An aviation journalist says he has been placed on the ‘No-Fly List’ of Turkish Airlines in an attempt by the carrier to “silence criticism.”
Sharing a screenshot of the email he received from Turkish Airlines, Ali Kıdık claims the decision to ban him is an act of censorship and could affect journalists reporting “safety issues, operational problems and wrongdoing.”
Journalist is placed on ‘No-Fly List’ for seven months
Ali Kıdık is a well-known aviation reporter in Türkiye with a significant following on social media and a popular Turkish-language website. Given where Kıdık is based, he frequently reports on issues at the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.
On Monday morning, Kıdık says he received an email from Turkish Airlines informing him that he was being placed on the carrier’s ‘No-Fly List.’ The airline told Kıdık that he was being banned from its flights until July 12, 2026, due to behavior that could damage its brand image.
The full email explained (translated from Turkish):
"Mr. All KIDIK,
Airline companies [Turkish Airlines] have the right not to transport passengers who do not comply with the rules established in accordance with international passenger and baggage transportation conditions.
In this regard, we also include passengers who we determine to have behaved inappropriately in the Safe Flight Passenger Tracking System program.
The Safe Flight Passenger Tracking System is a system implemented to ensure that passengers who intentionally engage in actions/share content that is damaging or harmful to the brand image of Turkish Airlines, or who produce similar content, are not accepted on our flights for a certain period of time.
In this context, we would like to inform you that you have been included in the Turkish Airlines Safe Flight Passenger Tracking System due to your behavior that is not in line with our brand image, and that we will not be able to accept you on our flights until July 12, 2026.
If you would like detailed information on this matter, you can contact us via the Safe Flight Passenger Tracking System Form.
What’s striking about this email is that Turkish Airlines isn’t hiding the fact that it is banning Kıdık for behavior that it thinks has (or at least has the potential to) damage its reputation.
Kıdık has blasted the airline in a series of posts on X, saying in one post: “Blacklisting a journalist for aviation reporting is censorship, not professionalism.”
In another post, Kıdık wrote: This method that can be applied to me today, who will it be applied to tomorrow?”
What got Turkish Airlines so annoyed?
While Turkish Airlines didn’t cite specific behavior that led to Kıdık being banned, it comes after a controversial incident in which Kıdık reported that the carrier had banned cabin crew from wearing certain pin badges.
Specifically, Kıdık reported that cabin crew were no longer permitted to wear Türkiye flag pins or badges that feature a portrait or silhouette of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
In a January 7 post on X, Kıdık what why Turkish Airlines had an “issue with Atatürk and the Turkish flag?” He then speculated whether this was something that an opposition, pro-Kurdish political party wanted.
Turkish Airlines has faced a backlash over the decision to ban the pin badges, although online commentators suggest there is more to this story. In one proposed Community Note on Kıdık’s X post, it’s claimed that Turkish Airlines has not specifically banned Atatürk or Türkiye flag pins.
Instead, a uniform regulation that has been in place since 2011 states that cabin crew are only allowed to wear seniority badges. A recent internal memo reminded staffers of this rule.
The airline’s official spokesperson Yahya ÜSTÜN is yet to comment on Kıdık’s claims.
Other media figures banned by airlines
It’s not just Kıdık who has been banned by an airline for posts that were seen to be damaging to the carrier’s reputation. In 2023, for example, the controversial YouTube aviation vlogger Josh Cahill was banned by Qatar Airways.
Cahill had posted a video review he titled ‘The Shocking Decline of Qatar Airways’ following a flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to London Heathrow with a connection in Doha.
Several days after posting the video, however, Cahill received a call from the airline’s corporate communications department. During the call, Cahill claimed airline representatives told him that they were concerned the original video painted Qatar Airways in a bad light and offered to gift him a free flight if he deleted the review.
Qatar Airways raised privacy concerns because the faces of crew members were visible in the video, and the Doha-based carrier even submitted an official complaint to YouTube. When Cahill reached a compromise solution with YouTube to simply blur the faces, Qatar Airways banned him.
