58 passengers denied flights to US from Istanbul airport in four days after Trump’s visa ban

ISTANBUL

Some 58 people have been unable to depart from Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport over the last four days due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily prohibiting immigrants and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The passengers were denied direct and connecting flights from the airport following the ban. Ten were denied their flights from the airport on Jan. 28, 42 were denied on Jan. 29, four were denied on Jan. 30, and two were denied on Jan. 31. 

All but two of these passengers were due to fly with Turkish Airlines, the agency said.

On Jan. 31, two people who were passengers of a connecting Air France flight from Istanbul to Paris and then onto the U.S., were also not allowed to depart from the airport.

Ten of the passengers who were denied on Jan. 29 had direct flights booked from the airport, while 32 had connecting flights through Istanbul.

The passengers of the banned countries reportedly began waiting for the cancelation of the order while Turkish Airlines, which flies to nine destinations in the U.S., has also been negatively affected by the ban.

President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 28 preventing travelers and refugees from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S.