Turkish Airlines plans large hiring next year

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines plans to hire 2,600 new cabin crew members and 1,200 pilots in 2023, Bilal Ekşi, the general manager of the flag carrier has said, adding that the company targets more than 10 percent growth next year.

“In 2003, the number of cabin crew was 1,579, but it increased eight times to reach 12,841 in 2022. There were 651 pilots [in Turkish Airlines] in 2003, their number climbed to 5,793,” Ekşi said.

He also noted that Turkish Airlines had 65 airplanes in 2003, ranking 35th in the world in terms of the fleet size, but currently the flag carrier is ranked ninth globally.

“Turkish Airlines, which flew to 52 countries in 2003, now has flights to 342 destinations and 129 countries from Istanbul.”

Meanwhile, the flag carrier resumed its flights to Tokyo’s Narita airport on Dec. 16 after two years. Turkish Airlines had to suspend flights to Narita due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the first eleven months of 2022, Turkish Airlines carried a total of 66.3 million passengers, 3.7 percent lower than the travelers the company served in the same period of 2019.

The international passenger tally grew 5.6 percent compared with January-November 2019 to 42.7 million people, while domestic passengers fell 17 percent to around 24 million.

The carrier boosted its seat capacity from 68,321 to 79,595, while the number of airplanes in its fleet increased from 348 to 393.

Total revenues of Turkish Airlines soared 37 percent in the first nine months of 2022 from the same period of 2019 to reach $13.65 billion, with net operating profit rising 369 percent to $2.1 billion. The company’s net income grew more than 398 percent to $2.52 billion in January-September 2022.