Message From the Chairman - 2005

Reaping the fruits of its investments in 2005, our Company has managed to become one of the airline companies that excel around Europe and the world in the aviation sector, where competition is rife.

For the first time in the history of our company, the number of enplaned revenue passengers was boosted 18 % from 2004 to 2005, passing the 14 million mark. Our Company became second among European airline companies with a 20.4 % surge in scheduled passengers.

Figures of the year 2005 underpin the decisions made by our Company towards further growth.

Taking into account all passengers boarded since our foundation date of 1993, in 2005 the 200 millionth passenger traveled with Turkish Airlines.

With enhanced service quality and a widening flight network, our Company offers more traveling opportunities to passengers both in the domestic and foreign market. The 39 % growth in the Turkish market of domestic flights is estimated to simmer to sustainable levels in the coming years to a rate of 15-20 %.

In 2005, our Company added Casablanca, Lisbon, Oslo and Astana to its international flight destinations. It has now been flying to a second airport in London, the Stansted. With the resumption of flights to Kahramanmaraş and Adıyaman in the same year, our domestic flight destinations reached 28. By the end of April 2005, flights were launched from the Sabiha Gökçen Airport to Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Antalya, Bodrum, Van, Erzurum and Diyarbakır.

The two critical factors that cloud the profitability of our Company are the jumps in fuel prices and the appreciation of the Turkish currency, as our foreign currency revenues are higher than our foreign currency expenditures.

I would also like to point out our goals and other important services apart from passenger and cargo transportation.

Our Company has one of the largest and most reliable technical maintenance centers in its area and a Flight Training Center fitted with state-of-the-art equipment. These centers serve other domestic and foreign airline companies besides Turkish airlines aircraft and staff.

In its Aviation Safety Assessment in Turkey in September, the Aviation Authority JAA MAST (JAA Maintenance Standardization) verified that "Turkish Airlines operates with the highest performance in technical maintenance and repair."

Bearing in mind the status of our country as one of the sizeable economies of the world, its advantageous location for seaside, cultural and congress tourism, our Company aims to make Istanbul a transit gateway between the Far East/Middle East and Europe/America. The new acquisition of the long-haul A330 planes will facilitate this goal, contributing to the sustained work of our Company to take part in the economic and social development of our country.

With the new purchases, our fleet will be one of the youngest in Europe. The 23 new routes planned for 2006 will highlight our identity as the "global airline company".

Planning to draw on the opportunities to arise parallel to Turkey's EU process, our Company has been the center of attention for global airline alliances both by virtue of its frequency increases in current routes and its broadening flight network.

Our work in 2005 gives us ample reasons to view 2006 with hope. We will carry on with our profitability, watch our costs vigilantly while opening new routes, and keep on investing in the future.

Our goal is to raise the stakes for Turkish Airlines. By the addition of new aircraft to our fleet, we are on our way to become one of the foremost companies in Europe and around the world in flight safety, passengers enplaned, quality of service and credibility.

Dr. Candan KARLITEKIN
On behalf of the Board of Directors