Over and above the Gulf carriers, Turkish Airlines had also grown to become a significant regional player in the Middle East and as a long-haul carrier. With a hub in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines also benefitted from its strategic location between Europe and Asia – its Istanbul operations served more non-stop destinations from a single hub than any other carrier in the world. Unlike the Gulf carriers, it also had the advantage of a large domestic passenger base of almost 75 million people, as well as closer proximity to European destinations. Its fleet of smaller aircraft was able to land at many of the secondary cities where wide-body aircraft (such as Emirates’ A380s) couldn’t land. CEO Temel Kotil described his airline’s strategy as an attempt to serve the “village” surrounding Turkey – smaller cities within the European, African, and Middle Eastern theaters that were better served by medium-sized aircraft. Its recent growth reflected both these structural advantages and successful strategy deployment – from 2010-12, it added 29 planes and 26 destinations. Lean operations and top-line revenue growth of 26% had contributed to a healthy profit margin of 7% in 2012, well above the industry average.