Turkish Airlines Current 4Ps Marketing Policies Essay

Turkish Airlines Current 4Ps Marketing Policies - Essay Example As of today, almost 51% of its shares are owned by the public, whereas, the remaining are retained by the government. Over the years the company has flourished to the extent that, in 2008 it was named as one of the fastest growing European carriers in terms of traffic and seating capacity (Turkish Airlines, 1996-2012). At a time when the global recession caused other European airlines to cut down their operations, Turkish Airlines managed to demonstrate steady growth in terms of its passenger traffic and seating capacity. The company has over 127 carriers in its fleet and flies to over 145 international and 41 local destinations (Turkish Airlines, 1996-2012). Istanbul is primarily considered to be its gateway to various Middle East destinations. The company’s overall business strategy revolves around expansion and development of its operations. As part of recognition for its strategic efforts, it has been labeled as a four-star airline (Skytrax, 1999-2011). The company, theref ore, is now eyeing the five-star segment and is enhancing the quality and service of its carriers in order to enhance customer experience. An essential part of its overall strategy, therefore, is inevitably the marketing strategy. Holistically, the company is aiming at creating greater brand awareness amongst its target market and to position itself differently from competitors in terms of reliability, safety and quality. The company is targeting the attainment of crucial values such as customer safety and quality service as well as providing value for money. Therefore, the focus of this airline is to provide low cost fares with unmatched quality of customer experience. The 4P’s for the company involve the Product (airline service), Price (fares), Promotion and Place (destinations in this case). As far as the product is concerned, the company has targeted its airline service to a wide range of segments. The company’s primary target market is the leisure customers who m ake up a vast chunk of its overall passengers. The secondary market is the corporate segment, comprising of business executives and corporate individuals. Such customers require corporate discounts (that are perhaps endowed to them by their organizations) since they travel is high volumes. Turkish Airlines has kept this trend in mind and has offered quantity discounts in markets where a large number of multinationals are located. There are several MNCs in Europe such as Shell, Delloit, Deutsche Bank etc that have high volume of business travelers. The company derives a major chunk of its revenues from the â€Å"leisure† segment, as opposed to the business segment. According to a research, 54% of the company’s market share is derived by â€Å"leisure† segment, whereas, 32% is derived from â€Å"corporate† segment. A common terminology used in aviation is that of the load factor which is described as the relation between the aircraft’s lift capabilit y to its weight. Turkish Airline’s load factor has declined over the years, from a rate of 71.5% to 71% (Centre for Aviation, 2010). The company is now taking steps to ensure that its load factor increases, especially during the peak summer period. An efficient load factor of approximately 77% is ideally looked upon as a healthy sign since it shows that the weight is being efficiently utilized through passenger traffic. A crucial aspect of Turkish Airline’s marketing policies has been a focus on Turkish tourism, of which Istanbul is a highly