Turkish Airlines appoints new CEO and chairman

Airline reshuffles leadership with new chairman and CEO to steer growth

Last updated:
Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor
Ahmet Olmustur and Murat Seker
Ahmet Olmustur and Murat Seker
Supplied

Dubai: Turkish Airlines has reshaped its leadership structure, appointing a new chairman and chief executive as it moves to align management with its next phase of growth.

The airline named Prof. Murat Şeker as Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee, while Ahmet Olmuştur takes over as Chief Executive Officer, marking a transition within the carrier’s senior leadership.

The changes come as the airline continues to expand its global footprint and refine its commercial strategy in a competitive aviation market.

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Leadership transition at the top

Prof. Şeker steps into the chairman role after serving as Chief Financial Officer since 2016, where he oversaw financing, treasury operations, procurement and investor relations.

His background spans international and domestic financial institutions, including roles at the World Bank and Ziraat Bank, alongside board positions within Turkish Airlines’ wider ecosystem such as Turkish Technic and SunExpress.

CEO role goes to commercial head

Ahmet Olmuştur has been appointed CEO after leading the airline’s commercial operations in recent years, including sales, marketing and revenue management.

His career at Turkish Airlines began in 2000 at the call centre, followed by roles across revenue management, pricing and global distribution, before moving into senior leadership.

The progression reflects a long-term internal succession, with experience across customer-facing and operational functions.

Olmuştur has played a central role in shaping route network planning, pricing strategy and the airline’s loyalty programme, areas that remain critical to revenue growth and passenger retention, the airline said in a statement.

The airline stated that the new structure is designed to support its long-term objectives, backed by a focus on human capital and service delivery.

The appointments place operational and commercial experience at the centre of decision-making, with both executives having spent significant parts of their careers within the organisation.

Nivetha Dayanand
Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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