The ant strategy: how Turkish Airlines built its global empire
Turkish Airlines today is the airline serving the most destinations in the world
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We might call it the 'ant strategy'. It is the one that in about fifteen years has led Turkish Airlines to transform itself from a mediocre, peripheral and secondary (to say the least) Turkish company to a global carrier. Indeed, the most global carrier of all, as it is now the one serving the largest number of destinations in the world. And, perhaps, the biggest competitor to the two 'big ones in the Gulf': Emirates and Qatar Airways.
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The latter (especially Emirates) have chosen to build their fleets on wide-body aircraft: Airbus A380s and A350s, Boeing 777s and 787s, picking up large loads of passengers in the major cities of Europe and then transporting them, through their hubs in Dubai and Doha, to the big cities of Asia and Oceania (and vice versa). The Europe-Asia axis is the core business on which Emirates and Qatar Airways have built their business empire of big planes and big numbers.
The little ant Turkish has built its success (in 2022 it was, among the world's top ten airlines by gross revenue, the most profitable with $2.75 billion in profit) along an entirely different path, picking up passengers even in the secondary cities of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa through a huge fleet of narrow-body aircraft with seating capacities between 120 and 200 passengers.
Turkish Airlines extensive network throughout Europe and the world
Let's take the Italian example? Emirates flies to Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna, while Qatar Airways serves only Rome and Milan. Turkish serves from Istanbul Rome, Milan, Venice, Bergamo, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, Catania and Bari.
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Shall we take France? Emirates connects Dubai to Paris, Nice and Lyon, while Qatar Airways flies from Doha to the same cities and next July 18 will add Toulouse. Turkish to Paris, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Toulouse. But is Germany, home to the largest Turkish expat community, that its network really makes an impression, with 14 cities served from Istanbul.
In this dense global web, which at the end of 2022 included 331 destinations (Emirates has 158 and Qatar Airways 174) served with a fleet of 374 airplanes (compared to Emirates' 264 and Qatar Airways' 252), only Oceania is missing. Since the end of the pandemic, news has been circulating on social media about the imminent start of a connection between Istanbul and Australia, which, however, would not be non-stop, but with a 'stop' in Singapore and would therefore be uncompetitive with Emirates and Qatar Airways flights. An exact start date for flights has not yet been set, although there is talk of December and a three-weekly Boeing 787-9 connection to Melbourne via Singapore.
Turkish Airlines fleet
On some routes Turkish uses wide-body A330-300s and A330-200s, but on the vast majority of destinations and flights it uses Boeing 737s (-800, -900ER, MAX 8 and MAX 9), of which it has 80 in its fleet, and Airbus' narrow-body aircraft: A319s, A320s and A321s, which total 122.
Nearly two-thirds of the fleet is made up of small- to medium-sized aircraft, with the remaining third consisting of A330-300s and A330-200s (47), Boeing 787-9s (17), A350-900s (14) and Boeing 777-300ERs (35) and used on long-haul flights in North America, South America, West and Southern Africa, and Central and East Asia.
Not only in Europe, but also in Africa, the Middle East and former USSR countries, the network is widespread, thanks to the use of aircraft capable of making a profit in small to medium markets. So much so that comfort is sometimes sacrificed, as on the more than six-hour flights between Istanbul and East-Central Africa, operated with Boeing 737-900ERs and Airbus home-grown smalls.
The role of Istanbul's new airport
For years, Turkish's impetuous growth had had to contend with the bottleneck represented by Ataturk's airport, surrounded by Istanbul's suburbs, with only two runways and with undersized and outdated terminals. But as of October 29, 2018, Istanbul's new airport opened its doors. in an area north of the capital and with huge room for growth. Already equipped with a 1,400,000-square-meter terminal, five 'piers' and 143 boarding gates, it has five runways and in 2022 was the first airport in Europe and the seventh in the world by total number of passengers, with 71,820,000.
Hand in hand with the numbers, the quality of service on board (and, with the new airport, on the ground as well) has also grown: at the Skytrax Awards 2023, Turkish was voted 'Best Airline in Europe' for the eighth time and secured the award for the world's best catering in Business and Economy Class, having won countless awards in previous years as well. In short, the little ant has become a butterfly. Or, it would be better to say, a butterfly.
