Turkish Airlines is committed to the promotion of incoming and outgoing tourism between Rwanda and Turkey, the new Rwanda Country Manager has assured. During an exclusive interview with Hope Magazine, Ömer Faruk Korkmaz noted that Rwanda has a lot of potential to attract tourists from Turkey that will be reciprocated with the latter’s immense potential in medical tourism.
“Medical Tourism is being developed and scaled to greater heights as a new product in Turkey. The Turkey medical sector offers competitive prices with a variety of medical services some of which are not available in India. In Algeria where I have served for the last two years, medical tourism has been promoted to great strengths,” explains Ömer.
He said Turkish Airlines will as well promote Foreign Direct Investments originating from Turkey and strengthen trade and business ties between the two countries. “We shall arrange press conferences and mini exhibitions in Turkey to make sure that the Turkish people fully understand the investment opportunities there are in Rwanda and do the same in Kigali for the Rwandese to appreciate the opportunities they can explore in Turkey,” he noted.
Ömer said that Rwanda’s tea and coffee have got niche on the world market and will therefore be promoted among the Turkish consumers.
Besides, he noted, the circulation of passengers between the two countries and beyond will also be given utmost consideration during his tenure. “We are committed to increasing the number of seats available. We shall do this by upgrading the narrow body aircraft to wide body aircraft. We shall also enrich our passengers’ experience by creating direct flights from Kigali to Istanbul. We are currently in the process of opening new destinations in the USA.
Ömer Faruk Korkmaz comes to Rwanda with a wealth of vast experience accumulated over the years having joined the world class Turkish Airlines in March 2010 in Instabul where he worked for two years as a marketing specialist, before moving to Amman, Jordan as a marketing manager in 2012. In the last two and a half years, he has been the country manager of the airline in Algeria where he has witnessed the growth of weekly flights to the Algiers airport from 7 in September up to 21 by December 2014. “In September 2013, we increased the flights to 11 per week; in Nowember 2013, we increased the flights to 14 per week,in March 2014, we increased the flights to 18 per week and had by 01 January 2015, we increased the flights to 21 per week. Meanwhile, during the same period, we increased the number of Cargo aircrafts to Algeria from 01 flight to 04 flights per week,” explains Ömer
By May 2015, Turkish Airlines had opened new destinations in the Algeria country towns of Oran (07 May 2014; 4 flights per week), Constantine (14th May 2014; 3 flights per week), Tlemcen and Batna (31 July 2014; Tlemcen and Batna 4 flights per week).
“By the time I left Algeria, the total weekly flights had grown to 35. We are therefore committed to the promotion of more flights and build up the number of seats available to the Rwanda passengers as well,” promises Ömer.
Our Mission:
To become the preferred leading European air carrier with a global network of coverage thanks to its strict compliance with flight safety, reliability, product line, service quality and competitiveness, whilst maintaining its identity as the flag carrier of the Republic of Turkey in the civil air transportation industry.
Our Vision:
To become an air carrier with;
- a continued growth trend over industry average
- zero major accidents/crashes
- most envied service levels worldwide
- unit costs equating with low cost carriers
- sales and distribution costs below industry averages
- a personnel constantly developing their qualifications with the awareness of the close relationship between the benefits for the company and the added value that they contribute
- an entrepreneurship that creates business opportunities for fellow members in the Star Alliance and takes advantage of the business potential provided by them
- a staff well adapted to modern governance principles by observing the best interests of not only shareholders but also stakeholders
Core Values
- Honesty and Fair Dealing
- Customer Satisfaction
- Demonstrating Respect to Individuals
- Innovation
- Team Work
- Leadership
- Productivity
- Confidentiality
- “Open Door” Policy
