Turkish Airlines starts Istanbul-Jakarta flights, plans Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Guangzhou city flights

Turkish Airlines, the national airline of Turkey, has started flights from Istanbul to Jakarta in Indonesia, in what is seen as a part of its efforts to fly to more destinations in Asia.The journey from Istanbul to Jakarta, via Singapore, takes 13 hours.

Turkish Airlines operates the Istanbul-Jakarta flights every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

In a statement, Turkish Airlines, based in Istanbul, said it intends to double its flight frequency in Asia in the next two years – beginning with Narita International Airport in Tokyo.

The carrier said it is awaiting the approval of the Air Service Agreement between Turkey and the Philippines to take effect in 2009.

Turkish Airlines said it is planning to double the flights on its non-stop route between Bangkok and Istanbul to 14 flights a week in December 2009. It will also launch regular services to Manila and Ho Chi Minh City – via Bangkok, initially – in 2011.

The airline is at present holding discussions with Thai Airways International to establish a code-share agreement enabling the two carriers to expand network coverage through Bangkok.

Turkish Airlines said it is holding bilateral trade discussions, including signing code-share agreements with PT Garuda Indonesia as well as with Thai Airways International, with a view to expanding network coverage via Bangkok.

In the statement, Turkish Airlines explained that it intends to make Bangkok its primary hub for Asia. This is expected to increase the network capabilities of both Turkish Airlines and Thai Airways International by using their hubs in Istanbul and Bangkok, respectively – thus enhancing the joint market share with Thai Airways International, especially on the Turkey-Australia route.

As a part of its expansion plans, Turkish Airlines is considering starting flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Manila as well as the Guangzhou city in southern China.

Turkish Airlines claims that, since 2003, its transit traffic went up by as much as 230% – from 470,200 passengers to 1,553,000 in 2008. During the same period, the carrier’s annual passenger numbers more than doubled (from 10.4 million to 22.5 million), the number of destinations rose from 104 to 155, and the number of planes increased from 65 to 132.

The carrier said in the statement that, in 2009, its target is to fly 26.7 million passengers – including 14 million international passengers and over 2 million transit passengers.

The new destinations that Turkish Airlines – the fourth largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried – plans at the end of 2009 include Meshad, Ufa, Nairobi, Dhakar, Sao Paulo, Goteborg, Benghazi, Jakarta, Lviv, and Toronto.

At present, Turkish Airlines flies to 119 international destinations, with 18 of them in Asia, as well as to 36 cities in Turkey.