Turkish Airlines is interested in opening Istanbul-Turkestan air route
On behalf of the President of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan is actively working to open new international routes and attract new foreign airlines, Strategy2050.kz reports with reference to “Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan” JSC.
On November 10, 2019, Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan Beybut Atamkulov met with Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Turkish Airlines” Mr. Mehmet Ilker Aiji in Istanbul, within the framework of the 11th meeting of the Kazakh-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission on economic cooperation.
The parties discussed a number of promising issues, including the opening of new routes and increasing the number of flights on existing routes within the framework of the “open skies” regime implemented in 11 airports (Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent, Aktau, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Pavlodar, Kokshetau, Taraz, Petropavlovsk, Semey) of Kazakhstan.
In turn, the Turkish side highlighted the interest in expanding air traffic in the cities of Nur-Sultan, Shymkent, Aktau and increasing the number of flights to Kazakhstan.
Also, the parties agreed to remove restrictions on the use of wide-body aircraft when flying between the two countries. In this regard, the Turkish side plans to use comfortable wide-body aircraft on the route Istanbul-Nur-Sultan.
In addition, Turkish Airlines expressed their interest to be the first company that launches the flights on the route Istanbul-Turkestan once the airport is put into operation.
At the same time, the management of Turkish Airlines announced their intention to consider the possibility of performing the flights with the fifth degree of “freedom of air” to the cities of the United States of America, South-East Asia and Europe.
