http://in2eastafrica.net/turki...ghts-to-dar-in-june/

Sat, Apr 20th, 2013

Turkish Airlines to introduce daily flights to Dar in June

By In2EastAfrica Reporter


Effective next June passengers from Dar es Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport can enjoy daily direct flights to Turkish commercial capital, Istanbul’s Atuturk International Airport.

Turkish Airlines

Vice-President responsible for Marketing and Sales for Africa, Mevlut Kayar told visiting Tanzanian journalists yesterday here, that since its launch of direct flights between the two commercial capitals over three years ago, passengers have increased.

“Our passenger volume from Dar es Salaam has kept on increasing year after year and the route is one of our fastest growing in East Africa,” said Mr Mevlut, who said Tanzania rivals Kenya as fastest growing markets in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Currently, Turkish Airline flies five days a week from Dar es Salaam to Istanbul and also from Kilimanjaro to Istanbul via Mombasa. He paid tribute to Tanzanian government for the cooperation accorded to Europe’s third largest airline in terms of volumes of passengers handled per annum, which has enabled easy operation of the carrier.

“In Tanzania we have received the most support, doors have been opened for us and we thank the government and the people for that,” said Mavlut who pointed out that since introduction of the airline’s services, bilateral trade between Dar es Salaam and Istanbul have increased by 20 per cent annually.

“On our maiden flight to Dar es Salaam, we gave 100 free tickets to our businessmen to come and explore opportunities in your country,” said the Vice- President for Africa whose airline has just placed an order for a record 117 Airbus planes. With over 200 aircraft split between giant plane manufacturers, Boeing Inc of the United States and European Airbus.

Turkish Airlines is second only to German carrier, Lufthansa and Air France in Europe while ranks among the top ten in the world. “We are very proud of our customers from Tanzania and promise them the best of our services as we introduce daily flights from June 1, this year,” said Dar es Salaam based Country Director, Alper Kucuk.

Mr Kucuk says Turkish Airlines would like to see volumes of passengers from Tanzania increase by more than 100 per cent over the next five years, as Turkey provides affordable but quality medical services, trading opportunities and holiday destinations. Skynet named Turkish Airlines as Europe’s best airline for two years in a row between 2011 and last year because of good customer care.

By FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE, Tanzania Daily News