Turkish Airlines keen on increasing India connections

International travellers from Hyderabad may soon have an additional airline option with Turkish Airlines keen to connect the city with Istanbul and onward destinations in Europe and North America.
A member of Star Alliance, the airline presently flies daily to Istanbul from New Delhi and Mumbai with a 70-75 per cent load factor but has ambitious expansion plans in India.
Speaking to a group of Indian journalists visiting the airline's headquarters in Istanbul at its invitation, Dr Temel Kotil, President and Chief Executive Officer, said “We are speaking to authorities in India to add more routes. When we get the permission, we will add Hyderabad first to our schedule since we see a lot of demand from there.”
The airline hopes to start flying out of Hyderabad from early 2012 subject to approvals.
Asked how many cities Turkish would like to add to its itinerary, Dr Kotil said that a minimum of five is necessary.
“We fly to nine cities in Germany, a much smaller country,” he said, hastening to add, “But it is not polite to ask for more destinations immediately.”
According to him, the ideal frequency would be twice daily from Delhi and Mumbai as it would improve quality of onward connections to Europe and North America.
02/08/11 Raghuvir Srinivasan/Business Line

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Categories: Foreign Aug 2011