Following the coup attempt unfolded in Turkey all the flights to Turkey diverted and departures from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport were canceled on Friday, reported Jeffrey Dastin in Reuters.
According to British Airways flight to Istanbul diverted to Sofia, Bulgaria and a Lufthansa flight to Istanbul returned to its origin in Frankfurt.
This was the latest shock to tourism in Turkey, which has taken a hit from a number of bombings this year, including a suicide attack in June that killed 45 people at Istanbul’s main airport.
Many people posted on social media that they or their loved ones were stranded.
Twitter user Cynthia Wee (@Its_A_Cyn) said, “many stranded at airport #help,” noting in another post that she was stuck in Istanbul with her family and scared.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said all US-inbound flights from Istanbul that were in the air prior to the airport’s closing would be allowed to land in the United States as planned, said Dastin
As of July 2, international flight bookings to Istanbul for trips in the second half of the year were down 36% from a year ago, travel data analysis company ForwardKeys said on its website.
Arrivals from the Americas and Asia-Pacific were down 45 percent, according to ForwardKeys. In the past six months, bombings in Istanbul led to progressively sharper declines in bookings, it said.
Turkey’s prime minister said the attempted coup would be put down. President Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey since 2003, and Turkey is one of the most important U.S. allies in the region.
Sourced from Agencies, Featured Image Courtesy: reuters.com
