 (New
Delhi Exclusive)—As Turkish Airlines
has grown over the past decade, Turkish Cargo—the rising star of
Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas (Miami service launching
October 25, 2015)—has performed a similar expansion below decks
and on a growing system of all-cargo services offered by the flag carrier.
The cargo network has not only expanded,
but there have also been continuous improvements, including the dazzling
“New
Landmark For Air Shippers” at Gateway Istanbul (reported here
earlier this month), underscoring progress in the Turkish Cargo infrastructure
and procedural processes.
Africa In
Real Time
Senior Vice President Ali Turk tells FlyingTypers
India and Africa rate high on the list of markets the carrier is expanding.
“Africa is indeed a hotspot for cargo,”
Ali said in an exclusive interview.
“The intensified infrastructural
development and discovery of natural resource deposits across African
countries has increased demand for reliable transport system for equipment,
spare parts, and industrial and agricultural products.
“Turkish Cargo has laid down plans
to meet this growing demand by expanding network across Africa, flying
over 43 airports in 27 countries and about 10 cargo freighter destinations.
“We continue to optimize belly-load
capacities of our narrow body flights as well as changing equipment to
wide body aircraft.
“We are also launching new freighter
destinations to increase capacity into and out of Africa.”
“The Turkish Cargo Africa Directorate
was established in Nairobi, Kenya, to facilitate and ensure the management
of clients requests and develop and explore available business opportunities
across Africa,” Ali said.
Turkish India Delivers The World
With forecast growth for 2015 a market-beating
“better than 6 percent,” saying India is optimistic may be
understating the situation.
Also, based on the blueprint from the current
government, steps to improve infrastructure and efficient logistics are
raising expectations of good fortune for the market.
“The Indian air cargo market has
fared well for us,” Ali Turk told FlyingTypers, “and
our new cargo transfer facility at Istanbul helps facilitate the demands
of the Indian cargo market, primarily pharmaceuticals and lifesaving drugs.
“We are there building the market
and meeting shipping requirements, even exceeding the need every step
of the way,” Ali said.
“Our upcoming plans will further
expansion, as seen in our recently launched freighter flights to Mumbai,
Delhi, and Hyderabad.
“South India has been a very important
sector to us.
“We started off with freighters to
the Hyderabad market to service the whole of the south, thus catering
to feeders from Chennai, Bengaluru, Cochin, etc.
“Great expectations for continued
development of the high potential are in our plan from Hyderabad market:
apart from the pharmaceutical business, there is Hyundai, auto parts,
vaccines, etc.
“Turkish Cargo will soon be starting
second freighter services into Hyderabad to balance the market demand
during the whole week.”
Market Challenges
In a recently published WB report, India
is ranked 132nd in terms of ‘ease of doing business' and a disheartening
166th in terms of ‘starting up new businesses.’
We asked Ali about doing business in India.
“The major challenges one faces while
doing business in India are lack of good infrastructure, insufficient
logistics, delay in approvals from regulatory bodies, lack of implementation
readiness, and a complex tax regime.
“But we are greatly heartened that
the government has assured the business community [it will] remove all
the hindrances and work towards encouraging people to start business in
India.
“The Prime Minister of India is determined
to achieve his dream of ‘Make in India.’”
Some other challenges are unannounced wildcat
strikes and heavy congestion during clearances, insufficient facilities,
and manpower issues.
New Airport
For Istanbul
“The
construction of the third and biggest airport in Istanbul has started,”
Ali Turk said.
“This airport, which will be completed
in three phases, is under construction in Arnavutköy district on
the European side of Istanbul, near the northern part of the peninsula.
“Expected to be fully operational
by the end of 2017, this airport will have six runways that can be used
simultaneously.
“The new airport will add capacity
to carry 150 million passengers and six million tons of cargo per year.
“In terms of size, the new passenger
terminal by comparison will be seven times bigger than the existing two
airports,” Ali Turk said.
Tirthankar Ghosh
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