Turkish Airlines recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in Doha with a gala dinner event that brought guests, travel agencies and customers together.
The airline said it recorded “substantial growth” in operations between Turkey and Qatar during this period and expected passenger traffic to grow further.
Adem Ceylan, the airline’s vice-president, marketing and sales for Turkey, Middle East and Cyprus, and Mehmed Kurshad Caymaz, its general manager for Qatar, welcomed guests at the event in the presence of Fatih Tigrak, Turkish deputy chief of mission to Qatar.
The guests enjoyed Turkish food, live entertainment and artistes’ performances at the event, and some walked away with prizes and tickets to travel to any of Turkish Airlines’ destinations around the globe.
Caymaz informed the media that the company’s passenger traffic at Hamad International Airport (HIA) had been steadily increasing. “We are here to celebrate 10 years of our presence in the country. We started operations on March 27, 2006, and have seen remarkable growth in the market over the last 10 years. Our journey has truly been exciting,” he said in his speech.
The airline operates two daily flights to HIA in Doha from its hub in Istanbul, and one weekly cargo flight on a wide-body freighter.  For the rest of 2016, the company forecasts that it will see an increase of over 25% in passenger traffic.
On his part, Ceylan noted: “We are delighted to have had Qatari dignitaries and the Turkish ambassador to Qatar celebrating our 10th anniversary with us; this, of course, in addition to our loyal travel trade partners, including those from agencies, and the media - whose support has been endless. Qatar is one of our fastest growing markets in the Middle East and an important and dynamic market for us so we are really delighted to be growing our operations here.” 
Turkish Airlines and its sub-brands won a number of awards at the 2016 Air Transport News Awards Ceremony in Salzburg.