Turkish Airlines, which is already No.1 airline for its over 300 destinations in 120 countries, has planned to add a good number of aircraft to its existing fleet of 228 (including cargo planes), said Consul General of Turkey Tolga Ucak and Turkish Airlines' General Manager Fatih Atacan TEMEL while speaking at Turkish Airlines Awards ceremony here on Thursday night.
The Turkish Consul General spoke on the profile and future expansion and up-gradation of Turkish aviation system including Turkish Airlines , along with high rate economic growth in Turkey.
He said that making Turkish Airlines as the best and largest airline in the world was itself a great achievement of his country.
He said Turkish Airlines had three stations in Pakistan : Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. The airline had very good business especially in Karachi. The number of Pakistanis visiting Turkey was increasing over the period of time. "In 2017, we issued 5000 vouchers in Pakistan and Karachi had 42 percent share," added General Manager Fatih Atacan TEMEL.
The Consul General said there was 7 % increase in the number of tourists to Turkey at 1.3 billion from across the world during 2017. The biggest attraction was Euro, he said.
He said the increased people-to-people contact was very imperative to promote trade and investment, and cooperation in many other sectors.
Turkey and Pakistan had cultural similarities and this would help establish a strong understanding and partnership on social, economic and political fronts.
He said , at present, Turkey was engaged in joint ventures especially in energy sector in Pakistan. That, he continued, in future his country was likely to be a big partner in infrastructure development.
About Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Turkish diplomat said the dialogue was successfully progressing and hoped, soon it would materialize to this very important arrangement for the benefit of both the brotherly Muslim nations.
He mentioned that in 2017, the bilateral trade was around 600 million dollars , which was very below to the real potential. More practical steps were needed on both the sides at government and private sector levels.
Turkish Airlines' General Manager informed that during 2017, the airlines had 9.3 increase in the number of passengers at 68 million and had significant growth in its revenue with 352 percent boost in corporate sales.
He said with commissioning of new international airport in Istanbul in October 2018, Turkey would become the world's largest transit point.
" We are confident, our airlines would get better volume of business in the coming years," he remarked. He said the airlines was soon to launch new products including Umra plus and this would offer better services than that of other competitors. This would offer one night free stay and visit to Istanbul city with free baggage service and many other incentives.
Turkish Airlines' Sales Manager Agha Ahmed Husain also highlighted the quality services of the airline.
The airlines had 51 stations in Turkey, which had many tourists sites including religious ones, he said.
Movies were screened to portrait trade, investment and tourism opportunities available in Turkey.
Later, Turkish Airlines awards were distributed amongst the best performing tour operators in Karachi; Polani Travels and Bokhari Travels were prominent among the winners.