Turkish Airlines is planning to increase the number of flights on its Kyiv-Istanbul and Odesa-Istanbul routes, according to Emre Menevsche, Vice-President for Sales in Eastern Europe and The Balkans regions of the airline.
Menevsche made the announcement at an event in Borispol International Airport on April 25 marking the 25th anniversary of Turkish Airlines’ operations in Ukraine.
Turkish Airlines currently flies 16 times a week between Kyiv and Istanbul, and 11 times a week between Odesa and Istanbul. The airlines did not specify the exact number of expected new flights.
The increase in the number of flights, if it goes ahead, would partially offset the cancelation of the airline’s flights to Dnipro and Ivano-Frankivsk two years ago.
However, the Ukrainian and Turkish aviation authorities still need to finalize an agreement to increase the number of flights from Kyiv to Istanbul.
Air travel in Ukraine has seen ups and downs in recent years, but is now generally on the rise again. Since 2008, annual passenger traffic in the sector has more than doubled, reaching 14.6 million in 2017. However, domestic air travel has fallen by 22 percent or by 1.9 million since 2013, when Russia started its occupation of Crimea and launched its war against Ukraine in the Donbas.
Turkish Airlines is the second most popular airline in Ukraine after Ukraine International Airlines, with over 11 percent of the country’s domestic and international market. In 2017, Turkish Airlines transported 600,000 passengers in Ukraine, or 15 percent more than the previous year.
And the numbers are still going up fast.
This year’s first quarter passenger traffic increased by 42 percent for Turkish Airlines, Menevsche, said during the event at Boryspil International Airport on April 25.
Since 1993, the year it entered the Ukrainian market, Turkish Airlines has increased the number of its flights in Ukraine by more than thirty times – from two to 61 per week. It flies to Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Lviv, and Kherson.
Turkey’s Ambassador to Ukraine Yonet Can Tezel said that Ukraine and Turkey plan to “sign a free trade agreement this year” which would increase the presence of Turkish Airlines in Ukraine.
