Birmingham Airport to see new flight to Istanbul

Turkish Airlines will this year launch the first direct scheduled service from England's West Midlands region to Istanbul.

The service will operate from Birmingham Airport on a five-flights-a-week basis as of December 15th.

Osman Battal, Turkish Airlines' UK director, said that one of the most important roles of the service will be to facilitate connections to international destinations such as Bangkok, Cape Town, Delhi and Singapore.

He added: "Although we will be launching in December with five weekly flights, we aspire to be operating daily services from Birmingham by summer 2009 and carrying 30,000…passengers a year by this time."

Turkish Airlines is one of Europe's major flag carriers and is a member of Star Alliance alongside the likes of Lufthansa, bmi and Singapore Airlines.

Istanbul is Europe's most populous city and boasts attractions including the Hagia Sophia cathedral, Topkapi Palace and a number of Turkish baths.

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