The 200th aircraft to enter the current Turkish Airlines fleet is now in revenue service after a special ceremony welcoming the milestone aircraft.
At a special ceremony at Turkish Technic hangar at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul Turkish Airlines chairman Hamdi Topcu said, “As a company, we continue to achieve our goals one at a time. We first celebrated the arrival of our 100th aircraft and now we have reached our next goal of 200 aircraft in the fleet. Our next goal, as we continue to expand, is 300. When we began our expansion in 2003, there were only 54 aircrafts in the fleet and we flew to 103 destinations. That number is now 205 cities in 90 countries. The fleet in 2003 required only 651 pilots and 1579 cabin attendant. Those staff numbers now have grown to 2445 cockpit and 5344 cabin attendant.” He said “All of these are signs of a growing Turkish Airlines.”
The airline is aiming at having the largest global network of an airline. It is presently the world’s fifth largest airline.
Topcu said: “The global economic crisis has shrunk in the aviation sector. Many companies went bankrupt. Previously independent flag carriers have partnered with other companies to survive in an increasingly complex global environment. However, during this period, , Turkish Airlines has stood alone and continued to grow. We will continue to expand and grow from within.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, Turkish Airlines’ general manager Temel Kotil,. remarked that ‘’We now fly to 90 different countries around the globe. While it seemed like a dream to many, I have anticipated this achievement for some years now and announced our intentions at the IATA AGM some years ago.’
“I am more optimistic on our 2023 goal of becoming the world’s largest airline network. We intend to become a 5-star airline and the leading carrier in our region, home to 1.5 billion people.”
Following the ceremony, the Boeing 737-900, parked in front of the hangar and with a special sticker “200”, entered line service and began its job of carrying passengers.
via Arabian Aerospace – Double ton for Turkish as it aims for world number one spot.