The Turkish embassy in South Sudan has revealed that Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, will soon launch the scheduled flights to Juba to ease movement and strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries.
Erdem Mutaf, the Turkish ambassador to South Sudan, told Radio Tamazuj that Turkish Airlines is expected to start flying to Juba on 1 June 2022.
“Turkish Airlines will be here in June and that is when it will start operating officially, so before that day we cannot determine how much a ticket will cost,” Ambassador Mutaf said.
For his part, the director of Juba International Airport, Kur Koul, said that he does not have much information because he had not received official communication on the matter.
“I have not heard the information but I will confirm from them. I had that they will start but the schedule has not been confirmed,” Kuol said. “Regarding the cost, they will announce.”
The business community who travel and import goods from Turkey applauded the announcement and said it will save them a lot of money because at the moment they have to transit through Dubai, Nairobi, or Addis Ababa which is expensive.
Mustapha Kamal, a businessman who imports clothes from Turkey welcomes the direct flight.
“To me, it is very important because the airline will be going straight and there will be no transiting where we are stopped and have to pay airport taxes and unnecessary scrutiny of our passports,” Kamal said.
He added that the direct flight will also help speed up the process of bringing goods to South Sudan.
“Previously we have been using Ethiopia as one of our transit entrances under what we call amalgamative documentation, and Nairobi as well,” he added.