THY Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee Prof. Dr. Stating that they will carry the 1 billionth passenger in February-March, Ahmet Bolat said, “THY currently has a value of over 10 billion euros. This makes us the 10th most valuable airline brand in the world at the moment. We anticipate that we will be the 6th airline of value.” said. In his statement to AA correspondent, Ahmet Bolat shared his evaluations for 2022 and his expectations and targets for 2023. Stating that they continued their investments this year without interruption, Bolat said that they invested 2.8 billion dollars in 2022 as THY, the majority of which was aircraft and engine investments. Bolat stated that they have also invested in IT and buildings, and that they have realized the largest cargo center in Europe, “We will invest 3.8 billion dollars in 2023. We say, ‘This year 5 billion dollars remained in Turkey.’ Some of it is spent on investments. Some remains in the vault for next year’s operations.” he said. Bolat made the following evaluations regarding the fact that THY’s market value rose to 191.3 billion TL (9.78 billion euros) in December, surpassing the value of the German flag carrier airline Lufthansa: He saw that Turkey was not in the position it deserves in air transport in the world with the administrations. We will carry our 1 billionth passenger in 2023. We will find the 1 billionth passenger in February-March. We are talking about an airline company with 60 planes in 2003. In those years, Iberia for Turkish Airlines (Spain’s flag carrier airline) was a strategic goal. Iberia was at the 7th rank in the European Airlines Association at the time. Turkish Airlines was also in the 15th rank. Now we look at Iberia in Europe with its 128-130 aircraft. It is a major airline, but THY is number one in Europe. We have made an average of 1,200 flights this year on average. It is also number one among network carriers in terms of the number of passengers it carries.”
“We estimate that we will be the 6th most valuable airline before 2024”
Ahmet Bolat stated that THY has always planned its growth trend as double-digits, and that it has maintained its double-digit growth by making a profit every year, except for a few years, for the last 19 years, adding that hourly landing and take-off operations have increased to 120. Mentioning the advantages that Istanbul Airport provides to THY and Turkey, Bolat continued his words as follows: “After seeing that the strategies of both TK, AnadoluJet and SunExpress on hub basis have become clear and there are no obstacles in front of their growth, they turned to THY. Their favor increased. A huge profit emerged after both the increase in passengers coming to Turkey and the choice of passengers after operational difficulties in Europe. Investors showed great interest in our shares after they saw that this would happen. THY’s current position is over 10 billion euros. It has a value. This makes us the 10th most valuable airline brand in the world at the moment. If the figures we predict come true, we predict that we will be the 6th most valuable airline before 2024. Because the number between us and the 6th It’s not a huge number. We’re talking about 1.5-2 billion euros.” Bolat talked about the importance of domestic flight network, direct passenger transportation and transit passenger transfer.
“We want to increase the number of tourists from the USA to 2 million”
THY Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Bolat, pointed out that direct passengers to the country contribute more than transfer guests and said, “If this direct passenger also receives health care or plays golf, comes for different tourism purposes, wants to see history and art, that passenger’s contribution to our country is 3 It can go up to a thousand dollars.” he said.
“The USA and South America are the countries where Turkish TV series are very famous”
Bolat reminded of the campaigns they launched to bring direct passengers to Turkey and pointed to the increase in the number of tourists coming to the country, and said: “This year, the hotel occupancy rate in Istanbul has exceeded 85 percent. We want to continue this trend. 1 million from the USA. Tourists came. We started a new campaign from the USA and we want to increase the number of passengers coming from there to 2 million. Turkey has exported 90 billion dollars of services this year. How can we increase this number? Only in this way. In terms of our strategy for distant countries, the USA and South American countries in the west. Countries where Turkish TV series are very famous. We will have new programs in Indonesia and Malaysia in the east.” Bolat stated that they expect China, which is largely closed to distant countries, to open in 2023, and that they are considering putting Osaka, Japan back into their networks, and increasing the frequencies in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Referring to the new countries they want to fly to as THY, Bolat said, “One of the most important strategic goals of 2023 is to fly our flag to Australia as TK. We, as TK, are already flying with code share. We have code share agreements with 10 airlines. For our flights, our plan is to land in Singapore or Jakarta and then continue.” made a statement.
“We aim to increase the profit of our subsidiaries to 1 billion dollars”
Ahmet Bolat stated that the profit of THY Teknik AŞ reached 110 million dollars this year, and that there are 19 such subsidiary companies and they want to increase their contribution to THY. Bolat said, “Our 5-year goal is to at least halve the contribution of our subsidiaries to our profitability. Currently, THY has made a profit of $ 2.25 billion. If we consider that 50 percent comes from subsidiaries, we are talking about $ 3.4 billion. Our next projects are to increase the profits of our subsidiaries. THY Teknik’ Our profit target for 2023 is 150 million dollars. We aim to increase the total profit of our subsidiaries to 1 billion dollars in 5 years.” made its assessment.
“We rank second in Europe and fifth in the world”
Pointing out that Turkish Cargo is a sub-brand of their own, Bolat said, “It is not a separate company. We have some plans for incorporation. We are working on them. But we are working on making AnadoluJet a separate company as soon as possible. Our breakthroughs in cargo also continue. We will continue to grow with chartered aircraft. In cargo transportation, we ranked second in Europe and fifth in the world this year.” used the phrases. Noting that the demand in air cargo transportation has contracted due to the epidemic process, Bolat stated that they will manage the contraction thanks to the cargo logistics center they have established, and that the share of cargo in total profitability will continue in 2023.
A professional writer by day, a tech-nerd by night, with a love for all things money.