Dear Guests,
Turkish Airlines made record-level profits during 2003, a year when all airlines around the world faced serious difficulties, and we wish to share our delight at this good news with our esteemed passengers. Due to the Iraq War and the SARS epidemic in the Far East, Turkish Airlines closed the first six months of the year with a small loss. However, thanks to the confidence of our passengers, our competitive pricing policy, flexible flight planning, and cost reduction measures, Turkish Airlines profits for domestic and international flights during 2003 were 253,000,000 million Turkish liras. Projections for the aviation sector in 2004 indicate that international air transport will grow by 7 percent, while forecasted growth for the Turkish air transport sector is 10 percent. Competitive prices are essential in order to compete on the world market, and Turkish Airlines has begun making fare adjustments accordingly. Meanwhile, with the increase in both our domestic and international flights, we aim to enlarge and renew our fleet by the purchase of new aircraft.