Mehmet Sadik Karakus has taken over as the new General Manager of Turkish Airlines in Karachi. He brings several years of experience across various departments within the airline, having previously served in Africa, where he built further expertise in international aviation and market development.
Speaking to Traveller International, Karakus said Pakistan is a very important market for Turkish Airlines and expressed keen interest in promoting both Türkiye and Pakistan as attractive destinations for travelers from each country — encouraging more Pakistani travelers to visit Türkiye while introducing Turkish travelers to Pakistan’s landscapes, culture, history, and hospitality.
Karakus shared positive first impressions of the city, saying he was pleasantly surprised by Karachi and found it a beautiful place with a favorable climate. He said he was happy to be in Pakistan and looks forward to contributing to stronger bilateral relations through tourism and air connectivity.
Karakus’s arrival comes at a notable point in Turkish Airlines’ Pakistan trajectory. Istanbul–Islamabad and Istanbul–Lahore frequencies have climbed to record levels in recent years — Lahore rose from 11 to 14 weekly flights and Islamabad from 10 to 14 in a 2025 capacity expansion, following steady annual increases after both routes became daily around 2015. That growth reflects Turkish Airlines’ broader hub strategy: nearly 60% of its international passengers transfer through Istanbul, and Pakistan sits within the airline’s expanding “underserved regions and secondary Asian markets” push — the same growth corridor driving recent route additions in Central Asia.
Turkish Airlines currently operates:
- Daily flights to Karachi
- Double-daily service to Lahore and Islamabad
All routes connect through Istanbul to destinations across Türkiye, Europe, and beyond, operated with Airbus A330 aircraft.
Karakus’s stated interest in promoting two-way tourism isn’t just PR framing — it reflects how Turkish Airlines’ business model actually works. With such a high share of transfer traffic through Istanbul, growing point-to-point demand between Türkiye and Pakistan directly supports the airline’s yield strategy, since point-to-point passengers are typically higher-yielding than connecting traffic alone. A GM focused on building that direct leisure and business demand fits squarely into that commercial logic, beyond the ceremonial framing of a new-appointment story.
For Pakistani agencies, an experienced GM prioritizing bilateral tourism promotion could translate into more joint marketing activity, familiarization trips, or trade engagement opportunities in the near term — patterns that typically follow leadership changes at major carriers with strong local network growth.
