Turkey is looking to renegotiate the "outdated" civil aviation agreement with India and operate more flights to the country, Turkish Ambassador to India Burak Akcapar said today.
"The current civil aviation agreement is outdated and far too limited...," Akcapar said here.
Currently, Turkish Airlines operates one flight each from Delhi and Mumbai daily. Turkey's national carrier flies to 105 countries and connects around 230 cities in different parts of the world.
"We are waiting for a new civil aviation agreement between the two countries that would (not only) increase the current frequencies but also open up not less than six cities through connections with the world," he said.
Turkish Airlines is looking to have flights to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Amristar, Bengaluru and Chennai. Also, the carrier is looking at doubling the number of flights from Delhi and Mumbai.
Akcapar said Turkey has proposed opening of negotiations on the civil aviation agreement with India. "We are waiting for a positive decision from Indian government in this regard," he added.
"Connectivity is key to improving tourism, trade and people to people relations. Our carriers can provide significant opportunities for India to connect better to the world," Akcapar said.
Maintaining that they were looking for win-win solutions, the Ambassador said Turkish carriers are open to code sharing with other Indian carriers. Turkish Airlines already has a code share pact with Air India.
"What we are looking at is win-win solutions. Basically we are not in competition with any Indian carrier. We will only complement the local capabilities of Indian carriers... We will only bring additional capacities," he said.
Akcapar said Turkish entities are looking very closely at further investments and business opportunities in India.
"Smart cities is an area where our cooperation can yield significant results... We have very advanced capabilities in building infrastructure," he said.
He was speaking on the sidelines of an aviation conference organised by industry body PHD Chamber.
