As the airline that flies to more countries than any other, Turkish Airlines offers its passengers the opportunity to discover the world’s connection center, Istanbul, and its unique wonders with its stopover accommodation service for passengers with a stopover duration of 20 hours or more.
After launching in 2017, the stopover service drew great interest from passengers who were using Istanbul as their transfer center, but the service was put on pause due to the pandemic. As the effects of the pandemic are lessening, the flag carrier is resuming this service as of March 2022 to elevate the passenger experience to a new level.
As a way for passengers with long connection times to spend quality time in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines will provide a one-night stay in a 4-star hotel for economy class and a two-night stay in a 5-star hotel for business class passengers with a hotel voucher that is issued after the ticket purchase. In addition, passengers will also have the option of staying at contracted hotels with prices starting at 49 USD.
On the project, Turkish Airlines General Manager Bilal Ekşi stated; “We aim to show the Turkish hospitality and unique wonders of Istanbul to our passengers opting for stopover accommodation service while contributing to tourism in Turkiye and increase the number of transfer passengers flying Turkish Airlines. Passengers can also increase the length of their initial free of charge accommodations with advantageous Turkish Airlines prices at contracted hotels to discover even more of Istanbul.”
Over 57 thousand transfer passengers from 42* countries and 108 cities had the opportunity to experience Istanbul with Turkish Airlines’ stopover service to date. The scale of the project will expand to 15** new countries in 2022 to support the tourism sector of Turkiye.
*42 countries (departure point): Algeria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Ireland, India, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States of America.
**Planned 15 countries (departure point): Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Bahrein.
For more information on Turkish Airlines’ Istanbul Stopover Program, please visit: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/flights/stopover/.
About Turkish Airlines:
Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 372 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 334 worldwide destinations in 329 cities as 279 international and 50 domestic, in 128 countries. More information about Turkish Airlines can be found on its official website www.turkishairlines.com or its social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Avianca Brasil, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 19,000 daily flights to more than 1,250 airports in 195 countries. Further connecting flights are offered by Star Alliance Connecting Partner, Juneyao Airlines.