Turkish Airlines Limits Alcoholic Beverage Service in International Flights

Click to read the article in Turkish

Turkish Airlines (THY) has restricted alcoholic beverage service to its economy class passengers in international flights.

Gin, vodka and raki* will not be served in short flights. As for scotch, it will only be served in the international flights taking more than six hours and only a single brand of scotch, namely Ballantines, will be served.

The decision of the THY will enter into effect tomorrow (December 6).

As reported by the Airport Haber news website, the decision in question has been taken as part of THY's savings measures.

Referring to the difficulties experienced by the airlines company in the wake of B737 Max crisis, the website has indicated that the THY took a series of austerity measures some time ago. The company took the decision in October, according to Airport Haber.

THY CEO refers to 'unruly passenger incidents'

Bilal Ekşi, the CEO of the Turkish Airlines, has claimed on Twitter that 27 percent of "unruly passenger incidents" are caused by drunk passengers.

To support his claim, Ekşi has referred to an International Air Transport Association (IATA) report dated November 3. That being the case, Ekşi has also shown that he stands behind the decision of the THY.

It was completely stopped in domestic flights and some international flights in 2013

Turkish Airlines completely stopped serving alcoholic beverages to its economy class passengers in domestics flights in 2013.

At that time, the company announced that the decision was taken as a result of low demand for alcoholic beverages and logistics challenges in flights, except for the ones in İstanbul, İzmir, Antalya, Ankara, Bodrum and Dalaman.

On the other side, again in 2013, the company also stopped serving alcohol in its flights to and from Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan; Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt; Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq; Mogadishu in Somalia; Dakar in Senegal; Kuwait and Niamey in Niger. (EKN/SD)

* a traditional strong spirit flavored with anise