Pakistan International Airlines and Turkish Airlines have agreed to expand their codeshare cooperation from February 1 that will include further routes. This deal will enable passengers of both airlines to fly on each others flights. As per the deal PIA customers can fly from Istanbul to US destinations like Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Houston, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
PIA does not serve these destinations in US and with Turkish airlines codeshare the travel from Pakistan will become much easier and convenient. This will also save time as compared to flights via Middle East and Gulf destinations. The code share agreement will also be available on Turkish Airlines flights to Johannesburg, Athens, Amsterdam, Tashkent and Moscow. PIA and Turkish airlines already cooperate on its routes from Pakistan to Istanbul including Istanbul – Karachi/ Islamabad/ Lahore routes.
In return Turkish Airlines, according to the new deal will market Pakistan International Airlines flights from Karachi and Islamabad to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat and from Lahore to Dubai and Abu Dhabi with its own airline code and flight number, the statement said.
In a statement issued by Turkish Airlines the CEO and Deputy Chairman Bilal Ekşi said the passengers would be able to travel with easier connections and more flexible alternatives.
“The more the frequencies between two countries are increased in the future, the further the cooperation between two carriers will be expanded so as to enable passengers to travel with even shorter connection times and more comfortable travel opportunities,” he said.
Pakistan International Airlines CEO, Bernd Hildenbrand, for his part, said the codeshare expansion would “add more value to our commercial ties and be equally beneficial for our customers.”