Turkish Airlines will offer Birmingham Airport (BHX) customers 18 flights a week to Istanbul (IST) from summer 2024, it was confirmed today.

Türkiye’s flag carrier currently serves this route twice a day (14 times a week). From June next year it will increase frequency to three times a day on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays while continuing its twice daily services on other days of the week. Eren Ozturk Sales Manager from Turkish Airlines, said: “Customer demand from BHX to Istanbul is strong and growing stronger, so we’re pleased to be able to meet this demand with additional flights.” 

Tom Screen, aviation director, added: “The popularity of Türkiye as a holiday destination continues to grow and we are seeing this strongly reflected in our customer number forecasts. 

“More and more customers are also stopping in Istanbul before flying onwards to destinations on Turkish Airlines’ vast global network.” In previous years, Turkish Airlines has flown twice daily to Istanbul in the summer before reducing to 10 a week in the winter months as demand dropped off.  

This year, for the first time, it is maintaining its twice-daily service through the winter due to increased demand. Forecasts of even greater demand next year have prompted the airline to increase summer frequency to 18 services a week.