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  Turkish Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  TK/THY

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Istanbul Airport

  Year Founded:

  1933

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  CEO:

  Bilal Ekşi

  Country:

  Turkey

Turkey and Brazil are looking to strengthen their commercial ties and there’s a possibility that Turkish Airlines could open a new route connecting Istanbul Airport (IST) and Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport (GIG). Let’s investigate further.

Turkish interest in Brazil

Turkish Airlines has signaled serious interest in the Brazilian market in the last few days. Last week, the Turkish carrier signed a codeshare agreement with Brazil’s GOL. The deal allows increasing connectivity and route options for passengers of both airlines.

On Monday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, signaled Turkish Airlines could be interested in launching a new route from Istanbul Airport to Brazil. The carrier could announce flights to Rio de Janeiro, he said.

“By launching these direct flights, of course, we will be able to increase the number of tourists,” Mr Cavusoglu said, as reported by Turkey’s news state agency, Anadolu.

Brazil is Turkey’s most significant commercial partner in the Latin American region, with a commercial volume of well over US$5 billion. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 100,000 Brazilian people traveled to Turkey. The goal is to exceed that number and get to 150,000, said Turkey’s Foreign Minister.

Currently, Turkish Airlines is the only player in the market between both countries. It has one daily flight from Istanbul Airport to São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), employing the Airbus A350-900 and putting up over 2,300 seats available weekly.

Turkish Airlines in Latin America

Beyond Oceania, the Latin America & Caribbean region is where Turkish Airlines have fewer flights. According to Cirium, Turkish Airlines currently operates 36 weekly flights to the Latin American region. That’s 0.3% of Turkish’s weekly operations worldwide.

Turkish Airlines flies to Mexico City, São Paulo, and Bogotá daily, employing its Boeing 777-300ER, Airbus A350-900, and Boeing 787-9 fleets respectively. In each city, it puts up at least 2,100 seats available per week.

Additionally, Turkish Airlines flies to Caracas and Buenos Aires (via São Paulo) four times per week and to Havana three times per week. Turkish deploys its Dreamliners fleet to Venezuela and Cuba, and to Buenos Aires, it employs its A350 jetliners.

Compared to 2019 levels, Turkish Airlines has added two new routes (Caracas and Mexico City) but still has to fully recover the capacity deployed previously to Buenos Aires.

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Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER has a capacity for 349 passengers (49 flatbed seats in business and 300 standard seats in economy); the Airbus A350-900 can carry 329 travelers, 32 in business and 297 in economy, and the Boeing 787-9 has a capacity for 300 passengers, 30 in business and 270 in economy.

Turkish Airlines in 2021

Last year, Turkish Airlines carried 44.7 million passengers, increasing by 60.24% the number of travelers it had, compared to 2020. Nonetheless, Turkish Airlines traffic numbers still remained nearly 40% down compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline’s load factor in 2021 was 67.86%, still 13 percentage points down compared to 2019, when it had a load factor of 81.61%.

Would you like to see a flight between Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro operated by Turkish Airlines? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Anadolu Agency, ch-aviation.