Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON
A new Turkish regional airline will launch services in December, backed by major Turkish conglomerate Park Holdings. The carrier has signed an agreement to purchase five new Avro RJ100s
Park, which has divisions trading in energy, textiles and general services, has formed Park Express and recruited former THY Turkish Airlines chairman Atilla Çelebi to head the project. Çelebi is also chairman of Park's airport ground handling division, Havas, which is a joint venture with Swissair.
The airline, which is in the process of obtaining operating licences, has just signed a contract with Aero International (Regional) for five new 112-seat Avro RJ100s, with deliveries starting in late 1998. The cash deal includes an unspecified number of options.
"THY does not have enough capacity to meet the demand of domestic routes - average load factors are between 80% and 90%," says Çelebi, who is aiming to make Park Express a low cost operation to enable domestic services to be competitive and profitable. He says that the Turkish Government is trying to encourage private airlines to enter the domestic market by providing subsidies for such items as landing fees.
"We will initially fly between Istanbul, Ankara and the major Turkish cities in the south and east, with international destinations such as Vienna, Tel Aviv and the Black Sea cities added within a year of start-up," he says. There is great potential in the market, says Çelebi, for operating routes not now served, as well providing a capacity boost in markets where THY is already flying. Outline discussions have been held on a link up with the national airline, which could see Park operating some routes for THY "perhaps under franchise", he says.
In the longer term, Çelebi has ambitions to add larger longer range aircraft, and to serve long haul destinations.
Source: Flight International
