Asiana Airlines and Turkish Airlines form Code Share flights to Istanbul

Star Alliance member carriers, Asiana Airlines (CEO: Young-Doo Yoon) and Turkish Airlines, will form a new code share agreement which will go into effect on October 25th, 2009 between the routes of Incheon and Istanbul. The code share agreement between the two member carriers will enhance the flow of trade and tourism between Korea and Turkey.

President Young-Doo, Yoon of Asiana Airlines and President Temel KOTIL Ph.D, CEO and Board Member of Turkish Airlines, held a signing ceremony at the head quarters of Turkish Airlines on 5th October, 2009 Istanbul. The two airlines agreed upon a code share agreement between the Incheon ~ Istanbul route. This event signified the forging of a closer relationship between the two airlines in different areas.

President Young-Doo Yoon, CEO of Asiana Airlines, commented “With today's signing ceremony, Asiana Airlines and Turkish Airlines will develop a strong network through code-sharing and create synergy. I hope collaboration between both airlines will extend in all areas.”

The code share agreement between the two airlines was as a result of air consultation between the two governments on the 1st of October, 2009. With multiple designations allowed between the two nations, Asiana reopened code share flights to Istanbul. Asiana is also considering direct operations to Istanbul later on depending on the conditions of the market. With the code share agreement, Korean passengers will now be able to travel more freely to Turkey.

Asiana previously operated direct flights from Gimpo to Istanbul during the 5th of May, 97 to 7th of October 98. Also until the 21st of May, 2006, Asiana code share flights on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul. With most of Turkish Airlines flights being Korean passengers, Asiana also provided convenience towards the passengers by boarding Asiana flight attendants in Turkish Airline flights.

Asiana will jointly be operating code share flights with Turkish Airlines on the Incheon ~ Istanbul route every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 23:55pm leaving Incheon and arriving at Istanbul at 5:00am(local time). Flights from Istanbul to Incheon will be on every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday 23:45pm (local time) and arriving in Incheon on the same day at 15:50pm.

Asiana currently code share flights with Egypt Air and Qatar Airways on the routes from Incheon ~ Cairo, and Incheon ~ Doha. With the new agreement with Turkish Airlines, it is forecasted that airline schedules to the Middle-East and Europe will be more convenient.

By code sharing flights with Turkish Airlines, passengers will now have the convenience of traveling to the 116 international destinations of Turkish Airlines and 82 international destinations of Asiana. Asiana Airlines code share network totals up to 20 code sharing airlines, 14 countries, 195 International routes, and 1,649 weekly flights.

Turkish Airlines officially became the member carrier of Star Alliance in April of last year. Turkish Airlines currently operates to 121 international cities with a fleet of 118.