Barcelona. Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines, has signed a contract on Monday in Barcelona for a three-season sponsorship of one of the world’s most successful football teams, FC Barcelona. At a press conference in Barcelona, Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish Airlines, said the sponsorship “is another success on the way towards becoming a global brand.”
Turkish Airlines will shell out 7.7 million euros for the right to place its logos on the billboards in FC Barcelona’s home stadium, Camp Nou, and all other locations where the team is playing. Furthermore, Turkish Airlines will carry out related promotions and media events and also fly the team’s players to their tournaments.
FC Barcelona is well known in the UAE since the team won the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi in December 2009, another trophy in a winning streak of 6 victories in a single year. 2010, Abu Dhabi will host the FIFA Club World Cup again.
For Turkish Airlines, the deal underlines its ambition to establish its brand as one of the biggest carriers on routes between the Middle East and Europe, Kotil said. According to him, Turkish Airlines is the largest carrier in Southern Europe and one of the few worldwide that managed to grow during the financial crisis that hit the aviation sector hard.
In fact, passenger numbers of Turkish Airlines were up 11 per cent to 25.1 million in 2009, according to official figures released by the company on January 13. However, the growth was slightly below the company’s target of 26.8 million. The passenger load factor, which describes the number of sold tickets in relation to available seats, fell around three per cent to 70.9 per cent which is attributed to a fleet expansion in 2009, after Turkish Airlines doubled the capacity on long-haul fleets.
Turkish Airlines, which became member of the world’s largest airline network Star Alliance in 2007, has a strong presence in the Middle East and connects all capitals and many large cities of the region, including Baghdad, with its hub in Istanbul. In the UAE, Turkish Airlines flies to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Altogether, the airline currently has a fleet of 134 aircraft and serves 156 destinations around the world.
Turkish Airline’s stock rose 0.9 per cent at the Istanbul stock exchange on Monday after the sponsoring announcement. In 2009, the airlines was the biggest gainer in share value of all listed airlines worldwide as its stock rose 425 per cent, reflecting solid traffic growth and profits and as a result of pursuing an aggressive expansion plan for the years to come, which mainly concentrates on the Asia-Pacific region. By 2012, Turkish Airlines targets to handle 40 million passengers annually.
