Turkish Airlines adds 7 new destinations from Ankara

Turkish Airlines will add seven new direct foreign flight destinations from Turkey's capital Ankara beginning from Oct. 1, 2015, officials said on May 14.

Ankara Chamber of Industry head Nurettin Özdebir told Anadolu Agency that Turkish Airlines had promised to add 27 flights per week from Ankara to seven new foreign destinations.

"Turkish Airlines is currently flying directly from Ankara to Moscow and Dusseldorf," he said. "Beginning from Oct. 1 the airline will fly directly from Ankara to Frankfurt, Vienna, Baku, Brussels, London, Tehran and Amsterdam."

Özdebir said he had participated on May 13 in a meeting with, among others, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Director General of Civil Aviation Bilal Eksi and Ankara Esenbo?a Airport Director Nuray Demirer.

He said it was decided at the meeting that Turkish Airlines and its subsidiary, Anadolu Jet, would also add direct flights from Ankara to seven new foreign destinations in 2016 and to another five in 2017.

Özdebir said that, in 2016, Turkish Airlines will begin flying directly from Ankara to Berlin, Hamburg, Koln, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris. In 2017, flights will go from Ankara to Munich, Batumi, Arbil, Bagdad and Jeddah.

About 850,000 people fly from Ankara to foreign destinations every year using Istanbul as a transit point, he said, with the number of travelers rising between 15 and 20 percent annually.