Turkish marks 5 years of Kathmandu flights

Turkish Airlines marked five years of is Kathmandu-Istanbul connection with a fun-filled afternoon of entertainment at Gokarna Forest Resort last Friday. Nepali Times spoke to Turkish Airlines General Manager for Nepal, Abdullah Tuncer Kececi at the event. Excerpts:

Nepali Times: How do you assess the past five years of your airline connecting Nepal to the world?

Abdullah Tuncer Kececi: With the launch of its first flight to Nepal in 2013, Turkish Airlines has been exposing its unique hospitality and quality service to the market, and promoting Nepal as a tourism destination. With our ever-expanding fleet and by flying to 122 countries, the worldwide network has worked as an advantage for Nepal.

In 2018, we increased our capacity by 12% compared to the previous year. We have resumed daily flights this year, and we plan to make it daily all year round from next year. Since 2013, the trade volume between Turkey and Nepal has increased five fold. In addition, we are focusing on the 2 million tourist target of Visit Nepal 2020 and we are working to be the major contributor to reach this goal.

What would you say are your unique selling points in the Nepal aviation sector? 

Turkish Airlines has been investing heavily on customer satisfaction within the past years and is trying to bring out new products to passengers. Within this scope, Turkish Airlines strives to be one of the top major global airlines. Through its strong network and state of the art service, we hope to offer our guests a seamless travel experience.

And where does Istanbul’s new airport fit into all this? 

Istanbul has been one of the most important cities in the world, and has a unique geographic advantage for global aviation. Our new hub at Istanbul Airport will service 90 million passengers per year, but after the completion of all phases, its service capacity will reach to 200 million passengers a year. The first terminal is the biggest terminal building under one roof in the world with an area of 1.3 million sq m. It will also have world’s largest airport duty free, and the airport will be revolutionary in terms of the use of new technology and service implementation, and our passengers can take advantage of it services and comfort.

What are your future plans for Turkish Airlines in Kathmandu?It may be worth remembering that we are not just an airline. We are the flag carrier of the Turkish Republic, and representative of Turkish hospitality. So along with bridging Nepal with rest of the world, we aim to continue bridging our cultures. By ever expanding fleet and flight network, we will continue to be the main supporter for Nepal’s tourism and trade. Parallel to the tourism targets of the country, we will be increasing our frequency. Since we came here as the best airline of Europe, we will continuously work together with all stake holders of aviation industry.

Read also: Turkish marks 4 years in Nepal

Turkish Airlines continues its growth trend

The Istanbul Stopover, Tsering Dolker