Turkish Airlines Adds 4 More Weekly Flights between Sofia and Istanbul

Ziya Taskent, Turkish Airlines' Chief of Marketing and Sales for Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East

Turkey's national flag carrier airline Turkish Airlines has announced it is increasing the number of flights it performs per week between Sofia and Istanbul.

The total number of Istanbul - Sofia - Istanbul weekly flights will be 18, up from 14, as of December 28, 2015.

Sofia-Istanbul has been a Turkish Airlines destination since 1984. For most of this time, there have been six flights per week, but the company has doubled the number over the last five years.

In 2014, the Turkish national carrier launched flights to Varna, Bulgaria's third-largest city located at the Black Sea.

Turkish Airlines has also said it works to boost passenger flow by 28% on average and improve connections to 286 of its destinations, a process that could affect pricing in a positive way.

The company has noted it is also committed to creating preconditions for the development of tourism in Bulgaria and to help increase two-way visits.

A total of 2.5 million people traveled both ways last year, with 1.5 million of them going from Bulgaria to Turkey and a million Turkish citizens coming to Bulgaria, Ankara's Ambassador to Sofia, H.E. Suleyman Gokce, says in a recent interview with Standart newspaper. In his words, numbers of tourists to Bulgaria could rise if the visa regime is lifted.

With Turkish tourists opting for both Varna (and nearby Black Sea resorts) and the ski resort of Bansko, Turkish Airlines considers both winter and summer destinations in Bulgaria to be important.

A company of humble beginnings back in 1933, when it had barely five aircraft (compared to 240 now), Turkish Airlines is now looking toward 2034, the end year of its current development program, according to Ziya Taskent, the company's Chief of Marketing and Sales for Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.

In 10 years it has more than doubled its destinations - from 104 in 2003 to 244 in 2013, 202 of them international (to 111 countries around the world) and 42 domestic.

Its accounts for 5.9% of Turkey's GDP, and is planning to increase this to 7% in the next 20 years.

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