Turkish Airlines, which flies from New Delhi and Mumbai, plans to start flights from Calcutta, Chennai and Hyderabad over the next two years. “We are considering Calcutta as a hub in eastern India. But it depends on whether we are able to get the requisite permissions. We are in talks with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the civil aviation ministry,” said Temel Kotil, president and CEO of Turkish Airlines.

As per a report in Telegraph by karan Choudhury, plans are underway to start direct flights connecting Hyderabad and Istanbul next year. “GMR has asked us to start direct flights to Istanbul. We want to reach out to more cities in India and if they allow us we will definitely go. Right now, we are planning to reach out to five cities in India,” he said. Hyderabad-based GMR Infrastructure is part of a consortium that won a contract to build a new terminal at the Istanbul international airport.

The airline has also approached the DGCA for an agreement, which allows it to sell tickets directly in India through its own offices instead of relying on agents. The airline hopes to target three million travellers from India after getting the government’s approval. At present, it is represented in India by InterGlobe.

According to the airline officials, sales performance has increased after the termination of their code-share contract with Air India in June. Code sharing is a reciprocal agreement, which allows one airline to use the flying rights of another and in turn give it a fixed number of seats to sell. The airline, which flew 29.1 million passengers to 180 destinations in 2010, has a fleet of 169 aircraft.