As a first question,
before we get to the history, services of Turkish
Airlines here, in Kazakhstan, I'd like to get an
overview of the transport sector in Kazakhstan and
its future.
We, Turkish Airlines, started our activities
here 10 years ago. Since that time, we had an
constant increase. We started with 5 000 flights
per year, now it is almost 30 000 flights, not
just to Turkey, but also especially via Turkey.
As for my personal opinion, the business will
increase here more during the next years. Kazakhstan
tourists like to travel, business is also developing
very fast - it all promises a good future for
Kazakhstan. What about the government? It provides
support to those companies working not only in
transport sector but also in other sectors and
industries. I have been working here for 2 years
only and in those 2 years I saw a lot of problems
solved with the government support.
Could you, please, give us more information
on services and history of Turkish Airlines here,
in Kazakhstan? As you have already said Turkish
Airlines has been here for 10 years, starting
with 2 flights a week and now having 5 flights
per week. What can you say about your growth in
the transport sector?
Turkish Airlines started its activity in 1992
with 2 flights per week, providing an international
agreement between Kazakhstan and Turkey. The contract
was signed between Nazarbayev and Sultan Demirel
at that time because Turkey recognized the independence
of Kazakhstan within 17 hours. Following this
contract Turkish Airlines came to Kazakhstan,
it was difficult at the first time, but relations
improved and then we were invited to fly to and
from Kazakhstan. Other big companies, especially
Lufthansa and KLM would like to develop at the
same pace, but it does not always work. KLM for
example had 5 flights/week and now only 4 flights/week.
Could you tell use about your clients flying
to Kazakhstan and out of Kazakhstan?
There are big differences between the airlines
because Lufthansa carries flights from Europe
to Kazakhstan, while KLM is 50/50 meaning that
they also fly from Kazakhstan to Europe. Turkish
Airlines carry 90% from Kazakhstan, especially
Kazakhs; there are not as many Turkish people
in Kazakhstan as before (15-19 thousand Turkish
people lived in Almaty) - only 2500 people today.
Although the biggest market share is that of Turkish
Airlines, Lufthansa possesses 19%, KLM 6%. We
are the biggest one. The number one among the
foreign companies working here. Most of our clients
are locals, people flying to Europe. We have an
advantage because if you fly to Istanbul, the
distance is shorter than with KLM, Lufthansa -
flying via Istanbul is better to reach Europe.
Another advantage for us, is that Kazakh people
feel close to Turkey, as they have similar language
roots.
You think it's better for you to be involved
in the local market because of the language?
Yes, I'm sure. Another important reason for our
passengers is that if they buy ticket to Europe,
they go without visa to Istanbul. That's why Turkish
Airlines is more attractive to Kazakhs; they can
visit 2 countries buying one ticket only. They can
visit it for shopping, site-seeing etc. There is
a lot of shopping-travel between October and March
from Kazakhstan. Approximately 60-65 people per
flight go to Istambul for shopping. Also, KLM is
more expensive … therefore customers are different.
We try to be proactive and understand our passengers.
For example we created special flights / prices
for CIS passengers depending on the seasons. We
have a winter, December schedule: Marmaris, Bodrum,
Antalia - it is a paradise for tourists, a lot of
places to visit. We have a lot of charter flights
to Turkey.
What about the services of Turkish Airlines
in Kazakhstan? What kind of VIP service do you
have: inside the CIS, inside Kazakhstan?
Our passengers from Istanbul or somewhere else may
travel to Almaty, and then they may continue their
way to Astana. There is no big difference between
services, almost the same for aircrafts and airbuses.
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What are you doing
to improve your image? A lot of people travel to
Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul, are you trying to
expand, to distinguish yourself somehow from the
others?
We started such activities 2 years ago. All the
big companies are present here and we would like
to work with them, but Lufthansa and KLM started
to conquer this market before. We can get some
part of this market but in order to do it, we
need to improve all the time. We do a lot of sponsored
and events. We do have very important clients
from USA Embassy, UNDP. They would like to use
our services not only for the private services
but also for business trips.
How do you differentiate your company from the
others companies? May be a question of price?
We have some very special prices; a lot of companies
working in Kazakhstan have a lot information about
us. There are a lot of colorful magazines, some
promotion agencies, and staff agents working with
passengers. We deal with the best travel agencies
in town. We provide our passengers with gifts
ex. mobile phones. For those passengers who bought
their tickets in November - we had 6 VIP tickets
to Marmaris, Bodrum, Lufthansa, also mobile phones.
Another advantage of Turkish Airlines is that
we provide both business and economic classes;
we have special discounts for groups. If they
fly together from somewhere international route
- one pays 100%, another pays 50%. This is also
for the family - we provide senior passenger discounts,
student discounts, children discounts, income
discounts. We are trying to attract our clients.
Lufthansa and KLM is a good choice for passengers,
but once they understand the advantages of Turkish
Airlines they will for ever fly with us. One more
thing - we provide a good connection and transportation.
What are the new connections you plan to start,
what are your future plans, destinations in CIS
via Almaty?
Our last connection was Atyrau, but unfortunately
the capacity of our aircraft was not very suitable
for it. Astana is also not a good market. The
good thing is to travel via Almaty, 2 years ago
we started to have a connections flight with Ashgabad,
Bishkek, Moscow, Tashkent.
What are your future plans, concerning flights/week,
what are your special aims, commercial aspects?
Concerning the flights - we have increase in
the number of passengers. But nobody knows exactly
what our profits will be with 7 flights/week.
Our income was $5 mln., today it is 3 times more
than last year. We are flying 80 points all over
the world with Turkish Airlines. In Almaty there
are more than 20 flights a week. Last week Almaty
conducted 17 flights in 61 countries via Almaty.
And it is not normal. Usually we have much more
flights there. We hope in January Almaty will
become number one.
What was your biggest challenge here, what
was your greatest achievement?
Turkish Airline worked as a monopoly 2 years
ago,close to travel agencies, Zhybek, etc. all
this changed 2 years ago. We started with 5 agencies
only, today we have 33 agencies. Now what is very
important: we have more profits since we have
changed our policy, we have better supervision
advertisement campaign. Now we are more flexible,
we can sponsor some events. In November 2000 we
had $76 thousand, today we have over $1 mln. profit.
This is our biggest achievement for the last 2
years.
What is your final message to our readers?
I believe that market will increase very much; more
Kazakh people will find money and visit Turkey.
I hope that Atyrau Airport will improve its runway,
since there are a lot of oil companies working there,
and they will get good results. All the passengers
are welcome. |
