On July 1, Turkish Airlines surpassed 1,000 daily flights for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic started shutting down so much of the world’s air traffic in March 2020.
Airline officials are also expecting that number to surpass 1,200 by August. This has been the continuation of a positive trend that resulted in the airline approaching 800 daily flights in April.
Turkish Airlines was established in 1933 as a purely domestic carrier, and that segment of its routes is what it is experiencing the greatest capacity with. However, it is also now known worldwide for its international routes, which peaked at more than 300 prior to dropping significantly in March 2020 before pushing past 200 in January.
It is believed that Turkish Airlines’ dedication to keeping its passengers as safe and as comfortable as possible has played a role in its recovery. Some of the things that the airline has done include vaccinating all of its crew members, adhering to masking and social distancing regulations and regularly sanitizing areas of the cabin, such as seatbelts and tray tables.
In addition, the airline has been promoting contactless check-in, which not only is a safer alternative to in-person interactions, but it is also more convenient for most.
Turkey’s flagship airline is also in the process of planning to start new routes and restoring ones that had to be temporarily canceled due to the lower passenger numbers recorded in the early months of the pandemic.
A recent announcement revealed plans for flights to Dallas and Denver. However, the airline did not release any more information than that, not even starting dates. Regardless, when service to those two cities does commence, that will bring Turkish Airlines’ outreach into the United States to 12 cities.
Meanwhile, a couple of the routes that were recently restored by Turkish Airlines were ones between Istanbul and Havana, Cuba, and between Istanbul and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Those restorations occurred on June 25 and July 3, respectively.
The airline also recently increased how many flights it is operating to Bogota, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; Panama City and Sao Paul, Brazil.