:56 PM

free or discount domestic/international flight opportuni-

in foreign languages such as Korean, Japanese and Chinese.

cockpit and cabin personnel, renewed its technical equipment

7. Investment And Growth