Turkey’s AnadoluJet launches direct flights from Diyarbakir, Gaziantep to Erbil

Turkish budget airline AnadoluJet on Thursday launched reciprocal flights from Turkey’s Gaziantep and Diyarbakir to Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish budget airline AnadoluJet on Thursday launched reciprocal flights from Turkey’s Gaziantep and Diyarbakir to Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The flights run three times a week, starting at $99, according to the airline.

“With a motto of ‘everybody should fly,’ AnadoluJet is now offering its competitive prices to the passengers flying from Gaziantep and Diyarbakir to Erbil,” the airline said.

“Flying from these two important cities of Anatolia to Erbil, a city known for its historical and natural wonders, we continue our task of building bridges between cities and cultures,” Samil Karakas, head of the airline, told reporters.

He added that the two new flights will greatly benefit the development of trade relations in the region.

AnadoluJet is a subsidiary of Turkish airlines established in 2008. It currently flies to over 70 destinations with 37 aircraft.

The launching of direct flights between the three cities aims to develop trade and economic relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region, which, annually, generates around 10 billion dollars.

Turkey welcomes a large number of tourists from the Kurdistan Region and Iraq every year. In 2019 alone, 1.2 million people from the Kurdistan Region and Iraq visited neighboring Turkey.

“Launching the two direct flights would certainly boost the trade and tourism sectors on both sides,” Newroz Mawlud, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Municipalities and Tourism, told reporters on Thursday at the Erbil International Airport.

Editing by Nadia Riva