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Formed as DHY Devlet Havayolları İşletme İdaresi (Turkish state airlines) by the government of Turkey. First flight was conducted on Istanbul - Eskişehir - Ankara route with a Curtiss King Bird D-2, while its first international flight was from Istanbul to Athens on 12 February1947 operated by a Douglas DC-3 (TC-ABA). In March 1956 airline was restructured and airline was named to Türk Hava Yolları (THY). Turkish government retained majority share. In January 1958 first turboprop a Vickers Viscount was delivered. In August 1967 first jet aircraft joined fleet, a Douglas DC-9-15 leased from factory. Turkish also ordered Douglas DC-10 first of which joined the fleet in December 1972. In 1985, THY became Airbus customer when it ordered Airbus A310s to replace its aging fleet of Boeing 707s and 727s. In 1990 airline established SunExpress a charter airline - joint venture with Lufthansa. Turkish replaced its long-haul fleet of DC-10s and A310s with Airbus A340s, first of which arrived in July 1993. Its smaller version Airbus A330 joint fleet in December 2005. Airline experienced rapid growth since 2002. Its revenue almost doubled between 2006 and 2008 and in carried just over 22 million passengers in 2008. Low cost subsidiary AnadoluJet was formed in 2008 to take over of some domestic routes. Turkish serves most European hubs, has extensive Middle East network and its long haul operation span from Chicago and New York in North America to Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong in Far East and Johannesburg, Lagos, Dakar, Nairobi and Addis Ababa in sub saharan Africa. Turkish is also one of few airlines serving Baghdad. Turkish has most extensive network to Central Asia of any international airline. All former CIS capitals are served as well as Ufa, Kazan and Ekaterinburg in central Russia.
In April 2008 Turkish became official member of Star Alliance. 7 ex-Skymark A330-343's due to enter service with TK in 2017.
founded - demised (age)
May 18 1933 - present (92years)
headquarters
Ataturk Havalimani, Yesilkoy, Istanbul
web
base airports
related operators
current /stored fleet (414)
