TURKISH Airlines, one of the airline companies operating in the country, is restructuring its flight capacity in response to growing demands for its services in Africa.
As part of the restructuring, the airline commenced daily flights from Accra to Istanbul on June 5 this year. It was initially flying four times a week from Ghana to Istanbul.
Turkish Airlines has also started flying to Abidjan, bringing to two the number of new destinations it has added to its routes in recent times. The other route is Kigali, Rwanda.
The Managing Director of Turkish Airlines Ghana, Mr Engin Akbas, said in an interview in Turkey that the company was also working at increasing its flight capacity in Abuja and Kano, both in Nigeria.
He said the decision to fly daily from Ghana to Istanbul was as a result of the good business climate in the country.
He spoke to the paper during a familiarisation tour to Turkey organised by the airline for its travel and tour agents. The event was to help update the knowledge and skills of the airlines’ agents to enable them market its services to the public.
Mr Akbas said Turkish Airlines was aiming at increasing its presence in the continent to help meet the growing needs of its clients within.
The company currently flies to 20 destinations in Africa. The plan, according to the MD was to increase that figure to 23 by the end of 2012.
“Our target now is to cover Africa. We have chosen Africa over other continents because we have realised that Africa is now growing and that, it is the best place to do business now”, he said.
He also disclosed that the airline was making arrangements to introduce cargo flights in addition to the passenger ones,following the high demand for such services on the continent.
He said Turkish Airlines’ resort to professionalism in the areas of catering and general flight attendance had won it numerous clients across the continent and hoped that their customer base will increase in the coming years.
The Commercial Manager of Turkish Airlines Ghana, Mr Umit Turşin, said the trip was to help expose the agents to Turkey “so that they can market it well”.
“Most Ghanaians are not properly aware of Turkey and the few that do, do not know more about the country. Most people think it is an Arab or Asian country but we can begin to clear people’s mind that it is centered in Europe. Turkey is like a bridge”, he explained to the agents during the visit.
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