Turkish Airlines wants additional traffic rights to IndiGo: CEO Bilal Eksi

Turkish Airlines is open to a unilateral increase in traffic rights to Indian carriers that will allow them to increase the number of flights to Türkiye, Chief Executive Officer Bilal Eksi said on Tuesday.

Usually, traffic rights are exchanged on a reciprocal and equal basis between two countries. Turkish Airlines, however, is willing to support a unilateral increase in rights to IndiGo, which is its strategic partner.

Additional traffic rights, if granted, will allow IndiGo to carry more traffic to Türkiye and onwards to Europe, boosting its international operations.

“I believe the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority would have no objection to such a proposal as long as the foreign airline is a strategic partner,” Eksi said on the sidelines of the CAPA India Summit.

Such a unilateral increase in traffic rights will be unique to Türkiye and will also require a nod from the Indian government. The civil aviation ministry and IndiGo could not be immediately contacted for a comment

Turkish Airlines and IndiGo have a codeshare partnership since 2018. Earlier this year, Turkish Airlines wet-leased a wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft to IndiGo. A second Turkish aircraft with 531 seats will be placed in service between India and Istanbul from May 1, helping the traffic significantly.

The load factor from India to Turkiye is 95 per cent. From Türkiye to India, it is 80 per cent and going up.

“Both sides are benefitting from this partnership. All operational issues are being resolved and there are dedicated teams in both countries looking after the operations. We are pleased with the performance and it shows that more capacity is needed between the two countries," Eksi added.