Turkish airline looks for expansion of service agreement with India – Airlines/Aviation News
There is a plan to expand the scope of the India-Turkiye Air service agreement with the addition of new destinations, Turkish Airlines said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Fe, Erkan Erdogan, general manager, northern and eastern India, said that as an airline, “we wish” to have revisions in current bilateral agreements with the civil aviation ministry for an expansion of the air service agreement.
“There is huge potential in India that is not being realised because of the limited capacity. If the agreement allows, with our fleet availability, we would like to operate direct flights between Istanbul and major metro cities, which will also give an opportunity for Indians to explore our wide network operating in 130 countries,” Erdogan said.
According to him, the airline currently operates 14 weekly flights from New Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul with a B777 (400 capacity).
“Our current bilaterals are mostly utilised, and the demand for transit travel from India to Europe, the continental United States, and South America warrants the addition of more destinations in the bilateral air service agreement,” he said.
“If given a new point of call (destination) in India, then we will deploy wide-body aircraft, subject to our fleet availability. We are looking at destinations like Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai,” Erdogan added.
The airline also has a codeshare agreement with IndiGo covering six domestic destinations from Delhi and Mumbai.
