No stopping the Turkish tsunami as cargo, passenger routes soar
AirCargo archive stories #239
Wednesday, 04 November 2015
The tidal wave spreading across the world from Istanbul – a benign tsunami of freight and passenger services – shows no sign of letting up.
Turkish Cargo got 2015 off to a high-speed start with the commissioning of its new terminal at Istanbul Ataturk Airport followed by an expansion of inter-modal road transport networking on two continents, the debut of two further freighter stations and an almost mind-boggling number of new destinations and increased frequencies for passenger flights with belly-hold capacity.
While the major impetus for network growth has been on Istanbul Atatürk, there has also been plenty of growth through Sabiha Gökçen International on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.
In late October, Turkish is launching a new service from Sabiha Gokcen to Baghdad 14 times weekly. This follows the introduction of Erbil’s seven weekly flights from Sabiha Gökçen in July and a Sabiha Gökçen/Venice service (also seven weekly) in August.
New freighter destinations making their debut in recent months include a twice-weekly Hanoi run, with two rotations: Istanbul-Tehran-Hanoi-New Delhi-Istanbul and Istanbul-Lahore-Hanoi-New Delhi-Istanbul. Hanoi brought the total Turkish Cargo freighter network ports to 52.
Dakar has also come on line as a freighter port with a once-weekly Istanbul-Lagos-Dakar-Istanbul rotation. This is the carrier’s 10th freighter destination in Africa.
Turkish has been boosting its Iraq services in a big way this year. As well as the new routes to and from Sabiha Gökçen from the beginning of July it upped the frequencies from Istanbul Atatürk to Baghdad, Erbil (both now 14 weekly), Suleymaniyah (11) and Najaf (7).
Other recent frequency boosts have been to Islamabad and Isfahan as well as a new twice-weekly link with Khujand, the second largest city in Tajikistan.
Late October is a particularly heavy month for network strengthening. In addition to the new Sabiha Gökçen/Baghdad route there will be service increases from Istanbul Atatürk to Tel Aviv (to a total of 56 flights weekly), Aqaba (4), Kuala Lumpur (10) and London Heathrow (37 weekly).
Miami and Maputo will also be added to the network, the latter on an Istanbul-Johannesburg-Maputo-Johannesburg-Istanbul rotation. An Istanbul-Johannesburg-Durban-Johannesburg-Is
No stopping the Turkish tsunami as cargo, passenger routes soar
AirCargo archive stories #239
Wednesday, 04 November 2015
The tidal wave spreading across the world from Istanbul – a benign tsunami of freight and passenger services – shows no sign of letting up.
Turkish Cargo got 2015 off to a high-speed start with the commissioning of its new terminal at Istanbul Ataturk Airport followed by an expansion of inter-modal road transport networking on two continents, the debut of two further freighter stations and an almost mind-boggling number of new destinations and increased frequencies for passenger flights with belly-hold capacity.
While the major impetus for network growth has been on Istanbul Atatürk, there has also been plenty of growth through Sabiha Gökçen International on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.
In late October, Turkish is launching a new service from Sabiha Gokcen to Baghdad 14 times weekly. This follows the introduction of Erbil’s seven weekly flights from Sabiha Gökçen in July and a Sabiha Gökçen/Venice service (also seven weekly) in August.
New freighter destinations making their debut in recent months include a twice-weekly Hanoi run, with two rotations: Istanbul-Tehran-Hanoi-New Delhi-Istanbul and Istanbul-Lahore-Hanoi-New Delhi-Istanbul. Hanoi brought the total Turkish Cargo freighter network ports to 52.
Dakar has also come on line as a freighter port with a once-weekly Istanbul-Lagos-Dakar-Istanbul rotation. This is the carrier’s 10th freighter destination in Africa.
Turkish has been boosting its Iraq services in a big way this year. As well as the new routes to and from Sabiha Gökçen from the beginning of July it upped the frequencies from Istanbul Atatürk to Baghdad, Erbil (both now 14 weekly), Suleymaniyah (11) and Najaf (7).
Other recent frequency boosts have been to Islamabad and Isfahan as well as a new twice-weekly link with Khujand, the second largest city in Tajikistan.
Late October is a particularly heavy month for network strengthening. In addition to the new Sabiha Gökçen/Baghdad route there will be service increases from Istanbul Atatürk to Tel Aviv (to a total of 56 flights weekly), Aqaba (4), Kuala Lumpur (10) and London Heathrow (37 weekly).
Miami and Maputo will also be added to the network, the latter on an Istanbul-Johannesburg-Maputo-Johannesburg-Istanbul rotation. An Istanbul-Johannesburg-Durban-Johannesburg-Is
The tidal wave spreading across the world from Istanbul – a benign tsunami of freight and passenger services – shows no sign of letting up. 
