THY's New 'Turkish Express' Starts Flying in October
By Mustafa Gun, Istanbul
Published: Sunday, January 08, 2006
zaman.com
Turkish Airlines (THY) will begin flights from Europe with its new brand named “Turkish Express” as of October.
For the new brand, THY will use Boeing 737-400 and Boeing 737-800 type planes, which will carry Turkish passengers from countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands to Ankara. THY is preparing to enter the market with a new brand in order to compete with the “low cost carrier” companies in Europe. A project named “Turkish Express” was developed for the new brand, which will operate within the company. According to the project, the 15 percent saving, which will be provided with the changes in the seats and other services will be reflected on to the ticket prices. The ticket price for flying from Düsseldorf to Istanbul, which is 200 euros normally, will recede to 180 euros. In addition, the passengers who will come from different European cities, will be transferred to Anatolian cities by plane.
THY is now preparing an extensive report about its new brand, Turkish express. The report will be sent to the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim and the Civil Aviation Directorate. Minister of Transportation Yildirim told he warned THY about the new brand. “When you take a decision, analyze it in depth. Do not say, we wish we had not done this before,” said Yildirim as he told he learned about the project from the newspapers first and then informed by the company management later. Emphasizing they are against “announcing an idea as a project”, Yildirim said, “You will work on the project, get permission from the management and then set up your company. They do not even need to ask about this. I warn them as I warn the others.” The minister told that THY is the only national airlines company, even if a new brand is offered, the main brand will have higher preference.
It seems TK will try to convert ESB into the new Hub for TK-Express,trying to avoid to harm traditional TK business in IST.
Ankara has always been the badly served capital of Turkey but by introducing fare-sensitiv trafic from ethnic travellers (mainly from Germany,Holland and north of France ), the plan could prove to be working.
Pe@rson From United Kingdom (England), joined Jan 2001, 15171 posts, RR: 53 Reply 1, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 651 times:
I smell disaster already, especially as main airline subsidaries seldom seem to work.
Quoting Beaucaire (Thread starter): The ticket price for flying from Düsseldorf to Istanbul, which is 200 euros normally, will recede to 180 euros.
20 EUR saving? LOL. So you're going to have to accept less service and less legroom and simply save 20 EUR?!
Beaucaire From Syria, joined Sep 2003, 4965 posts, RR: 23 Reply 2, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 633 times:
Pe@rson - stop critizising anything that is not related to Ryanair- for many ethnic travellers to central Anatolia this is an improvement,as it seems the connecting flights to and from Ankara are provided in the ticket-price.
Too early to comment but TK-Express will become a great tool for transporting low-revenue customers from central Euripe to Anatolia. Just give some credit to the project befor flaming it already - you've been listening too much MOL crap !!!!
Pe@rson From United Kingdom (England), joined Jan 2001, 15171 posts, RR: 53 Reply 3, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 607 times:
I will criticise whatever I want, whenever I want and however I want - thank you very much.
Granted, it might mean it's even easier and less time-consuming to travel to central and eastern Turkey from parts of Europe (I think I like, in theory at least, the idea of more flights to ANK, with onward services), but I have a feeling that its frequencies won't be that good, so its convenience and choice advantages will be somewhat underminded. Furthermore, I see little point in creating a subsidary firm when the fares are going to be merely 20 EUR less than the parent firm's prices. It creates a lot more bureaucracy. It's less simple. It might cause brand distortion. Also, if TK itself concentrated on increasing flights, if that is what Turkish Express is going to do, and reduced its fares, then its passengers would benefit from the possibility of more connection possibilities, good punctuality, good reliability, good comfort, and onboard service. If Turkish Express is going to compete with other low-cost airlines to and from Turkey, then it will need to ensure it offers the best frequencies - and thus the best choice, convenience and flexibility; the best prices; the best reliability; the best punctuality; and the best simple customer service. 180 EUR seems awfully high if there's going to be a reduction in service and other things.
Beaucaire From Syria, joined Sep 2003, 4965 posts, RR: 23 Reply 4, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 596 times:
I would not jump to hasty conclusions based on an early announcement for a ticket price that is not even available yet.
There will be competition from european carriers into Turkey which might force TK Express to review their fares.Since we are at least 6 months away from any intial flights- let's wait and see...
Once Easyjet will start flights into Turkey,things will become more precise !
Also I don't exclude Air Berlin to jump into the market and serve non-warm water destinations in TK as well.
TriStar500 From Germany, joined Nov 1999, 4605 posts, RR: 38 Reply 5, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 588 times:
Quoting Beaucaire (Thread starter): The ticket price for flying from Düsseldorf to Istanbul, which is 200 euros normally, will recede to 180 euros.
Sorry, but such a 10% reduction doesn't really make this venture a "low cost" one. Sounds like a lot of hot air and very late jump onto the no frills bandwaggon... for now.
Homer: Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!
Pe@rson From United Kingdom (England), joined Jan 2001, 15171 posts, RR: 53 Reply 6, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 584 times:
Quoting Beaucaire (Reply 4): I would not jump to hasty conclusions
I am not. I am a very calculated person - I consider it from lots of different angles. Which is one explaination as to why I have numerous complaints - and ways to improve without increasing costs - against Ryanair.
Why would a would-be airline announce that a fare is going to be so high in comparison to TK's normal fare? I hope this is not indicative of the way in which it will be run.
Quoting TriStar500 (Reply 5): Sounds like a lot of hot air and very late jump onto the no frills bandwaggon... for now.
Bahadir From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1047 posts, RR: 8 Reply 7, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 474 times:
TK offers very low fares compared to other mainline airlines in Europe. My IST-FRA flight 2 days ago was much better experience than the FRA-IST on LH 3 weeks ago.
TK cannot be a low cost,with thousands of workers, heavy union and politics presence. They should stick to what they do best, provide a good service as a mainline airline.
At the same time, let's discuss the monopoly THY holds in slot controls, marketing and having the government to lean on...
TK787 From United States, joined Jan 2006, 1668 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 392 times:
Anyone knows if this is the real name or a project name?
"Turkey Express" sounds too much like an airline serving turkeys, and bad timing during this bird flu outbreak. Also still very close to "Midnight Express", the film. Hard to believe it was made in 1978 and it is the first thing everyone thinks of when meeting a person from Turkey.
"Kebab Air" couldn't be any worse than "Turkey Express" for a name.
Bahadir From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1047 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (2 years 10 months 3 weeks 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 361 times:
Quoting TK787 (Reply 8): "Kebab Air" couldn't be any worse than "Turkey Express" for a name.
Once again, I think this is a bad idea. I know most of the European routes are low yield ones but sliding business class is the solution for it.
You are correct TK787, Kebab Air would be a better name... In some other news media it was reported as "Turkish Express".. I hope it is project name...
Other names for the project:
- Dolmus Air
- Air Taksim
- TT airlines (I still cannot get over that)
- Magirus Air
- Air Besiktas
- Taksi Jet
- Turkish Light
- Turkish Delight (lokum gibi havayolu will be the motto)
- TUH - Turk "Ucuz" havayollari (ucuz = cheap, but "Tuh" is an exclamation for a job done half ass)
Sponsor Message: 
From Syria, joined Sep 2003, 4965 posts, 
.gif){kind=small}
From United Kingdom (England), joined Jan 2001, 15171 posts, 
From Germany, joined Nov 1999, 4605 posts, 
From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1047 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
