Turkish Airlines inaugurated flights from its new Istanbul Airport by flying to Marrakech on 6 April, the first destination to be added from the airline’s new hub. This makes Marrakech Turkish’s 308th destination globally, as the airline seeks to expand its fleet and add new destinations from the higher capacity airport.
The airline is working on a new strategy to utilise opportunities brought by Istanbul airport, which will be the world’s biggest and is expected to serve 200 million passengers per year when it is fully completed by 2023. The airport has state-of-the-art equipment and is designed for passenger convenience, with self check-in kiosks and other amenities.
Over 90% of customers of Turkish Airlines between Kathmandu and Istanbul are transit passengers and the new airport is expected to make these transfers much smoother.
“The new airport was a must to accommodate Turkish Airlines’ growth plans, and we hope to give passengers to and from Nepal much more comfort and flexibility with better connectivity,” Turkish’s Nepal manager Abdullah Tuncer Kececi told Nepali Times.
At present, flights westward from Kathmandu have been affected by runway repair work, which closes the airport from 10PM till 8AM every day, as well as the closure of air routes across the India-Pakistan corridor.
On the weekend of 5 April, Turkish Airlines completed its ‘Great Move’ to Istanbul Airport from Atatürk Airport, which had been the airlines’ home for 86 years. The TK54 flight to Singapore carrying 319 passengers and 18 cabin crew members was the farewell flight from Atatürk Airport.
Regarding the move to Istanbul airport, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, M. İlker Aycı, said, “Currently the biggest airport project of the world, this enormous facility will be the home of the resounding local and global growth of Turkish Airlines, with its state-of-the-art physical capabilities and capacity.”