Turkish Airlines CEO: "Turkey's foreign policy has given US a boost"

Turkey's foreign policy has boosted the growing business of Turkish Airlines (THY), the air carrier's CEO Temel Kotil said over the weekend. "The lifting of visa requirements [with several countries] has raised the number of our flights," Kotil said, speaking at a panel on the economic benefits of a new airport in Edremit, in the northwestern province of Balikesir. Noting that the Gulf of Edremit, a popular destination for Turkish tourists, is also home to prominent olive and olive oil producers, Kotil urged local businesspeople to set their sights high. "When Edremit is ready to export olives or olive oil, with our 70-ton capacity cargo planes we'll be ready to carry these anywhere in the world," he said, adding that THY wants to fly to every destination in Turkey. "Turkey has benefited from the global crisis and made use of emerging opportunities to raise the quality of its service," he said said. "Our aim is to make Istanbul a global center for aviation, which in fact it already is." He added, "Turkish foreign policy supports us a lot. THY has raised its quality. We earn our position with our quality and branding." THY's greatest growth was in the African market, followed by the Middle East, he said.