Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines is Turkey’s flag carrier based in Istanbul. It operates regular flights to 220 foreign and 42 domestic airports in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Turkish Airlines flies to 120 countries, more than any other airline. The main hub of the airline is the New Istanbul Airport, secondary hubs are Esenboga International Airport, Ankara and Izmir.In 2006 and 2007, 17 million and 19.7 million passengers were carried through the airport, respectively. The airline has about 31,000 employees.

On April 1, 2008, the airline became a member of Star Alliance.

Subsidiary airlines are AnadoluJet, SunExpress, North Cyprus Airlines, Turkish Cargo and Air Albania.

The airline was established on May 20, 1933 as the State Aviation Administration (in Turkish, Devlet Hava Yolları İşletmesi İdaresi) (DHY). The first flights operated between Istanbul, Eskisehir and Ankara from August 1933.

In September 1937, the airline received three De Havilland D.H. 86b. In December of the same year, the fourth aircraft arrived. These aircraft were used on domestic routes between Istanbul, Eskisehir, Izmir, Ankara, Adana, Kayseri and Diyarbakir. The company received a new name — Devlet Hava Yolları Umum Müdürlüğü (DHY) in June 1938. The first regular international flight took place in 1947 to Athens, but the opening of long-haul flights to the Far East and across the Atlantic took place only 40 years later.

As a result of a major reorganization, on February 20, 1956, the airline became a mixed corporation, Türk Hava Yolları. In December 1990, 5% of the shares were sold. The government later sold 23.0% of the shares in December 2004 and 28.75% in May 2006.

Currently, 49% of the shares are owned by the state and 51% by private owners. In addition, 50% of the affiliated airline SunExpress is owned by Lufthansa. Turkish Airlines left the Qualiflyer group in 1999 as they could not be compatible with Swissair and Delta.

In December 2006, it was decided that Turkish Airlines would join Star Alliance. On April 1, 2008, Turkish Airlines entered the alliance as a full member.

In 2012-2015, it was among the top ten airlines in the world.