A Study of the Strategic Responses of Turkish Airline Companies to the Deregulation in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey opened up its domestic airline market to competition via deregulation in 2003. Thus, new airline companies had the chance to enter the domestic market in which only one airline was previously operating. The aim of this study is to reveal the strategic responses given by the existing and new airline companies in the domestic market which resulted following deregulation. The research findings show that to some extent competition has been brought into airline market in Turkey, Turkish airline companies have created different strategies in this competitive environment, they have tried to position themselves in terms of Porter’s competitive strategies and, under the concept of these strategies, they have started to use new strategic tools.