Hicran
March 27, 2013

Turkish Airlines (THY) will begin flights to Houston on April 1 and on April 3 to Aqaba, which marks the second flight destination in Jordan after the capital, Amman.

THY CEO Temel Kotil announced a year ago that THY had plans to add Boston, Houston and cities in Florida to its destinations. Houston, which is home to more than 5,000 Turkish Americans, marks the first of these new US destinations, and Texas, the state where Houston is located, is the number one trade partner of Turkey among US states. At least 340 Houston companies report doing business with Turkey according to data from the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP).

Meanwhile, Aqaba will become the 221st destination of the carrier’s network, which includes 98 countries. Flights are scheduled on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Return flights start from 99 euros including all taxes and fees.

In the middle of this month, THY announced that it will buy 117 planes from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus between 2015 and 2020. THY carried some 39 million passengers last year and expects to boost this number to 46 million this year. After launching 33 new routes in 2012, the carrier hopes to open as many as 40 more this year, around a quarter of them to Africa, and aims to be flying to every country in Europe by the end of the year.