Turkish Airlines continues its efforts to mend the wounds of those affected with the coordination of AFAD (Ministry of Interior Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) following the devastating earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş and affecting surrounding cities of Kilis, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman and Hatay.
Coordinating with all official organizations such as AFAD and Turkish Red Crescent, the flag carrier ensured all search and rescue teams along with aid materials were delivered to affected areas as soon as possible by conducting aid flights and evacuating those affected with evacuation flights without any charges during the crisis. Turkish Airlines carried 238,112 search and rescue personnel with its 1,324 aid flights while evacuating its 230,980 citizens from the earthquake area with 1302 evacuation flights.
Continuing its operations in coordination with AFAD and Türkiye missions, embassies, and consulates abroad to deliver aid from Türkiye and abroad as soon as possible, Turkish Airlines carried 15,648 tons of aid material free of charge to the areas afflicted by the earthquake as mostly food, medicine, clothing, generators, hygiene kits, tents with 156 cargo flights. (6198 tons of the cargo were carried with flights conducted from 77 countries while the remaining 9450 tons were from Türkiye)
Turkish Airlines’ 249 personnel were volunteers in the area, assisting search and rescue operations and delivering humanitarian aid. Members of Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) team of Turkish Airlines Flight Academy in Aydın also took place in the rescue operations in İskenderun.
Commenting on the aid efforts, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat stated, “With the responsibility of being the national flag carrier, we are working with all officials including AFAD to mend the wounds caused by the earthquake as the 75 thousand strong Turkish Airlines family. Within that framework we will be building a Turkish Airlines neighborhood in the region with 1000 homes for those affected by the earthquake. We will also employ 1000 thousand personnel from 1000 families affected by the earthquake in the Turkish Airlines and its subsidiaries. During these times where we come together as one in the face of natural disaster, Turkish Airlines also donated 2 billion TL while I personally donated my salary of March 2023 for immediate aid efforts. We also wish to extend our gratitude to our friends from abroad for their overwhelming support and aid in response to the crisis along with our missions, embassies, and consulates for their coordination in order to deliver aid material from other countries to the affected region with our cargo flights. Our flag carrier will continue to be with our citizens in the future just like it has been with all of its capabilities.”
Turkish Technic and other subsidiaries participated in aid efforts.
Thousands of personnel from Turkish Technic and from other subsidiaries worked together to contribute to the aid and rescue operations. Groups with first aid and immediate treatment experience went to earthquake areas to participate in the search and rescue efforts. Groups with psychologists offered psychosocial support for the citizens affected by the earthquake. Organizing an aid campaign to transfer to AFAD, Turkish Technic collected approximately 2.3 million TL in the first 5 hours after the earthquake.
Waiving the vaccination card requirement within this process, Turkish Airlines also carried the pets of the citizens from earthquake afflicted areas without any charge. Flag carrier also sent carrying cases to its stations so that pets can be easily boarded on the aircraft.
Free of charge flights are continuing
Offering free ticketing and reservation since February 7th, the flag carrier also accepts citizens without reservations depending on the availability of the aircraft.
Our passengers were able to change or refund their domestic flights or international flights to/from earthquake afflicted areas between 6 February – 31 March, as long as they were first arranged before February 9, 2023.
