[AMcWhirter]

For year and year Turkish Airlines has expanded its European network.

Besides covering the main hub airports it has pursued a policy, especially in the Germany and the UK, of serving numerous secondary cities.

But the security situation in Turkey has led to a slump in visitor numbers.

Until now it is only some of the foreign airlines who have either cut flights or suspended operations to Turkey altogether.

Now comes news today via routesonline.com that Turkish Airlines is planning major capacity reductions to many European cities.

The flight cuts vary from destination to destination. They take effect from the start of the winter timetable.

In the case of London it appears that flight frequency to Heathrow will remain unchanged but there will be fewer flights to Gatwick.

For the UK as a whole there will be fewer services to Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Here is the complete list. But note that this is advance information and so is subject to change.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/268589/turkish-airlines-w16-europeshort-haul-service-changes-as-of-27aug16/

[Swissdiver]

This is not coming as a surprise. Beyond the obvious security situation, many are just happy to decline this airline in favour of better ones, using the security argument…

[AMcWhirter]

I’ve just seen details of some flight reductions which will take place on the airline’s long-haul network. There are also flight cuts on regional routes within the Middle East area.

In the case of North America it will mean flight reductions to New York JFK, Los Angeles and Atlanta. For example, in the case of Los Angeles the number of weekly flights will fall from 11 to seven while New York goes from three to two daily.

Flight reductions are from the start of the winter timetable. More changes may be made.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/268588/turkish-airlines-w16-inter-continental-service-changes-as-of-27aug16/

[JohnHarper]

From my regular use there is no doubt numbers are down on TK.

That said it seems much of it is traffic to Istanbul as a destination rather than transfer traffic which judging by the numbers in the terminal at IST remains healthy. There are some excellent deals on TK at the moment and for anyone wondering about safety do recall that after two major events in recent weeks involving IST no one made it airside who should not have done and security there is very tight.

ABBA.

[AMcWhirter]

Reuters reports that visitor numbers to Turkey have fallen by more than one-third. So it’s no surprise that both Turkish Airlines and many foreign carriers have or about to scale back their flight operations to Istanbul.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-tourism-idUSKCN1160YW

It had been thought that Turkish Airlines would be cutting a number of flights at the start of the winter schedule.

But the German language press is now reporting that Turkish Airlines will be axing three destinations: Karlsruhe, Friedrichshafen and Muenster.

[TominScotland]

Shortly after the abortive coup, a significant number of Turkish Airlines personnel were arrested for alleged links to Fethullah Gülen, the US-based cleric. Those arrested included flight crew. I have not been able to find any update as to whether they have been released and whether this may also be a factor behind route cut-backs?

Can anyone cast any light on this? It is really sad to see what is happening in Turkey at present and difficult to see things improving in the short-term.

[AnthonyDunn]

Tom, unsure of the definition of who or what a “Civil Servant” is in Turkey but the BBC television news channel were reporting yesterday that some 10,000 Turkish Civil Servants had just been sacked after the abortive coup attempt against Erdogan and the AK Partei. As THY Turkish is state owned, it might just be that this figure includes elements working for the airline.

[rferguson]

Apart from attracting O&D passengers I would imagine TK was trying to emulate the success of the ME3 in flying anywhere and everywhere especially second tier cities and connecting these cities via IST to the world. I flew TK ATL-IST last year and I would hazard a guess that around 30-40% of passengers were continuing onto the Indian subcontinent.

I guess despite the state support TK with the security issues at its home and intense competition from the ME3 was finding there isn’t much room for a (profitable) ‘ME4’.

[AMcWhirter]

Weak passenger demand means that TK will be grounding 30 aircraft.

Reports say that 12 x A330-300s are grounded in Antalya. Four A320s are grounded in Ankara. Others will follow.

Article from airliners.de in German language.

http://www.airliners.de/turkish-airlines-nachfrageschwaeche-maschinen/40157

[WillieWelsh]

I know some of the fleet are grounded but I was on TK three times last week between FRA-IST-Destination and all flights were full.

LH loss is clearly TK’s gain. I wonder how many will revert to LH after trying TK service. The fares were not inflated either.

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