Turkish carrier Corendon Airlines has reported ‘very encouraging demand’ as it launched inaugural summer flights from Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, and Newcastle airports over recent weeks.
Representatives from the leisure airline joined ceremonies at each airport to mark the first departures to Turkey for the summer season – and all the flights were more than 90% full.
Corendon has increased its capacity to Turkey for summer 2022 to cater for demand and it now offers flights to Antalya, Dalaman, Bodrum, Crete and Rhodes.
It is planning to expand further in 2023 by increasing the number of destinations and frequency.
Yıldıray Karaer, airline chairman, commented: “Demand from UK tourists for our Antalya and Dalaman flights is very encouraging.
“Seeing our first flights for the summer 2022 season travel with full capacity is a fantastic start to what will be our first full season operating from the UK.
“We are delighted with the current demand for our flights.
“We can see that British tourists missed our country, following the travel restrictions over the last two years, caused during the Covid-19 outbreak.”
He added: “Apart from Antalya and Dalaman, we are seeing positive demand for our other destinations from the UK, which is very encouraging. We are aiming to achieve close to full capacity on our summer flights this season.”
Flights to Antalya will continue during the 2022-23 winter season and details of the schedule are due to be released soon.
“Turkey is a year-round destination and this extra capacity will allow more people to travel out in winter, when flight and hotel prices are even more attractive,” added Karaer.
Pictured: Corendon Airlines launching at Newcastle