Turkey: Int'l flights restart in Istanbul Airport

By Kenan Irtak

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Istanbul Airport partially resumed on Thursday to international flights, which have been suspended for two months as part of the normalization process from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines began scheduling flights again from Istanbul Airport to Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.

Entry was limited only to passengers, who started to come to the airport early in the day and had their temperatures taken upon arrival with thermal camera.

Social distance rules were also followed both by passengers and airport personnel.

Turkish Airlines' first scheduled flight was made to Dusseldorf, Germany.

Domestic flights in Turkey had restarted on June 1 as part of the "new normal" rules.

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

The US, Brazil, Russia and several European countries are currently the hardest-hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed more than 417,000 people worldwide, with nearly 7.4 million confirmed cases and over 3.4 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.