Turkish Airlines will soon be known by a different name.
Continue reading: Hmmm: Turkish Airlines Rebranding As Türkiye Hava Yolları
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Whatever happened to their lounge they renamed to something noone ever remembered?
If you look at photos from the 70s and 80s, the airline had its Turkish name - Turk Hava Yollari and English name next to it.
And to think some of the founding fathers of the USA wanted the national bird to be the turkey. I'm sure the country would have gone through a re-branding even earlier 🙂
On a serious note, I get that we're spoiled in the English speaking world with a general tradition of catering to our language and linguistics and a lot of that has to do with Colonialism and English becoming the lingua franca after French and Latin before it. The anglicized versions of lots of countries and cities make it easier for English speakers, but create a bit of a split-personality for the countries/cities involved. I wonder if the EU will take up the cause and erase Rome, Florance, Venice, just to name a few of the obvious Italian cities with anglicized names outside of Italy.
It comes a full circle. Back in the early 80s, most everyone referred to the national airline of Turkey as THY rather than Turkish Airlines anyway.
Back in the bad old days Turkish Airlines was THY which was widely known among regular business travellers to stand for 'They Hate You' on account of their legendarily bad service.
This is just reverting to what it used to be called. Even until recently, it was not uncommon to see THY written on the plane.
Becuase, in Turkisn, Türk Hava Yolları means, literally, wait for it...Turkish Airlines.
Billions of dollars in rebranding and a UN change and guess what…98% of people will still call it Turkey
I don't think the global preeminence of English has much to do with colonialism. In colonial times the lingua franca (and the language of diplomacy) was French, as you correctly point out. It was with the post-WW2 rise of the US' international profile that English replaced it.
That said, virtually no one who is not of Turkish origin speaks and reads Turkish, so this rebranding of an airline that prides itself on flying to most countries worldwide is rather daft, and likely another PR stunt by the increasingly decrepit autocratic government in power.
They also have an A330 in their retro livery right now with THY written on it (and then the name in English written next to it).
Yup, a whole lot easier to just pay google to put the country's results on top of search results over the bird.
I think you mean the "July 15 heroes of Democracy lounge". Signs in the old airport mentioned it, they didn't bring it to the new airport.
Given time, that will change.
China “de-anglicized” its city names in the 70s(?). Not many people say “Peking” now.
I think British colonialism had something to do with it... The reason why Singaporeans, Hong Kongers, Indians, Pakistanis, Kenyans, South Africans, Bangladeshis, Fijians, Canadians, Ghanaians, Nigerians etc etc speak English today isn't because of the U.S's economic dominance in the post-WW2 period... I'm not a historian, but I would content it is a combination of both the breadth of the British Empire and the rise of US economic power post-WW2 that helped raise the profile of the English language, not one or the other.
"At the same time, I doubt many people went to Google with the intent of planning a trip to Turkey, but ended up at the supermarket buying dinner instead."
Hahahahahahaha Lucky at his best!!
Too bad the US airlines have taken this over.
AA: Angry Agents
DL: Disgruntled Laborers
UA: Uninterested Attendants
In my opinion it will remain Türk Hava Yollari - which already is the official name. That’s why it’s also called THY
You got the story wrong Ben - the current corporate/ legal name of TK is Turk Hava Yollari (which translates as Turkish Airlines). Turk Hava Yollari is what you see on TK’s fine print and stock exchange filings etc. The legal name may change however the brand name will remain Turkish Airlines.
Flown THY 6 times, only once on time departure (after the first leg was delayed so almost missed the flight). On international flights, DFW to IST was delayed 2.5 hours and IST to DFW was delayed 5 hours. No reasons ever given. Because they are not part of the EU, there is no recompense. They also suddenly decide not to fly some of their internal flights.
for what it's worth: There's already an online petition to rename the bird to Türkiye.
To be fair, in keeping with the bird theme, I do still eat Peking Duck, not Beijing Duck...
there is a huge difference from society back then to now. China back then didn’t have the global standing as they do today, and upon that globalism has interconnected everything.
Back in 70s, information spread slowly so people didn’t know much about China, but everyone does now. And every also knows Turkey as Turkey.
Unlike China which could easily change its name in the 70s, Turkey will take many many decades before it’s official name becomes universal
I would have loved it if their name(s) can be typed on the "regular" keyboard... I really don't know how to type "Türkiye," and let's not start with "Türkiye Hava Yolları" (how do you get ü and ı????)
If they don’t handle this properly, it will backfire spectacularly with the English-speaking boomer crowd, which is a large portion of their premium leisure segment. I know quite a few that have flown TK because of the attractive J fares and global reach. But these people also don’t strike me as the type that would be comfortable inside of a plane with a name on the outside that they can’t pronounce…
It's both reasonable and typical for an airline to use its own language in naming an airline and writing its name on their airplanes. Inside the country, the airline has always been known as Türk Hava Yolları. This is just a switch over to that as opposed to privileging English. Its not at all different from saying "Aerolineas Argentinas." No one has a problem with that, So I'm not sure why anyone should have a problem with this. We live in a multi-lingual world. Embrace it.
Are we ever going to see China Airlines change its name to be Taiwan Airlines?
At least they started the advertising early enough. I used to work in Baghdad in the 1980's, and every, usually decades old Turkish truck had "Turkiye hava yollari" painted on them.
In most countries, the CEO and/or Board would decide on name changes, so TK/THY CEO Bilal Ekşi must be a puppet under supreme leader for life Erdogan.
Who would have objected if Trump or Biden changed the name of any or all US airlines?
Will Putin, Xi, Kim, Maduro, etc. make similar changes about airlines under their control?
I used to Google "turkey" for dinner and then I would end up booking Turkish Airlines flights. I suppose this is for the better, and will save me some money going forward.
Erdogan flexing his dictatorial muscle. Regardless of what it is called, Turk Air is not a good airline (except for their business class lounges).
Just the kind of thing you'd expect in a third world country run by a failing dictator.
Interestingly, I recall well when Bombay became Mumbai. Everyone laughed and said, "No one will ever stop saying Bombay." I have not heard Bombay used in years. In fact, probably half the world doesn't even remember or know, lol.
It has everything to do with British colonialism, and nothing whatsoever to do with US influences.
Even being largely adrift from Britain today, those countries named still use the 'Queen's English' officially, rather than the bastardized and mangled US version of the Enlglish language.
I guess they have recruited people from the Minneapolis City Council that have absolutely nothing to do so they spend our tax money renaming lakes. They changed one of the main lakes in Minneapolis from Lake Calhoun (too bad because the guy had slaves back when it was normal but anyway) and changed it to Lake Bde Maka Ska. Well, if it was only the lake that was not a big deal but the road that goes along miles around this lake now has the same name so imagine you having a home address with that name and good luck spelling that every time you have to give your address to anyone.
I am really mad at Turkish Airlines for swindling me out of $1400 due to Covid.
I asked for a refund in 2020 and they said that the tickets will be valid until end of 2021 and I fell for it.
At the end of 2021, they extended some tickets but left others like me out.
I rather fly any airline than pay $1 of my money to Turkish. They cheated me out of $1400 and I am not a fan.
Would they still refer to themselves as “Turkish” people? If so, what is wrong with “Turkish Airlines” ? It wasn’t called “Turkey Airlines.”
Who’s saying they have a problem with this? It’s simply a questionable marketing move. Multi-lingual world or not, you’re not going to see Hainan Airlines rebrand itself internationally as 海南航空公司.
On a phone you can hold down the “normal” letter and see additional choices; you can also do so on a Mac. Windows… good luck.
Erdogan is a real piece of work!! That commi loving SOB is in bed with Putin doing it "Desert Style" and playing with world peace via NATO objections making it difficult to put Russia back in line!!
I hope it all backfires on them!!
That’s got nothing to do with “de-anglicization” and everything to do with the CCP being recognized as the official government of China. The CCP promotes Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Chinese words whereas the KMT uses Wade-Giles romanization. Peking is the Wade-Giles form. The problem is that people failed to understand (usually because they were never taught it) that romanized words don’t necessarily have the same pronunciation as in their language. “p” in Wade-Giles represents what language nerds would refer to as an “voiceless bilabial plosive”—in other words, the first sound you make when you say a word that starts with a “b”.
I think you have a narrow view of what is going on. The country is rebranding itself as the name that the locals call it in their language. For example, it would be like calling Italy, Italia instead. Many countries the name in English is the same name in the local language but not all.
The bird-dissociation point trivializes the issue a little too much. Most non-English speaking countries do not go by the same name in their native/domestic languages as they do in foreign languages, and there are other countries that have requested that the international community change how they refer to them in official communications/literature (e.g. Czech Republic changing to "Czechia" to shorten the name of the country, Ivory Coast changing to "Côte d'Ivoire" to reflect its French name). It may seem unnecessary, but I doubt the intention is as simple as wanting to avoid silly interpretations or Google search mixups.
Turkiye has a long and treasured history.
In the formative years of the republic, under Ataturk, they moved Western. Doesn’t mean that they can’t now claim their heritage.
I’m not Turkish, but I completely respect pride in heritage and culture.
And the thing about the “Google/Turkey” thing I find nothing less than feeble-minded, and even racist.
As a smart person said earlier in comments, do people have an issue with “Aerolineas Argentinas”?
You think they're worried about pronouncing 'Qatar' correctly? They'll be fine.
It's their old name - check out their retro livery - it says "THY - Turk Hava Yollari". People have been fine with Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij so I think they're learn to live with THY
Just flew Turkish Airlines a couple of months ago and this was long haul [IAH - IST] for the 3rd time in J. They were great - professional, courteous and efficient. I disagree completely with Regis' opinion of Turkish Airlines.
Just flew Turkish Airlines a couple of months ago and this was long haul [IAH - IST] for the 3rd time in J. They were great - professional, courteous and efficient. I disagree completely with Regis' opinion of Turkish Airlines.
What does Japan think when internally they call their country Nippon? What does Germany/Alamania think when internally they call their country Deutschland. So I kinda their stance whatever you call them!
I understand the sentiment, but who currently refers to the airline as 'Turk Hava Yollari?"
Not much will change.
Why are you spoiled in the English speaking world? All language translate places to make it easy to pronunce and spell in their own language... Its not like Venice is call Venice outside of Italy... Venezia = Venedig = Venice = Venicija = Venise = Venetie = Feneejse = Wenesiya = Benetke = Chinese is something like wēinísī
Hey, it could have been worse: at least they're not changing the name of the country to Erdoganland...
Hold ALT and press 0252 for the ü on Windows. Which assumes you have a full size keyboard with a number pad; I have no idea how to get it without! Which is also how much of an idea I have as to how to get the dotless i, though it doubtless also has an ALT code. All of which rather enforces your and magIce's point!
Based on my own experience, using special characters such as ü is making international business very difficult (my employer has a ü in the name of the company). We definitely have lost contracts, because international customers were not able to process our legal company name ...
Unlikely, as Taiwan's official position is that it's the legitimate government of China.
Ask a random person in the airport what Argentina's flag carrier is and see what they say.
But at least you got your virtue signaling points for the day.
What a bunch of turkeys. Next thing you know they'll be renaming Constantinople!
I hardly believe Turkey can change the English language. They can push the "new" name but whether it sticks is completely different matter.
I still hear 'Bombay' all the time, remarkably, most often from people who live there or have an affiliation with it. That change, though, was hyper-political and those who stick to Bombay are usually resisting the far-right impetus behind the push to rename.
Actually, Taiwan did choose its own name—The Republic of China, since they still claim to be the true claimant of the Chinese mainland. I imagine the KMT never envisaged the PRC to survive this long.
Various media have been reporting that the airline will change its name to “Türkiye Hava Yollari” as opposed to “Türk Hava Yollari”
Everybody knows KLM, but if you ask them what it means hardly anybody does. If Turkish airlines is going to operate as THY people will get used to it, but good luck in trying to use Turk Hava Yollari.
I believe its going to be "Türk Hava Yolları", no? I dont mind this...although it might be confusing to spell for foreigners, THY has been THY always in Turkey....uhm...Türkiye anyway 🙂
Maybe a person speaking Turkish can comment, but "Türkiye Hava Yolları" would be like calling AA "America Airlines" i think.
Countries face an uphill battle in trying to rid themselves of exonyms. It is one thing to get the UN to officially recognize the name a country calls itself, but it is much more difficult to popularize the change. Truth be told there is not much difference between "Turkey" and "Türkiye," which will make it even more difficult to get foreigners to care. As for whether we would actually start referring to the flag carrier as "Türkiye Hava Yolları," the obvious answer is no. When was the last time anyone called KLM, "Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij?"
I took German in college when I had Windows 98, I know the alt+numeric codes well. Piqued my curiosity - doesn't appear there's an alt code for 'dotless i' as character maps calls it.
We could all start calling the airline THY, I suppose. It's ICAO code has always been THY, but it's IATA designation is "TK" and that's far more widely used (not just by humans but also many technical systems). Are they going to try and change that, too?
I suppose it's shorter than calling it "Never say Armenian Genocide Airlines"
great article as always -/ but a question: hasn’t Turkish Airlines always been known as Turkiye Haya..isn’t that the formal name in Turkish so now their just formalizing the Turkish name in every aspect?
Although the airline is free to change its name as it wishes, this seems to be needlessly throwing away the name recognition they have developed over years. I have a hard time imagining this being a net positive for them.
Nor do I understand any need to rename the airline to match what their country's name is in their language. Swiss International Air Lines, Japan Airlines, and Norwegian Air Lines all come to mind as successful counterexamples.
@Lucky - they're not changing to "Turkiye Hava Yollari", they're just adopting the Turkish translation which is, and has been for years, "Turk Hava Yollari".
So they're basically saying they'll use the Turkish translation for international flights going forward
Turkish airlines should just give the middle finger to corrupt dictator Erdogan and paint a turkey as their logo on their planes. Similar to Lufthansa’s Kranich.
And additionally offer a turkey meal on every flight.
Hey @McKinsey, please read this and charge türkiyish aerolineas $$$$$ to execute this plan.
Spoken with a wistful traveler’s memory- Since the first time I went to Turkey as a eurorail riding American college student..I’ve always referred to that country as ‘Toor-que’ 😉
@Max
I guess that the middle finger that the corrupt dictator Erdogan has given to some folks is really bothering them and they don't like it.
I wonder what will happen in 2023.
The ü is one thing. Try to get the average non-Turk to use the ı consistently. There is a distinct and important difference between ı and i.
Hold music (or has that been replaced? Haven't called in a while) of "We are Türkiye Hava Yolları, we are globally yours!" doesn't sound as good.
Turkish is officially and always has been THY. In fact, the branding was on their planes at least as late as the 1970s, maybe later.
Rather than name change they should simply and modernize their website and app. It is the least user friendly airline app I have ever used... yes, that my vote. Please fix your app.
Oh, jealous German Max is here and vomitting his Türkiye Hate as usual. Get A Life!
It's always been referred in Turkish as Turk Hava Yollari. See this heart warming commercial from 8 years ago 🙂
When you understand the meaning, of Turkish (Turkiye) air (Hava) ways (yollari), then it's easier. We would call Uzbek Airways, Uzbek Havo Yollari, abbreviating UZBEK HAVO ("havo" means in my language dog 🙂
This is just a step back. Until 1990 the name indicated on the planes was THY Türk Hava Yollari (which btw is still the official name of the airline). So no fuss about that...
India is also Bharat internally.
Hind and Jambu dvipa are also understood but not commonly used by anyone.
More interestingly, all inhabitants of south Asian countries are all “Desis”, but a Pakistani “Desi” is a Pakistani and an Indian “Desi” is an Indian.
Turks seem to have lost it. Whilst India has Bharat Petrolium, Bharat BioTech, The Hindustan Times, Hindustan Carbide, the Indians aren’t renaming Air India as they long realised that foreigners don’t care about Hind or Bharat.
The name of the country is already Turkiye, so it is not changing. I think all the countries should've been called how they call themselves in their native languages .It is so unrespectful to make up a different names. If somebody's name is Paul but I prefer to call him Pool. It is the same logic. There are other countries having the same name problem like 1st come to mind is Hungry. This must be made purposely in past. I do not see any innocent. For the poor people have problems with pronouncing names, I am sorry.
I’m just trying to help Türkiyish Aerolineas to achieve the 5-star skytrash ranking like Lufthansa.
New, animalic turkey logo on the planes, gourmet turkey dishes and et voila, Türkiyish Aerolineas also becomes a true luxury airline.
I like the new country name in theory but I really can't appreciate the budget it takes, and adding "hava yollari" - no one in the world except at home has any idea what this means, why not "Turkiye Airlines", and ü is not helping the brand either. I thing Rejep (Recep?) is a bit out of touch with reality.
Turkish Airlines is not changing its name to THY. It's changing it BACK to THY.
It used to be known as THY until the government decided to modernize the name and drop the Turkish referance since NOBODY speaks Turkish outside of Turkey.
Now, the right-wing nationalist government wants to delink Turkey's global face with Westernism.
Google the Turkish Airlines Paris crash and you can get a good picture of their former name and livery.
This was the airlines name many years back in my aircraft spotting days - 1ate 1970's
Turkiye will not be 'written' on the aircraft as noted in the above item, it will be painted
Do Turkish Airlines get 99% of their bookings just before Christmas? I think not therefore there is no confusion.
I personally love the Türkiye name for the country. Just saying. But the rebranding, hmmm. I don't know about that. When they rebrand, they better live up to it. I was underwhelmed with my first Turkish Airlines experience. I've only flown once on Turkish 2 months ago. It was more than half a disaster.
The only way this could be construed as a "business decision" is that airline leadership decided that non-compliance with ruling party pedantry would be bad for their continued health and well-being.
Let's be clear, MOST countries outside the French, Spanish, and English speaking worlds have a disconnect between what their country is called in the native language(s) of the country and what the world popularly calls the country. For instance, most of the world calls Ukraine, "Ukraine" but the Ukrainians call it Україна (Ukraïna). Nevertheless, the name of the country's airline is Ukrainian International Airlines. It's typically shortened to UIA in Ukraine, but it's pretty much NEVER called Aviakompaniya Mizhnarodni Avialiniyi Ukrayiny.
Hell, the number of countries whose national airlines use their local word for "Airlines" is incredibly short, not least because "airlines" is one of those words with near universal global understanding, "air" and "aero", doubly so. In fact, the only major airline that come to mind with something other than airlines, airways, air, or aero in their official branding is Aerolineas Argentinas. In the few instances where there's a major airline with another native language word(s) in the airline name, I can't think of any that's not known better by an acronym (i.e. KLM today, UTI, TAM, and LAN in the past).
If Turkish genuinely rebrand as Türkiye Hava Yolları, they're going to face not only the problem of being disconnected from their brand equity, but the use of a character not used on English language keyboards (ü) will further create challenges, despite search engines' logic being able to recognize that "turkiye" and "türkiye" are the same search term, because many other tools like datebases and website coding tools don't have that same logic built in by default.