Turkish Airlines Can Be “Go-To” Source For Best Practices By A Global Air Carrier; Unique Position Given Its Sustained Global Marketing Campaign
Turkish Airlines Can Be “Go-To” Source For Best Practices By A Global Air Carrier
Unique Position Given Its Sustained Global Marketing Campaign
Istanbul, Turkey-based Turkish Airlines (2019 revenues approximately US$13.2 billion) is the national flag carrier of Turkey- with 359 aircraft serving 315 destinations making it the largest mainline carrier in the world. Turkish Airlines is a member of the 26-airline Star Alliance.
Through its global marketing campaign, Turkish Airlines has become increasingly the first interaction travelers have with Turkey.
Turkish Airlines is considered by many in the global community to be the face of the Republic of Turkey- Turkish Airlines is an Airborne Embassy and Turkish Cargo is an Airborne Chamber of Commerce.
This is particularly significant as Turkish Airlines services countries (and cities within those countries) that are not often served with daily flights by other air carriers.
Turkey’s tourism sector, with approximately 52 million visitors injecting more than US$34.5 billion in 2019, depends in large measure upon how the country is perceived- safe, welcoming, fun, good value per dollar spent.
Suggestions
Turkish Airlines should consider using a series of videos inserted into its Internet site to provide details about healthcare-related measures in place for the approximately 16,000 workers employed by Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA) to safeguard the approximately 74 million passengers using US$11 billion IST facility and by Turkish Airlines onboard its 359 aircraft.
Using videos, Turkish Airlines and IGA can take travelers “behind-the-scenes” to share the process for cleaning aircraft, cleaning terminals, preparing food (on board and within the terminals) and precautions taken by employees. Perhaps, consider having a well-known individual or individuals host the videos so that there is increased relatability and connectivity for viewers. The videos must be informative, but presented in a positive manner- in a similar narrative as onboard videos used by air carriers demonstrate safety procedures.
Important to demonstrate the specific procedures- the more information that is shared, the more confident will be travelers and investors in Turkish Airlines.
There is always risk with transparency. How today air carriers focus upon healthcare issues relating to COVID-19 may neither be sustainable nor desirable once COVID-19 has dissipated as a global pandemic.
However, customer concern and fear by governments will in part dictate the length and depth of impact upon individual air carriers.
Turkish Airlines can be the global air carrier to whom travelers look for the example of how an air carrier responds to a health emergency… and cares for its passengers and employees.
Price for travelers is always an important, and often the most important consideration when purchasing a ticket. However, how an air carrier visibly shared about its response to a global healthcare issue will have lasting impact for travelers, travel agents and tour operators.
