Malaysia A Focus For Turkish Airlines Asia Pacific Expansion

By Mohamad Nasir Yusoff This is the first of the two articles from a recent familiarisation tour of Turkish Airlines' facilities in Istanbul. The airline is now operating daily flights between Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur and believes apart from providing connectivity, the air link could also contribute significantly to Malaysia-Turkey bilateral relations. ISTANBUL, May 12 (Bernama) -- Turkish Airlines has identified Malaysia as a country of focus in its expansion plans for the Asia Pacific, further strengthening the many aspects of the bilateral relations of both countries. The flag-carrier of Turkey is increasing its flight frequency to Kuala Lumpur from six times weekly to daily flights from May, which according to its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Temel Kotil was only natural due to better and progressive economic ties. To date Turkish investments in Malaysia amounted to US$126.1 million (RM410 million), whereas Malaysia’s investments in Turkey stood at US$1 billion (RM3.25 billion). Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's three-day official visit to Turkey recently and his call for businesses in both countries to take advantage of the growing bilateral ties, provided another strong impetus for Turkish Airlines to strengthen its presence in Malaysia. CONTRIBUTING TO BETTER BUSINESS AND PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE RELATIONS "Daily flights will also contribute to better and closer people-to-people relations", Dr Kotil said noting that in doing so Turkish Airlines also would be contributing to the success of Visit Malaysia Year 2014 campaign. Malaysian students in Turkey were among those who gladly welcomed the daily flight connection between Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur. One of them who wished to be known only as Ziyaad, who resides in Fatih, Istanbul told Bernama that daily flight would make it easier for parents back home to visit their children in Turkey. "It is also very good news for me as I too run part time tour and travel consultancy here in Istanbul. My friends and I assist Malaysian tourists in getting around interesting places here, assist in their communication with locals and provide good and reasonably priced homestay for them", he said, thanking the airlines for the initiative. He added that coupled with Turkish Airlines and Malaysia Airlines direct code sharing flights, peoples of Malaysia and Turkey have ample choice of flights to suit their travel needs and certainly people-to-people relations would improve. Turkish Airlines General Manager for Malaysia, Firat Yildirim meanwhile told Bernama that apart from that, the airlines has also been carrying increasing number of Malaysians going for the Umrah trip, stopping over at Turkey for several days of visit to places of Islamic heritage and interest. With the commencement of the daily flight, Turkish Airlines expects to at least double the number of passengers it flies to Malaysia from 10,000 last year to 20,000 this year now that Malaysia is becoming better known in Turkey as a beautiful tropical holiday destination. Carrying some 50 million passengers last year and with its hub in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines which already flies to about 100 destinations in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent countries, could also be flying considerable number of tourists from the two regions to Kuala Lumpur. FOURTH LARGEST AIRLINE IN TERMS OF NETWORK SIZE In all, Turkish Airlines, with its call sign TK, flies to 106 countries and more than 248 destinations worldwide. TK is the fourth largest airline in terms of network size. In 2013 Turkish Airlines received the Skytrax recognition as Europe’s Best Airlines for three consecutive years and winner of Air Transport World-Market Leadership Award ’11. Believing that increasing number of Turkish people especially among parents and students are now more aware of Malaysia as a centre for education excellence, Dr Kotil said Turkish Airlines also expects to fly more of them to Malaysia in time to come. "We are well aware that Malaysia is fast gaining reputation as an education centre especially in the field of technology and IT. This is an attractive feature for many Turkish students and parents", he said. It is also a known fact that many foreign students in Malaysia, while studying to earn their degrees, also gain hands-on knowledge on how multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysians promote harmony and tolerance among themselves. It is an invaluable experience that one cannot expect to learn in classrooms. EXPANSION PLANS TOWARDS 2023 As for its expansion plan, Turkish Airlines will have in its fleet a total of 450 aircraft by 2023, carrying some 120 million passengers worldwide and targets a revenue of US$24 billion (RM78 billion). To support its expansion plan, Turkish Airlines which currently has some 2,000 pilots compared to only 640 several years back, invests deeply in providing the highest quality of air services. It runs one of the best equipped Flight Training Centre with up to date simulators and training devices. Visitors to the centre near Attaturk International Airport will be impressed with world class facilities available that attracted other international airlines too to send their personnel for training. Yildirim who accompanied Malaysian journalists throughout the visit said in addition to simulators, the centre houses the newest and most advanced technology available for cabin, cockpit, ground and flight crew training. "Some 165 flight service entities, both national and international, recently sent personnel to train at the center", he said, adding that it was a great recognition for Turkish Airlines which first took to the skies 80 years ago. -- BERNAMA