Turkish Airlines has extended two of its Istanbul-Johannesburg flights to include Durban on Thursdays and Saturdays, the first of which touched down at King Shaka International Airport on Thursday.

The airline plans to increase these to four weekly flights later this year, depending on passenger uptake.

Currently, Emirates flies five flights a week from Durban directly to Dubai, Qatar Airways flies four direct flights a week, with plans to increase this to five later this month, and now Turkish Airlines brings additional capacity with the reintroduction of flights into Durban.

“The reintroduction of these flights reopens business and tourism opportunities between Istanbul and Dubai.

“It underpins the resilience of KwaZulu-Natal, its people and leadership to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the implications of the recent destructive floods have had on the tourism industry,” said Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC, Ravi Pillay.

King Shaka International Airport is regarded as the second-fastest recovering international airport in the country, achieving 71.9% of its pre-Covid passenger throughput in the year to date.

By March this year, international load factors had reached 50% of the March 2020 pre-Covid level and domestic load factors 77%.

“Turkish Airline’s Johannesburg-Durban-Istanbul return route will boost cargo airlift capacity,” said CEO of Dube TradePort’s special economic zone, Hamish Erskine.

“With the gradual reintroduction of international, regional and domestic air services, the Dube cargo terminal has seen a growth of 23 percent in cargo volumes over the past 12 months.

“This is a direct result of the increased capacity available in passenger flights serving King Shaka airport.”

Durban mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said, “Collaboration with our tourism trade partners and other government entities has enabled us to achieve great milestones under the most difficult time of the Covid pandemic. The road to recovery is promising.

“Turkish Airlines has stated that Durban remains a strategic market for the airline and country.

“Before the pandemic Istanbul ranked number seven as a top international destination for Durban, with as much as 88% of outbound domestic passengers originating in Durban.”

Turkish Airlines has a route network connecting 128 countries and 329 cities from its hub in Istanbul.