IndiGo Launches Direct Mumbai-Istanbul Airbus A320 Flights

India’s largest airline IndiGo has announced another new connection – between Mumbai and Istanbul – for which it has started accepting bookings. The new route will be in addition to IndiGo’s existing Delhi-Istanbul flights and explore the airline’s codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines.

New route

IndiGo has announced that it will add a direct flight between Mumbai (BOM) and Istanbul (IST) from January 1st, 2023, in its bid to strengthen international connectivity. Ticket sales have already started for the flight, which will enhance connectivity between the two countries, as IndiGo already has a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines.

Flights between Mumbai and Istanbul will start on January 1st, 2023. Photo:
GCmap.com

Vinay Malhotra, Head of Global Sales, IndiGo, commented,

“In line with our vision to strengthen international connectivity from India, we have launched a new connection between Mumbai- Istanbul. This will enhance international capacity and offer more options to the consumers.”

Flights on this route will operate according to the following schedule:

Other flights

IndiGo’s latest flight announcement to Turkey – which straddles the Middle East and Europe – comes close on the heels of the launch of another international flight out of Mumbai – a direct service to Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. These flights are part of IndiGo’s larger expansion plan in the Middle East region.

In September, the airline also announced a new Hyderabad-Riyadh connection from October 30th and more frequencies on Hyderabad-Doha and Dubai-Mangalore routes from October 30th and October 31th, respectively.

Between October 30th and March 25th, IndiGo will have flights from 15 Indian airports to 11 airports across the Middle East. Besides the UAE, Saudi Arabia also features extensively on the airline’s network, with almost one in every five of its Gulf flights.

Codeshare with Turkish Airlines

Earlier this year, IndiGo and Turkish Airlines resumed their codeshare agreement, which was first announced in 2018. The partnership provides greater flexibility to passengers of both airlines and allows them to travel hassle-free to several destinations.

Turkish Airlines flies directly from Istanbul to both Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM), but the partnership with IndiGo allows its passengers to connect to several other Indian cities, including Amritsar, Chennai, and Bengaluru, among others.

Turkish Airlines and IndiGo resumed their codeshare agreement earlier this year. Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying

The codeshare also allows IndiGo passengers to explore many of Turkish Airlines’ international destinations. Earlier this year, the airline commented,

“Within the context of the agreement, TK operating and Indigo marketing sectors will also be used. Accordingly: In addition to Turkish Airlines’ Istanbul-DEL and IST-BOM flights, it is aimed to cover approximately 25 European sectors operated by Turkish Airlines from Istanbul.”

A quick scan of Turkish Airlines’ website provides details of all the connections passengers can make through its partnership with IndiGo.

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