'Turkey has talked to 92 countries to restart flights'

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey has completed discussions with 92 countries for resumption of flights, the country’s transportation and infrastructure minister said on Friday.

Turkey continues to operate scheduled and non-scheduled flights with 48 countries as of Aug. 13, Adil Karaismailoglu said in a press release.

The 48 countries are Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Djibouti, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Mauritania, Moldova, Morocco, North Macedonia, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and Ukraine.

Flights with Kazakhstan, which were restarted on June 20 but suspended again on July 4 owing to a spike in virus cases, will resume from Sept. 1, the minister said.

He added that Turkey has restarted its domestic flight operations with maximum hygiene and safety measures.

Turkey’s COVID-19 case count stands at 245,635, including 228,057 recoveries and 5,912 deaths.

Across the world, the virus pandemic has claimed more than 760,000 lives in 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil, India, and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries in the world.