Turkish Airlines on Wednesday launched its maiden direct flight to Juba from Istanbul.
Juba will be the 62nd African destination of the national flag carrier airline of Turkey and South Sudan becomes the 129th route in the airline’s network.
Addressing the media at the Juba International Airport, the chief executive of Turkish Airlines, Bilal Eksi, said that the airline will operate three flights a week.
“Beginning 1 June, Juba-Istanbul flights will operate from Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays by a Boeing 737-900 Max aircraft,” he said. “Turkish Airlines has one of the largest and youngest fleets in the world and we are happy to offer safe and comfortable flights to South Sudan with our latest technology aircraft.
Eksi thanked Vice President James Wani Igga for visiting the Turkish Airlines offices which motivated the airline to launch the Juba route.
For his part, the vice president of the Infrastructure cluster, Taban Deng Gai, said the airline will help South Sudanese travelers and ease the transportation of goods and services.
“To the chief executive of Turkish Airlines, we are also very close to the Democratic Republic of Congo which is a very huge country and there are a lot of foreigners, UN employees, and business people there,” he said. I trust for them not waste time, they would like to connect to the Middle East and the rest of the world through south Sudan because it is shorter.”
Vice President Deng said the ties between South Sudanese and Turkish people are historical and that the Turks introduced modern governance to South Sudan.
David Subek, the chief executive officer of Juba International Airport, attributed the launch of the airline’s operations in South Sudan to the leadership of the country.
“The reason for this event is the timeless hard work of the leadership of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the vice presidents in making sure that peace comes to our country and so these are the fruits,” he said.