With a rise in arrivals from Latin American countries in Turkey, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has decided to increase its flights to Venezuela.
A total of 265,000 people from Latin American countries came to Turkey last year. This figure was up 28 percent in the January-April period of this year, rising to 75,000 people.
In line with the rise in arrivals and in the interest of transit passengers seeking Istanbul-connected flights, THY has seen a larger share of the Latin American market. As of December 2016, THY has been carrying out three Istanbul-Havana (Cuba)-Caracas (Venezuela) flights a week with Airbus 330 aircraft capable of carrying 305 passengers, with a rising number of passengers and occupancy rates. THY's occupancy rates on Latin American flights amounted to 86.8 percent in the first four months of the year, and the number of passengers reached 34,000. Arrivals for religious tourism in particular further increased the number of passengers THY brought from Latin American countries.
THY will increase the number of Istanbul-Caracas-Istanbul flights to five from three on a weekly basis as of June 19, Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported. The number of Venezuelan nationals coming to Turkey soared by 17.24 percent in four months, rising to 2,578. Last year, 9,246 Venezuelan citizens came to Turkey, a 32 percent rise year-on-year.
In this region, THY flies to Colombia's capital Bogota, Cuba's capital Havana, Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, Brazil's financial center Sao Paulo, Venezuela's capital city Caracas and Panama.
The carrier announced in January it would launch flights from Istanbul to two cities in Mexico in August. For the Istanbul-Mexico City-Cancun-Istanbul route, the airline will operate flights three times a week starting Aug. 21.
