At the Crossroads: Turkey’s key role in 21st century logistics

Once a forwarder…

All this places Turkish Cargo in an unprecedented position in 2017. The carrier’s growth rates are in the double digits. When the new airport opens in late 2018, Turkish Cargo will have uncontested control of one of the most strategic cargo airports in the world. Leading Turkish Cargo under such circumstances means that decisions made in the corner office have a real impact on Turkey’s economy, not to mention the future of Turkish Airlines.

This responsibility is not lost on Özen, who at 49 years of age, has an extensive freight forwarding background that he is using to distinguish Turkish Cargo from the competition. “My freight forwarding and 3PL background makes me think from the customer’s angle in every process and activity,” Özen explained. “I drive the management team and every member of Turkish Cargo to a ‘customer first’ understanding.” Özen’s challenge now is changing the carrier’s organizational culture to embrace this mentality. When his employees talk about the customers, he is making sure that they understand those customer’s businesses and needs. “This is the only way to create the best value for the customers,” he explained.

Özen is confident that Turkish Cargo has become more customer-oriented since he took over. “I feel very comfortable reaching out to the forwarders and developing new opportunities,” he said. Özen is even taking that a step further, soliciting customers’ advice in every aspect of the business, even regarding his company’s day to day operations.

More than runways

All other factors being equal, if Dubai had been located a few thousand miles south, carriers such as Emirates would be little more than an afterthought in the air freight industry. Aircraft fuel is expensive and location matters, especially when it comes to using Istanbul as a connecting point between Asia and Europe – transiting through Istanbul shaves off over a thousand kilometers compared with a transit through the Gulf.

While additional belly capacity is influenced largely by passenger demand, and remains a profitable enterprise as long as passenger demand is strong, a thousand kilometers makes a huge difference for full freighters, reducing time and costs dramatically. That in turn allows carriers to offer cheaper, faster freight options. “Turkey has a God’s gift of geography, with the best location to cross dock between east to west and north to south corridors,” Özen said. Only Moscow to the north can offer shorter routes between Europe and China, which is reflected in Russia-based AirBridgeCargo’s own remarkable growth.

Mehmet Büyükekşi, chairman of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, noted that connectivity to developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, the Far East, and the Americas was of particular importance to the Turkish economy. Turkish Cargo is making sure that Büyükekşi’s needs are met, with over 300 destinations and counting.