Turkish Airlines’ 329-seat Airbus A350-900 wide-body passenger aircraft began scheduled flights to the new Ercan Airport today, BRT reports.
The wide-body plane landed at Ercan this morning.
Flight TK960, which took off from Istanbul with 258 passengers, was greeted with a water cannon salute upon landing at Ercan Airport.
A ceremony was held in the departure lounge of the terminal building to mark the occasion of the plane’s first landing at Ercan.
Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu, Minister of Public Works and Transport Erhan Arıklı, Turkey’s Ambassador to Nicosia Metin Feyzioğlu, Turkish Airlines officials and representatives of a number of tourism organisations attended the ceremony.
Flowers were presented to the flight crew and a cake was cut.
Making the first speech at the ceremony, Turkish Airlines’ Middle East and Cyprus Vice President Erol Şenol stated that it was a very valuable and meaningful day for him.
Stating that developments regarding aviation and tourism were being followed closely, Şenol said that when the new airport was built in Istanbul, the number of passengers and flights increased and connected Turkey to other parts of the world. He said that the new airport in the TRNC also will serve this purpose.
Şenol added that Anadolu Jet will increase the number of flights to the TRNC.
He said, “In order to support tourism, we are working to ensure that students and the people of Cyprus can receive better service at more affordable prices. We will increase cultural tours from Turkey to the TRNC“.
