Turkish Airlines expands into KSA as Arabs seek out Turkey’s property mkt

প্রকাশিত: 12 May 2016, 8:10:27 pm

Turkish Airlines, winner of the best airline in Europe award for the fifth consecutive year and ranked 4th best in the world at the 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards, is planning to grow its global capacity by 21 per cent this year.

Building upon its ‘spectacular’ growth of the last decade, the airline will expand its fleet from 299 aircraft at the end of 2015 to 339 by the end of 2016, the carrier said in a statement.

As it increases its international presence, the airline is focused on its offering in the Middle East and has revealed plans to expand further into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Currently, Turkish Airlines is operating in seven destinations in Saudi Arabia including Jeddah, Riyadh, Madinah, Dammam, Yanbu, Taif and Al Qassim. The airline recently launched seven weekly flights from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Jeddah and Riyadh and four weekly flights to Medina.

Turkish Airlines Jeddah General Manager Muhammed Bilal Doner commented, “New destinations are in the offing and the airline will very soon start operating direct flights to Trabzon (TZX) and Ankara (ESB) from Jeddah (JED), Riyadh (RUH) and Madinah (MED).”

Turkish Airlines started its operations in Jeddah 37 years ago in 1979. Doner continued, “Since [then] we have succeeded in inaugurating 6 more destinations and achieved tremendous growth over the years, distinguished by the services and products offered to our customers. All these developments are indicating the importance we attribute to the Saudi Arabian market and… we are seeking to inaugurate other destinations in the Kingdom.”

According to TurkStat’s most recent figures, buyers from Saudi Arabia accounted for 9.5 per cent of all March’s property purchases to overseas citizens. Beaten only by Iraqi nationals who purchased 15.3 per cent, Saudi Arabian investors remain a dominant nationality in Turkish property with a growing number of them looking to the city of Istanbul and its active housing market. TurkStat confirms Istanbul’s title as the favourite province for overseas buyers, accounting for 36.56 per cent of all sales in March.

Adil Yaman, Director of Universal 21, the largest management company based in Istanbul, is confident about Turkey’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the growing level of interest in Istanbul’s thriving property market.

He explains, “As one of our key client nationalities, we speak with potential investors from Saudi Arabia on a regular basis and would expect their interest in Istanbul’s housing market to continue to grow throughout this year.