Everything about Turkish Airlines totally explained
Turkish Airlines, Inc. (
Turkish Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı) (THY) is the
national airline of
Turkey based in
İstanbul. It operates a network of scheduled services to 123 international and 32 domestic cities, serving a total of 155 airports, in
Europe,
Asia,
Africa, and the
United States. The
airline's main base is
Atatürk International Airport (IST), İstanbul, with secondary hubs at
Esenboga International Airport (ESB),
Ankara, and
Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SAW), İstanbul. In 2006 and 2007 it carried 17 million and 19.7 million passengers with total revenues of US$2.3 and US$3
billion, respectively.
(External Link
) The airline has around 12,000 employees. as of
April 1,
2008,
THY is an official member of
Star Alliance.
History
The airline was established on
May 20,
1933, as the State Airlines Administration
Devlet Hava Yolları İşletmesi İdaresi (DHY). It began operations with an İstanbul,
Eskişehir, Ankara service in August 1933. In September 1937, the airline received three
De Havilland D.H. 86B biplane airliners.
The following December, DHY received the fourth plane. These planes enlarged the domestic routes of DHY to the destination of
İstanbul,
Eskisehir,
Izmir,
Ankara,
Adana,
Kayseri and
Diyarbakır. The name was changed to
Devlet Hava Yolları Umum Müdürlüğü (DHY) in June
1938. The first international flight was launched in
1947 to
Athens but it was another 40 years before the introduction of long-haul flights to the Far East and across the
Atlantic.
In a major reorganisation, the state company DHY was replaced with a mixed corporation, Türk Hava Yolları AO (THY) on
20 February 1956. The airline's shares were passed to the Prime Ministry Public Participation Administration in 1990, which took the company public in December 1990 selling 5% of the shares. The government later sold about 23.0% of the shares to the public in December 2004 and a further 28.75% in May 2006.
The airline is owned by TC Privatisation Administration (49%) and private shareholders (51%). It also has a 50% holding in affiliated airline
SunExpress, the other half of which owned by
Lufthansa of Germany. It has set up in
September 2006 an airline catering JV with Do&Co Restaurants & Catering of Austria. Turkish Airlines quit the Qualiflyer group in 1999, due to incompatibilities with Swissair and Delta.
A request to join the
Star Alliance has been accepted in December 2006. On
April 1,
2008, Turkish Airlines joined the Alliance as a full member.
Destinations
Codeshare agreements
Turkish Airlines have
codeshare agreements with the following carriers:
Note: This list includes
Star Alliance (SA) partners. Turkish Airlines joined the
Star Alliance on
1 April 2008.
Cargo
Turkish Airlines Cargo is the freight branch of Turkish Airlines, operating to Asia, Middle East and Europe.
Turkish Airlines Cargo Fleet>
| Aircraft |
Total |
Capacity
(Max.Weight) |
Routes |
Notes |
| Airbus A310-300F |
3 |
|
Europe and Asia |
More to be added
after conversion from passenger fleet |
Fleet
The Turkish Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of April
2008:
Turkish Airlines may be considering buying the new Airbus A350 and also the Boeing 787.
The average age of the Turkish fleet is 7.1 years
The airline has ordered 59 planes (Boeing and Airbus) in 2004 which will be delivered gradually until 2008.
The airline converted its 3 former passenger aircraft, A310-300s and considers to have 747 cargo aircraft, in addition.
At the end of May, Turkish Airlines will receive an A340-300 from Air Jamaica by leasing
Total Fleet as of March 2008 is 102 aircraft.
Affinity programs
Miles & Smiles is the frequent flyer program of Turkish Airlines, started after the airline left Qualiflyer. The earned miles can be used in Turkish Airlines' flights, as well as flights on Lufthansa, including the entire Star Alliance.
Livery
Turkish Airlines' livery is white fuselage with blue lettering and a red tail with white circle with the company logo. Also, Turkish Airlines has added tulip figures on its aircraft, starting from the front part till the tail.
New Logo
A modified logo has recently been introduced. There are few changes. The most predominant of the changes is the logo's switch from a red emblem on a white background to a white emblem on a red background.
Maintenance center
Turkish Airlines has a maintenance centre at its hub Atatürk International Airport, (IST) in Istanbul. Turkish Airlines Maintenance Center (THY Technic) is responsible for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of THY's all aircraft, engines, APUs and components.
Incidents and accidents
During its 72 year history, Turkish Airlines has had three accidents on its international flights, and 18 on domestic flights.
The airline's first accident occurred on February 17, 1959, when a Vickers Viscount Type 793, registration TC-SEV, crashed in heavy fog just before landing at London Gatwick Airport. The flight was carrying Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and a governmental delegation to London for signing the London Agreements on the Cyprus issue. Menderes was among the ten survivors of 8 crew and 16 passengers on board.
The deadliest was Turkish Airlines Flight 981, which crashed in France on 3 March 1974 due to explosive decompression, killing all 346 people aboard. The main cause was a design fault on the cargo doors of DC-10 aircraft. Prior to the Tenerife disaster, it was the deadliest aircraft disaster.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Turkish Airlines'.
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