No top level crisis, no flight delays in THY, says chairman

ISTANBUL

There is no crisis at Turkish Airlines (THY), Hamdi Topçu, the chairman of the company, said yesterday during a live interview aired on private broadcasters NTV and CNBC-e. “Our CEO, Temel Kotil, just wanted to take leave to take care of his father, who has been feeling unwell lately,” Topçu added. He also underlined that there would be no delays in the THY flights due to the strike.

Some disagreements have appeared to arise between the C-levels of Turkish Airlines (THY) about the Hava-İş union strike, which is to begin May 15, and the latest lipstick ban rumors. Many daily papers then claimed that Temel Kotil, CEO of THY, had been forced to take leave for a while due to his conflicting beliefs about the two issues with most of the other top executives.

The Hava-İş union announced its decision to strike at Turkish Airlines as of May 15 for a collective labor contract as the time the union had given the airline ran out without a resolution. According to some Turkish daily papers, Kotil tended to agree with the Hava-İş representatives but most of the others did not. “As for the lipstick, we had no problems, but somehow low-level managers put together a paper without asking us and that paper was leaked to the media and became a big issue,” Kotil told reporters in London last week.

Hamdi Topçu noted that the top executives of the company had been in talks with the Hava-İş representatives for a long time. “The union wanted us to rehire 305 ex-employees, whose employment contracts were ended last year, without any conditions. The talks were then deadlocked. We want to sit at the table with our employees,” Topçu said.

He also noted that there was no red lipstick ban in the company. “THY has a dress and make-up code that has been the same for the last 80 years,” Topçu added.