After almost two months of inactivity, Turkish Airlines is finally resuming international flights to many destinations in the Far East, North America and Europe.
Travellers itching to escape the lockdown can travel to the US and China, as early as 19 June. Whereas flights to Seoul, South Korea will restart from 24 June. A detailed itinerary is available on the official website.
On Friday, the Turkish flag carrier CEO, Bilal Ekşi tweeted out:
Gökyüzünü özledik.
Yurt içinden sonra sıra şimdi yurt dışında!
Her geçen gün artacak yurt içi ve yurt dışı güncel uçuş planımz için Web sitemizi takip ediniz.
Hayırlı olsun.https://t.co/wg0xhqDUrj pic.twitter.com/ypV9bJzs6B
— Bilal EKŞİ (@BilalEksiTHY) June 12, 2020
Turkish is also offering ticket changes for the ones purchased before 20 June:
You can change your tickets purchased until 20 June 2020 for another flight until 31 December 2021 or you can change your ticket into an open ticket to determine the date later.
Challenges that Remain
Turkish, however, still needs to ensure the proper implementation of adequate health measures at airports and in flights. The virus can still spread and international flights are especially vulnerable to this (Ekşi also pointed this out).
The airline has outlined a list of precautions it is taking to ensure the safety of passengers, flight crew and ground staff. It will provide cabin crew with PPEs to reduce direct contact with passengers. It will also fit many of its aircraft with HEPA filters that refresh cabin air at regular intervals.
Even with the aforementioned precautions, Turkish needs to remain wary of the risks involved in international flights, particularly to the US—ranks one in the total number of cases.
Turkish skies became empty in March following an air travel suspension as the coronavirus spread was at its peak. Fast forward to today and things have settled down.
The airline couldn’t meet its initial target of flight resumption from 10 June, but it is now finally easing into resuming international travel. Turkish already began operation on domestic routes from 4 June.
In the coming months, Turkish is planning to open more routes and their official flight plan page will be updated accordingly.
Are you planning on travelling to the US or China now? Let us know below!
