Turkey to cap domestic flight prices very soon

ANKARA - Reuters

Turkish Minister of Transport Yıldırım announced the country’s new transportation targets for the coming decades during a meeting yesterday. AA photo

The Turkish government has completed works aiming at setting a ceiling price on domestic flights, and the new rules will be applicable just after the Feast of Sacrifice, Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım said during the Transportation Council meeting yesterday.

“The General Directorate of Civil Aviation created an average price by examining the existing prices on domestic flights for the last one year. We have already completed our talks with the airlines. Now we are about to announce the final word,” Yıldırım said.

He added that the final decision would be taken this week. “Many people had already acquired their tickets [for the Feast holiday] and there had also been many people who had bought tickets online. Therefore, the new rules will most probably be applicable after the Feast,” he noted.

He also said that it was of great importance to not prevent the campaigns of flying cheaper when the new rules become applicable.

Sector representative said some last minute ticket prices may increase by up to 400 or 450 Turkish Liras, and they expected the ceiling prices to be around 300 liras.

“The new ceiling price will decrease the airline’s revenues per flight significantly, so they will most probably decrease the number of their promotional tickets,” a sector representative said.

New targets

Turkey’s new transportation targets were also discussed during the meeting, Minister Yıldırım said.

“Our most ambitious transportation targets are related to the railways in the next decade. We also aim at increasing the number of medium and large-sized airplanes to 750 from 371,” he noted.

Yıldırım added that the government had also started to work on the targets for 2035.

“Turkey will be one the countries which participates in the space shuttle programs by 2035. We’ll send an observation shuttle to the Moon. And we’ll also generate electricity by sending solar panels to space, then bringing the energy to the earth by using radio frequencies,” he said.

The transportation sector aims to increase its share to 17.8 percent in 2023 from 13.3 percent now, and the volume of railways up to 25,000 kilometers from 11,000 km.