Turkish Airlines To Soon Expand Its Operations In India!
Turkish Airlines is planning to expand its operations in India with direct flights to Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Bengaluru.
It is also planning to double its operations in Delhi & Mumbai. Regarding this, the airline has written a letter to the Civil Aviation Ministry.
Currently, the airline is flying directly from Istanbul to Mumbai and New Delhi along with hopping flights from the 2 Indian cities to Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Amritsar.
While there is no clarity on when the deal is likely to materialise, news reports are saying that the negotiations between the ministry and the airline are on.
The airline has a fleet of 33 Boeing 777 aircraft, and three of those are 400 seaters which are being used for Indian routes. Turkish Airlines currently is flying 14 times a week and it wants to increase the frequency to 70 times a week.
Foreign tourist arrivals to Turkey from India increased by approximately 9 percent in 2017 to 86,996. In 2018, the number went up to 1,20,897.
With over 150 Indian-origin registered companies in Turkey as of 2016, bilateral trade between India and Turkey stood at $6.409 billion. With the New Istanbul international airport in “Arnavutköy” district, the trade possibilities will see a rise leading to more tourists to Turkey.
Turkey is also seen as a popular choice for weddings according to Mr. Karan Anand, Head-Relationships at Cox & Kings. He said that more than 200 Indian weddings have taken place in the past 2 years in Turkey.
These are opportunities that the national carrier does not want to miss out on, which is why they are planning to expand their operations.