Turkish Airlines sees Dublin Airport as potential ‘gateway to Atlantic’

Turkish Airlines still regards Dublin Airport as a potential transatlantic hub despite unsuccessful efforts to broker a partnership with with Aer Lingus two years ago, according to its chief executive, Dr Temel Kotil.

The airline is preparing to increase its existing service from Dublin to Istanbul from eight to 12 flights a week on April 1st, and Dr Kotil indicated that it could ultimately increase this to four times daily.

He said that Turkish Airlines, ranked 10th in the world on the basis of international passengers, aims to operate four flights a day on all the routes which it operates.

He added that his company regarded Dublin Airport as a potential “gateway to the entire Atlantic”.

He confirmed that two years ago, the airline began talks with Aer Lingus regarding a possible partnership that would involve Turkish feeding passengers to transatlantic services operated by the Irish carrier.

Non-disclosure agreement
However, while the two airlines entered into a non-disclosure agreement, no deal was ever done.

Dr Kotil pointed out that taking a stake in the Irish airline was not attractive to Turkish as non-EU airlines are barred from taking more than 49 per cent in carriers based within the union.

While he did not rule out attempting to develop Dublin as a transatlantic hub in the future, either on its own or with a partner, he said that Turkish Airlines now had other priorities. “There are other things that we are working on,” he said.

Turkish is 49 per cent state-owned and the majority of its shares are publicly traded. The group generated $600 million in operating profits from $8.3 billion revenues in 2012.

Sales for 2013, when it carried close to 50 million passengers, were $9.75 billion.

Growing fleet
It is aiming for a turnover of more than $11 billion in its 2014 financial year. The airline has ordered 263 new craft, a combination of Boeing and Airbus, and intends to increase its fleet to 435 planes by 2021.

Dr Kotil is president of the Association of European Airlines. His committee includes International Airlines Group chief executive, Irishman Willie Walsh.

He warned that the proliferation of smaller airlines in the EU over the last decade was unsustainable. He also argued that both national governments and Brussels needed to put in place a regulatory framework that allows the sector to continue growing in Europe.

Dr Kotil singled out ownership rules and unnecessarily strict visa rules, which hinder travel between countries, as areas that were in need of reform.

Possible opportunity
Meanwhile, Dr Kotil agreed that the recent exit of Thomas Cook from Dublin had left a possible opportunity for Sun Express, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and German flag-carrier Lufthansa to fly from Dublin to Antalya, a popular golf destination in southwestern Turkey.

However, he said there were no immediate plans to operate a service there.

Sun Express recently ordered 50 737s from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing.