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Own marketing

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We did our own marketing

When we first acquired the company we said `we won`t expand in the tour operation business; we will do our own marketing and fly customers who purchase tickets.` To keep up with this, the company had to turn 180 degrees. For instance, when you fly for a tour operator and you make the customer dissatisfied, you do not suffer because the problem goes directly to the tour operator; but that is not the case in our model. If there is a problem, you have to deal with it directly.

For this reason, the first thing we did when we took over the company was to hire an English flight crew trainer to train our cabin supervisors on weekends on `how to act towards the customer`. In the tour operator business, everything was free. With meals, for instance, you could select two from chicken, fish and red meat. Since I did not know much about the aviation business, I said let us calculate the cost of the tray we are serving. When calculating the cost of the tray, even its weight is important. We started with this detail. We analyzed the main course.

I will never forget, there is 90g of red meat, chicken or fish in a main course. I asked the business leaders of that period, `What happens if we bring the 90 grams down to 80 grams?` They protested, saying, `our guests are of a certain quality.` Firstly, they are not your guests. Secondly, Mr. Blogs does not care if he is flying with Pegasus or some other company. `Then let`s do the math,` I said. At the end, the cost of 10 grams turned out to be around 400,000 Euros. I said `What now?`, they said `Let`s lower it.` This was a very important lesson for me. You shouldn`t ask someone, `Should we do this?` You need to say, `Should we do this? If we do, this will be the consequence`.

Pay to send a CV

Not one of our friends who had insisted on the 90 grams are around today, because now Pegasus even charges for water. One day I read somewhere that an airline charged for job applications. Now we charge for job applications, too. Why? Let`s assume you are looking for a `high school graduate, 25-35 year-old employee with English skills` for a particular position. Nowadays it`s very easy to send a CV online. You are 45 years old, your mother once went to England and you are applying for this job. I need three or four people to evaluate all these applications. What happens when you charge for job applications? Then you pay 15 TL to apply for a job with no guarantee that you are going to take it.

So you check the criteria and do the evaluation yourself instead of leaving it to me. Where previously, we would receive 75,000-76,000 applicants per year, that number is now between 50 and 90.1 brought this idea to our Human Resources management. The HR manager at the time said, `We can`t do this`, first telling me, `Such is the present socioeconomic situation in Turkey` etc., then saying, `What if people hear about it?` But that`s what I want. Today we make 200 billion from that in a year.

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Five wanderers Paris

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We are in Paris, the most bohemian and entertaining capital of the world. The following pages offer shopping advice from Aysu, art info from Eril, the low-down on the music scene from Mehmet, an alternative Paris guide from Hazal, and all the best museums and exhibitions from Ozlem. Not to mention insider information from Deniz, a Paris local

He just couldn`t stop pestering us, could you, rain? We arrived in Berlin. We walked around for 10 minutes, and there you were, pouring down on us; we were soaked down to our socks. Now a month has passed and this time as the Globetrotters` Club, we are in Paris.

All the underground lines are shut because of a collision between two trains; we forked out 43 Euros on a taxi but at least we have to listen to Zaz` latest single La Fee on our way. We spoke too soon when we said, `Look, the weather is fantastic, there`s the sun, we`re near Gare du Nord`. It poured down once more. But it doesn`t matter. Hazal Yilmaz, Ozlem Sarag, Eril Serbetgi, Aysu Akagunduz and Mehmet Tez are in Paris to march to their own tunes, to mill around the streets of Le Marais, Bastille, Montmartre and Belleville.

Hazal`s alternative Paris

I asked around about `what people do in Bastille`. You listen to rock at La Scene Bastille (2 bis rue des Taillandiers) on Thursdays. On Tuesdays, you go to play jazz at La Mecanique Ondulatoire (8 Passage Thiere) or discover new young French artists and celebrity candidates at Galerie Alain Gutharc (7 rue St-Claude); you should go for Standard Design Hotel (29 rue Taillandiers) if you need a hotel; for coffee you go to 138 (138 rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine). Tien Hiang (92 rue de Chemin Vert) is recommended for vegetarian Chinese food lovers and Chai 33 (33 Passage St-Emilion) for wine lovers.

Chez Jeanette (47 rue du Fbg-St Denis) in the Turkish neighborhood is the latest after-work hangout for Bobos (bohemian bourgeoisie). There are many English speakers here. The later you go, the busier it is.

Chevalier and Django Reinhardt, it is at 105 rue du Faubourg du Temple that you should do it.

You cannot leave Paris without having a crepe.

  1. La Petite Tour (6 rue Gregoire de Tours),
  2. Josselin (67, rue du Montparnasse),
  3. Creperie Bretonne (67, rue de Charonne).

If wine is a product of grape juice immersed in alcohol, then these are some of the best that you can find on the cheap: St-Martin Rouge, Lanquedoc; Belleruche Rouge, Cotes du Rhone; Baron de Lestac, Bordeaux.

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Hierapolis Pamukkale

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Located 20 km. away from the town of Denizli, Pamnkkale is most interesting places in the world.

Over the millennia, the calcium-oxide rich waters flowing down the southern slope of Qal Dagi, located north of the ruins, have built up deposits of white travertine on the plateau. These deposits explain both the site`s ancient name, Hierapolis-Holy City-and its modern name, Pamukkale-Cotton Castle.

Ancient Hierapolis appears to have been founded by King Eumenes II of Pergamon. Its name is derived from Hiera, the wife of King Telephos, the legendary founder of Pergamon. The city came under Roman control in 133 BC. In 17 BC, during the reign of Tiberius, it suffered a heavy earthquake that substantially destroyed the city, requiring it to be rebuilt. Preliminary excavations at Hierapolis were undertaken by a German team towards the end of the last century whereby since 1957, excavation and restoration work has taken place under the direction of an Italian group of archaeologists.

Domitian Arch

The ancient city was strung out on either side of a long colonnaded avenue called the Plateia. Measuring 13 m. wide, this avenue ran from the gateway in the south to the Arch of Domitian in the north. It was paved with huge blocks of limestone. The first structure one encounters upon reaching the plateau are the city baths, which have been very well preserved. The baths are Roman, and were built in the 2nd century AD.

In the eastern part of the baths is a palaestra measuring 36.13 by 52.25 m.. Immediately to the north and south of the palaestra are two large rooms that were reserved for the emperor and for ceremonial use. A large hall, once used by athletes as a gymnasion, stretches the length of the western side of the palaestra.

This hall led into the frigidarium from which one proceeded to the barrel-vaulted rooms of the calidarium. A small room adjacent to the large hall now serves as a museum in which artefacts discovered in the Hierapolis excavations are on display. Since Hierapolis was principally a luxurious resort town, it was richly adorned with magnificent sculptures showing the influence of the Aphrodisias school and is well worth a visit. The theater of Hierapolis commands a magnificent view of the plain below.

The original theater was located above the northern gate, but when the city was rebuilt during the reign of the Flavian emperors (60 AD) the theater was relocated, though the seats from the old structure were used when it was relocated. During the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) the theater`s skene was modified and richly decorated with reliefs. In 532 it was discovered that the skene had been weakened by age and the almost daily seismic activity that takes place here, and it was reinforced with pillars.

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