Turkish Airlines Med Fares Available via Travel Agents

Turkish Airlines’ special fares and perks for medical travelers are aimed at supporting the growth of the country’s medical travel industry, according to a spokesman for the airline.

The airline announced special fares for medical travelers using Turkish health care facilities, as Travel Market Report recently reported.

The discounts for patients traveling from the U.S. are available through travel agents in addition to the airline’s sales offices, the spokesman noted.

Turkey received approximately 80,000 patients in 2009, mostly traveling from Europe and Middle East, the airline’s spokesman Gokalp Yazir told Travel Market Report.

“Turkish healthcare establishments have set new goals in the field of medical tourism to increase the number of incoming patients from 80,000 to 1 million by the year 2015,” he noted.

“In the light of this goal, heavy investments have been made [by the Turkish healthcare industry] in improving the quality of service and the medical facilities, training of current and new staff, building new and modern medical facilities, which are no less advanced in technology and experienced medical staff than their competitors in Europe and the U.S., and promoting Turkey as the prime Medical Tourism destination,” he said.

The ultimate goal is to increase Turkey`s market share in medical tourism to over 10% — almost five times that of its current global position, said Yazir.

Turkish Airlines, leveraging its large route network, intends to support the efforts promoting Turkey as a global healthcare destination for both developed and underdeveloped countries, he continued.

“Turkey’s central location and quality medical care with low-cost advantages make easier for large populations in underdeveloped countries to reach the care they need.

“It is now more difficult for developed countries to provide low-cost healthcare services with high quality to their populations under present healthcare regulations, specifically for the U.S.,” said Yazir.

“Turkey offers the same quality of service as Americans are used to through its JCI-accredited hospital network with a price level of one-tenth of the U.S. Turkey is the global leader in terms of the number of accredited hospitals with 32 facilities.” JCI, or Joint Commission International, is the international arm of the U.S. Joint Commission, which accredits medical facilities in the U.S.

Turkish Airlines established a specific package to support medical tourism offering 25% discount over the system prices for patients traveling from the U.S. and 20% discount for patients traveling from other countries.

Along with the discounts, excess luggage allowances, waved rebooking penalty and discounts for two companions are also offered.

Turkish Airlines together with nine JCI-accredited hospitals in Turkey sponsored a market research study on “The Contribution to the U.S Economy of Turkey’s Healthcare Partnership,” being prepared by Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.

Turkish Airlines also is a sponsor of the 2nd Annual Medical Tourism Conference to be held in Chicago, March 12-13.

Yazir noted that medical tourism is one part of a larger growth strategy put into place by the Turkish national carrier.

“Turkish Airlines carried 26.5 million passengers in 2009, a 20% increase from 2008. Our aim is to increase this number to 40 million in next three years and we have planned to acquire 105 new aircraft by the year of 2018. As Turkish Airlines our goal is to leverage Turkeys’ central location between East and West, grow our brand and become a bridge between continents.”