Tourism & Hospitality | Tuesday 8 May, 2018 3:29 pm |

Turkish Airlines, the airline that flies to more countries than any other airline, organised the second edition of the Black Sea MENA Tourism and Investment Summit in Ordu, Turkey from 4th to 6th of May.

 

The summit saw the attendance of businessmen, travel agencies, social media influencers, and press representatives with an overall presence of over 200 attendees from more than 15 different countries. This year’s summit also saw the participation of the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.

 

This year, Turkish Airlines celebrated their most recent results of the first quarter and looked back over the last year over their accomplishments, giving thanks to their agencies, and partners in the MENA Region. Muhammed Fatih Durmaz, Vice President of Sales, Middle East and Cyprus, Turkish Airlines addressed attendees and highlighted the increasing tourism and investment potential of the Black Sea region in which traffic has grown by 79% since 2015.

 

The city of Ordu, one of the main cities in the Black Sea region is known for its beauty and nature, but it is also turning into a cultural and commercial center, attracting tourists from all over the world as thousands come to the region to spend a week in relaxation, enjoy mouth-watering dishes, and take in the greenery of its nature.

 

Turkish Airlines has regular flights to Trabzon and Ordu-Giresun airports, which has attracted thousands of tourists in the recent years. In 2017, Trabzon received over 147,000 through Turkish Airlines’ direct flights from the MENA region.

 

During the Summit, Mr. Durmaz also announced that the opening of the new Istanbul Airport will be taking place in Q4 of 2018. With traffic growing, the need for more widebody aircrafts will increase as the once completed airport will be able to accommodate 200 million passengers per year, in the long term. It is also a testament to their major growth in the last few years.

 

With open and direct routes from the Middle East to the black sea and Mediterranean regions, the Middle East has become one of Turkish Airlines’ most profitable regions to date.

Just in the first quarter of 2018, increase in demand and total number of passengers was 22% higher than the same period of last year. The total number of passengers from the Middle East region was 5.6 million last year.

 

Furthermore, during the first quarter the total Load Factor in ME flights improved by 6.5 points. And the International Load Factor increased by 7 points by recording the highest load factor in Turkish Airlines history for the first quarter.

 

Commenting on these results, Mr. Durmaz said, “Our network expansion in 2017 has been a pivotal step in supporting the increasing customer demand in all our markets, including the Middle East. Through new and innovative features, as well as having a growing fleet, our aim is to provide customers with the best possible options, both in terms of new destinations and innovative products and services.”