DHL Express has launched flights from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport with an investment of €10million, as part of the company’s overall investment worth €100 million over the next five years to
expand its presence in Turkey.A DHL Express spokesman confirmed to CEP-Research that the new air connection from the secondairport in Istanbul, located on the Asian side of the city, has been launched, in addition to theexisting service to and from the larger Ataturk airport on the European side.
He added that either a B737 or an A300 aircraft will be used for the route to Leipzig dependingon the day of the week and volume. The new weekday service provides global connections via thecompany’s European air hub.
With the new flight, the company aims to cater for the increased demand for shipments. It makesDHL Express the first express company to fly from both Istanbul airports.
“As a major investment in the end of 2014, we put into service our second plane that willoperate from Sabiha Gökçen Airport in order to meet the higher demand we have seen from customerson the Anatolian side of Istanbul and nearby cities, primarily Bursa and Kocaeli,” said DHL ExpressTurkey CEO Markus Reckling.
As part of its recently announced ‘Strategy 2020 Focus.Connect.Grow.’, Deutsche Post DHL hasdefined emerging markets as a key pillar for the group’s future growth, with Turkey being one ofthe most promising 11 countries the group wants to focus on. The group aims to generate 30% of itsrevenues from emerging markets by 2020 compared to 22% at present.
The €100 million investment in Turkey that Deutsche Post DHL announced last year will cover alldivisions including DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Freight, and DHL Supply Chain, with DHLExpress being the first unit to benefit. In recent years, the company already invested more than€25 million in all its business units in Turkey.
