Turkish Airlines has been recognized for its industry-leading economy class product at the World Travel Awards. The airline has scooped the top spot for 2020, beating competition from a multitude of European full-service airlines.
Europe’s best economy product
Turkish Airlines has scooped a prestigious award for its economy class product, picking up Europe’s Leading Airline – Economy Class in the 2020 World Travel Awards. The awards have been running since 1993 and are considered to be one of the most respected award bodies for travel companies in the world.
Europe’s Leading Airline – Economy Class 2020
Turkish Airlines
Winner Profile | https://t.co/LVXNuvorCn#WorldTravelAwards #Turkey #TurkishAirlines pic.twitter.com/1ZdUgQHVbJ— World Travel Awards (@WTravelAwards) November 3, 2020
Turkish was up against a strong set of contestants for the award. Nominees included Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and KLM, among others. However, its economy product was judged to be the best out of the bunch, and it’s easy to see why.
The airline’s economy product has more comfort packed in than most of us are used to when sitting in coach. It comes with a 6-inch (15 cm) recline, a headrest and foot support, a width of more than 19 inches, and a solid 31-inches (79 cm) of legroom. This is complemented with its 12-inch multimedia display loaded with hours of movies, music and TV, and charging facilities at every seat.
It’s not the first time Turkish has picked up an accolade at this prestigious event. In past years it has scooped the top prize in a number of categories, including:
- World’s Leading Airline Website 2019
- Europe’s Leading Airline 2019
- Europe’s Leading Airline 2017
- Europe’s Leading Airline – Business Class 2010
Also this week, Turkish Airlines was given the rating of a five star global airline by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), further cementing its position as a leading international carrier.
✈️
Always a pleasure!We have been given the rating of “5 Star Global Airline” for the fourth consecutive time from the @theAPEXassoc’s Official Airline Ratings for 2021. Looking forward to display some of that class to our incoming guests as well. 🏆#TurkishAirlines pic.twitter.com/nTeXKhgIt5
— Turkish Airlines (@TurkishAirlines) December 10, 2020
Turkish continues to be Europe’s busiest carrier
Despite the challenging operating environment, Turkish Airlines continues to fly more than any other carrier in Europe. With rising COVID cases in many countries and travel restrictions an ongoing problem, traffic overall was down more than 60% year on year, a deeper discrepancy than had been seen at the tail end of summer.
Some airlines have pulled huge amounts of capacity from the network. Fellow Turkish carrier Pegasus, for example, is flying more than 17% fewer flights week on week. Others continue to load back in some flight capacity as the holiday season approaches, but none come close to the number of flights being operated by Turkish.
Traffic week 50 was 62.7% down on 2019 with 9,896 average daily flights. We’re seeing a small increase on the previous week due to the holiday season. @TurkishAirlines still the busiest carrier, followed by @Ryanair @KLM @FlyWideroe @Transport_EU @ECACceac @IATA @A4Europe pic.twitter.com/P4yQUhz3ru
— Eamonn Brennan (@eurocontrolDG) December 14, 2020
In his most recent update, the director general of Eurocontrol, Europe’s traffic management body, Eammon Brennan, said that Turkish had 550 flights in week 50 of the year. Next closest was Ryanair with 338, followed by KLM with 299.
Turkish’s bold move to fly in the face of the pandemic has seen it performing vital cargo missions as well as passenger movements. Its scooping up of prizes during these difficult times is a testament to the airline maintaining high passenger standards, despite all the challenges.
Have you flown with Turkish this year? Let us know about your experience in the comments.