ISTANBUL - ''Our target destinations are South Africa and South America. We also plan to be competitive in flights to the Far East from Europe,'' President of the Turkish Airlines (THY) Temel Kotil said today.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A, Kotil indicated that although the THY put into effect only six new flight destinations in the past few years, this number rose to 24 recently.
''The new 24 destinations is a historic development. There is no other airlines in the world with so much new destinations. We were obliged to open new destinations. We have been successful in reaching new destinations. We have achieved a trend of growth,'' told Kotil.
According to Kotil, if a flight has 26 percent of its seats sold, then that flight covers all expenses incurred during the flight. Of course, if 40 percent of all seats are sold in a flight, we make a profit, noted Kotil.
Temel Kotil stressed that the THY will start flights to South America as of 2007.
Kotil underlined that there is a great demand of seats from the Far East to Europe. ''Istanbul's location for flights to the Far East and vice-versa is very practical. We want to make Istanbul the center of flights from and to the Far East,'' expressed Kotil.
Meanwhile, Boeing has delivered two new 737-800 jets to THY. THY had placed an order for 15 Boeing 737-800 jets in September 2004. Boeing will deliver 5 more jets to THY.