Decreasing oil prices to lower ticket prices, says Turkish Airlines head

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

The oil costs of Turkish Airlines have decreased by 4 percent, which will be reflected in ticket prices, the company's chairman Hamdi Topçu (R) has said.

The share of oil costs has decreased 34 percent from 38 percent due to the plunge in oil prices and this will push ticket prices down, Turkish Airlines Chairman Hamdi Topçu has said.

“There is an expectation of discounts in ticket prices with the plunge in oil prices. Our oil costs have decreased to 34 percent from 38 percent. This 4 percent decline in costs will be reflected in ticket prices,” Topçu said.

There has been a decreasing trend in ticket prices on average in the sector for the last two months, but the real drop would be visible in the summer months, he added.

“As long as oil prices do not increase, we expect more competitive pricing in the sector in the coming months,” Topçu said.

In response to a question on whether a ceiling price should be set or not, Topçu said price fixing moves should not be the case in free market economies, but the state can enter into the field "if the game is not fair."

He noted that Turkish Airlines makes some 85 percent of its revenue from foreign flights and 15 percent from domestic flights.

“We have flights to four continents and we feel seasonality less in setting our ticket prices. In this vein, we have already known we need to sell our tickets at fairer prices, as we compete with many foreign companies,” Topçu said.

The Turkish Airlines chairman added that the company now flies to 264 cities around the world, and to every country in Europe, being the second airline company that carries the most passengers in Europe, after Lufthansa.

“We reached $17.5 billion in revenue and 56 million passengers in 2014, as Turkey's second largest business group,” he said.