“THY's daily consumption of jet fuel may increase by nearly 50 tons, as the flights to the Gulf region should take 15 to 20 minutes longer on average,” Güntay Şimşek, who is in charge of the TV program “Airport,” has told Today's Zaman. A ton of jet fuel costs around $1,000; thus, due to the ban, THY will spend an estimated extra $1.5 million per month.
The Hajj period, which is getting near, will surely increase costs for THY. Turkey has a quota of 74,000 people for Hajj, and all of them will travel to Saudi Arabia by plane in the following days, as travel by a land route is impossible, Iraq being not safe either.
But Uğur Cebeci, who is in charge of a TV program titled ‘Cockpit,' believes the additional cost of a longer itinerary won't represent a major amount for THY. Cebeci, who expects the additional cost to be even a little less than what Şimşek imagined, has told Today's Zaman, “These are small figures for the aviation industry.”
THY may even compensate the loss it will incur due to the longer itinerary by better organizing its flights within Turkey, he maintained. When flying from one destination to another in Turkey, THY sometimes needs to take an indirect route to comply with the instructions of the Civil Aviation General Directorate (SHGM). “This issue should also be brought up,” Cebeci said.
Amman, Jeddah, Medina, and Dubai are some of the main destinations that THY is flying to in the Gulf region. THY flies to Amman twice a day, to Jeddah three times a day, but as the Hajj period is about to begin, the number of flights from Turkey to Saudi Arabia is to greatly increase.
But the increase in flight time may not be as great as estimated. Emrah Çakmak, head of the Foundation of Turkish Airlines Pilots, traveled to Amman the day the ban took effect. “The flight took only nine minutes longer than it used to,” he told Today's Zaman, adding he doesn't expect the duration of flights to other destinations in the region to get any longer than that.
THY, which got the title of best airline company in Europe last year, is also the company traveling to the most countries in the world. According to the Official Airline Guide published by the UBM Aviation, THY, with flights to 90 countries, as of Oct. 1, has become the “company that flies to the most countries.”