TURKISH AIRLINES TO MAKE ITS FIRST DIRECT FLIGHT TO TORONTO

ANKARA (A.A) - 10.07.2009 - The Turkish national air carrier will make its first direct flight to Toronto, the cultural capital of Canada, on Saturday.
Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim will be aboard the first Turkish Airlines (THY) direct flight from the Turkish city of Istanbul to Toronto on Saturday.

THY Director General Temel Kotil, businessmen and journalists will also fly to Toronto.

A ceremony will be held at the Toronto Airport after the THY aircraft lands. Transportation Minister Yildirim will deliver a speech at the ceremony.

Yildirim is expected to return to Turkey on July 14 after holding talks in Toronto.

THY will fly from Istanbul to Toronto by Airbus 330 and 340 aircraft. The direct flight is expected to take almost 11 hours.

The Turkish Airlines will fly between the two cities three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Toronto will be the 117th international flight destination of the Turkish Airlines.

Turkey and Canada launched civil aviation activities by an agreement they signed in March 2009.

As the two countries initiated bilateral air transportation agreement in a way that would allow scheduled flights, they agreed to assign more than one airline companies from both countries and the first permit was granted to Turkish Airlines and Air Canada.

Two destinations each from Turkey and Canada were set as scheduled flight destinations, and the airline companies were allowed to make three passenger and three cargo flights, and third-party code sharing flights.