Ambitious growth plans for Turkish Airlines include more capacity on its route from Dublin, Hasan Mutlu tells Gerry Byrne 

These are interesting times for Turkish Airlines in Ireland and internationally. The airline is examining the possibility of introducing wide-bodied jets to replace its current Boeing 737-900 narrow-bodies, to increase capacity significantly between Dublin and its main hub at Istanbul.

The airline is also considering putting additional narrow body aircraft, such as the Airbus A320 Neo, on the route as an alternative method of increasing frequency, says Hasan Mutlu, Turkish Airlines' general manager in Ireland. There are also whispers of a completely new service from Ireland, although whether this will be from Dublin or some other Irish city is not yet clear.

Despite 200 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus due to be delivered to Turkish Airlines over the next two years, Ireland has to compete for additional jets.  Ireland is not the only TA market place crying out for increased capacity: Thailand and India are just two markets popular with Irish travellers where the airline would like to increase capacity and frequency. Another pull is serving additional cities and countries to the existing route network, such as Australia.

“We have no problem with the 737-900 but we need more capacity," Mutlu explains. "The average load factor among all carriers at Dublin airport is 83%, and our load factors are higher." The existing frequency of 14 flights weekly would be maintained, even if narrow-bodies are replaced by larger-capacity planes. All the seats would be sold, Mutlu insists.

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World's Largest Airport

Turkey's main airport at Istanbul, which is bursting at the seams and has been constrained from taking on any more flights, has been another brake on Turkish Airlines’ expansion plans. That will change this month when the new €7 billion Istanbul airport at a different site comes on stream.

It will be the world's largest airport, with ultimate capacity forecast at upwards of 200 million passengers a year. When complete in 2030, in addition to enormous terminal buildings the new Istanbul airport will have six runways and offer 165 jetways (or air bridges) to airlines. Initially, the new airport will open with two runways and 88 jetways, and have capacity for 90 million passengers. Additional runways and terminals will be added on a phased basis.

In many respects, Turkish is throwing down the gauntlet to the large hubs in the Gulf region and making no pretence about wanting to eat their lunch. “We have much more strength in our network,” says Mutlu. The new airport is good news for Turkish Airlines, which routes almost all of its traffic through Istanbul's existing but soon to be abandoned capacity-constrained airport.

But will what is good for Istanbul be good for Ireland? Mutlu has no way of knowing whether or not releasing the log jam of traffic at the new airport will result in other markets, not Ireland, getting the new aircraft. He has made his case to head office but the decision lies in other hands.

Markets such as India, Thailand and other Asian destinations, including China, are also demanding increased capacity. Head office minds are also bound to be concentrated on the Australian market, which is a major draw for the Irish. Surprisingly, Turkish Airlines does not fly there but serves that country through fellow airlines in the Star Alliance.

The lack of services to Australia is somewhat surprising given that Turkish Airlines is the world’s largest airline in terms of countries served. As of this year, Turkish Airlines flies to 119 different countries. In terms of reach, the closest is Air France, with destinations in 91 countries. British Airways flies to 84 countries while Emirates and Qatar Airways have 77 each. 

International Network

Turkish Airlines slots into fourth place internationally in terms of the number of airports in the network. American Airlines is the king here, with 350 airports, followed closely by United and Delta, although many of its airports are within the United States.

Turkish Airlines’ tally comes to 274 airports served outside of its home market. British Airways has 223, Lufthansa has 206, while Ryanair has 205. Were their air services to be merged, the jointly-owned Air France KLM would move into fourth place. Individually, they have 186 destinations for Air France and 161 destinations for KLM.

The current expansion plans for Turkish Airlines are a far cry from its first foray into the Irish market, when it began with three flights weekly in 2006. More recently, the airline faced slowdowns in several of its markets due to economic and political factors.

It also weathered a fragile period following a series of terrorist bombings, including one that killed 46 people at Ataturk airport. The German market, a very important one for Turkish Airlines, was badly affected. In 2015, Turkish offered more than 17 million seats to the German market. Two years later, that number had fallen to fewer than 15 million seats.

Happily, the airline has been buoyed by the willingness of Turks to travel abroad. The total Turkish air market expanded from 35 million passengers in 2000 to 190 million last year. Some forecasts suggest the country could expect well over 230 million passengers coming and going by 2020, when Turkish Airlines expects its fleet to total 500 aircraft.

Not only will its fleet be one of the world's largest, it will also be the world's youngest, offering considerable savings in maintenance. In the meantime, the airline expects to have retired or sold on about 50 older aircraft.

Onward Flights

Less than one-third of Turkish Airlines passengers out of Dublin will stay in Turkey. The rest will take onward flights to other locations, including Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban in South Africa, and Thailand among other destinations. “Checking the passenger list, I can sometimes see 60, 70, even 80 different destinations for our passengers flying out of Dublin. They are headed for almost every corner of the world,” says Mutlu. 

“We are under pressure to increase frequency, to have something bigger. Because of the move to the biggest airport in the world, and waiting for the deliveries from Boeing and Airbus, we must be patient and wait for the right time to change. Bear in mind that we also need more capacity in the Far East and in Asia. Next year we should be in a better position to judge.”

Photo: Turkish Airlines sponsored the Ireland cricket team this year, with an option to extend to 2020. Pictured with some of the players are Hasan Mutlu and Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom