By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Airlines on Tuesday launched direct flights from Istanbul to the Russian city of Samara – the carrier’s 250th international destination.
“By ceaselessly continuing its expansion, Turkish Airlines has now added Samara flight to its existing services in Russia, such as to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Rostov, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Stavropol, and recently added Voronezh,” the company said in a statement.
The flights between Istanbul and Samara, the sixth-largest city in Russia, will operate three times a week at costs as low as $159 all-inclusive, the company said.
Turkish Airlines is offering 25 percent discounts to its Miles&Smiles members for a period of six months on the new routes.
Turkey’s flag carrier currently has 338 aircraft and flies to 299 destinations — 250 international and 49 domestic.
It was chosen as “Europe’s Best Airline” for the sixth time and the “Best Airline in Southern Europe” for the eighth consecutive time in a 2016 Skytrax survey.
The airline increased its total number of passengers by 2.5 percent year-on-year to reach 62.8 million in 2016, according to a stock exchange filing report published on Jan. 11.
