Cyprus Turkish Airlines Limited (Turkish: K?br?s Türk Hava Yollar? Ltd. ?ti. (KTHY)) was a Turkish Cypriot airline that served as the flag carrier for Northern Cyprus, and was based in the Turkish sector of Nicosia. Cyprus Turkish Airlines was also the main airline that flew passengers to Northern Cyprus until its collapse in June 2010.
Scheduled flights were operated from Ercan, Northern Cyprus to several cities in Turkey, the United Kingdom and Western / Northern Europe.
KTHY had its main base at Ercan Airport situated near Nicosia.
The airline was de jure registered as a Turkish company in Istanbul. Day-to-day operations were run from Ercan. All services to Europe had to make a stop at a city in mainland Turkey.
History
Cyprus Turkish Airlines was established on 4 December 1974 in Nicosia with shares equally divided between THY and the Cash Development of the Consolidated Fund of the Assembly of the Turkish Cypriot Community (Konsolide Fonu Inkisaf Sandigi). The first scheduled flight was operated on the 3 February 1975.
In 2005 the Turkish government sold its shareholding to Ada Havayollari.
To avoid bankruptcy due to a $100 million debt, the management had decided to sell the company in June 2010. After the end of the bidding period, the Turkish carrier Atlasjet was the only bidder.
On 21 June 2010, the airline announced via their website that they had ceased all operations until further notice and eight days later, on 29 June 2010 it was announced that the airline had gone out of business.
Timeline
Destinations
Fleet
The Cyprus Turkish Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at 13 March 2010):
- Most of the KTHY fleet spent the night at Ercan, however sometimes some of the planes spent the night at a Turkish Airport.
The Cyprus Observer revealed that KTHY (Cyprus Turkish Airlines) planned to extend their fleet to 12 aircraft which would have been in service by 2012 and all would have worn the airlines updated livery.
The Cyprus Turkish Airlines average fleet age was 6.5 years (at 14 March 2010).
Former Fleet
- 4 Boeing 727-200
- 1 Boeing 737-200
- 1 Airbus A300B4 (leased for 1 month in summer 1996 from Holiday Air)
- 1 Airbus A310-200
- 1 Airbus A310-300
- 1 Airbus A320-231
- 2 Airbus A321-211
- 1 McDonnell Douglas MD-81
- 1 McDonnell Douglas MD-82
- 2 McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30
Services
Travel Classes
KTHY Only offered 2 classes:
- Economy
This class was offered on all of the new aircraft. Full meal or snack service was provided in Economy Class free of charge. However in-flight entertainment programmes were not offered.
- Economy Plus
This class had been newly introduced by KTHY (Cyprus Turkish Airlines) after years of cancelling their Business and First class services caused by the grounding of Airbus A310 and Boeing 727 aircraft.
Cabin Crew
Since the formation of KTHY (Cyprus Turkish Airlines), all flight attendants had been female. It was announced on the website by KTHY that, from the beginning of July 2008 at the start of the summer schedule season, male flight attendants would join as cabin crew members.
Express Check In
The airline introduced an Express Check-in in early 2008 at the KTHY base airport of Ercan (Northern Cyprus). Passengers with only hand baggage could make use of this service. There were separate express check-in counters for passengers with only hand baggage and those without any baggage.
Frequent Flyer Programme
The airline had a "Special Passenger Programme for Frequent Flyers..." for those who flew with KTHY frequently. The benefits of this programme were a priority seat reservations, no waiting at check-in, extra baggage allowance and the ability to gain points towards free travel.
Caretta Magazine
The in-flight magazine was produced once a month for KTHY, and was normally placed in the seat pocket. Caretta normally gave information about the culture of Northern Cyprus and the places you could visit. Also featured was information about upcoming events in Northern Cyprus etc. The magazine was available on their website.
Incidents and Accidents
- On 30 March 1998, Mehmet Ertürk hijacked a KTHY plane. He was carrying a lighter with the appearance of a hand grenade. The plane was on its way from Ercan to Ankara, the plane landed safely in Ankara and the hijacker was arrested.
Industrial Action
- The staff of CTA staged a 6 hour wildcat strike on 7 April 2010 starting at 6am, and grounding all planes. Travellers to and from the TRNC were severely inconvenience and distressed. Communication from the airline to travelers about the delays was poor.
See also
- List of airlines of Northern Cyprus
References
External links
- Cyprus Turkish Airlines
Interesting Informations
Looking products related to this topic, find out at Amazon.com
Source of the article : here
EmoticonEmoticon