Turkish Airlines teams up with exporters

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines has inked a cooperation protocol with the Türkiye Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) to offer discounted cargo prices for dozens of destinations.

Under the deal, the flag carrier will offer discounts between 5 to 30 percent for cargo weighing more than 1 ton to be delivered to 40 destinations in 31 countries.

Turkish Airlines will deliver regular goods as well as perishable products such as fruits, vegetables, fish and eggs.

Turkish Cargo was the fastest growing air cargo carrier in the world in 2021 and 2022 and increased its share in the market to 5 percent, said Ahmet Bolat, the chairman of Turkish Airlines’ board and executive committee, noting that with its performance Turkish Cargo was ranked fourth among the top air cargo companies in the world.

Bolat recalled that the carrier previously signed two protocols with the TİM during the pandemic to deliver exporters’ cargos to different destinations.

The latest agreement inked with the TİM foresees creating an export volume of $2.1 billion, he added.

“Türkiye’s average export range is presently 3,065 kilometers, but we want to increase this to the world average of 4,744 kilometers,” said Mustafa Gültepe, the president of the TİM.

This year, exports by air have reached $10.3 billion and 158,000 tons of goods were delivered by air cargo, he added.

Turkish Airlines reported earlier this month that its cargo revenues soared 140 percent in January-September this year from the same period of 2019 to $2.92 billion.