Airline Swiss to drop Zurich-Istanbul route in October
ISTANBUL - Reuters
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Airline Swiss will halt twice-a-day service from Zurich to Istanbul as of the winter timetable that starts in late October, it said on July 28, citing a drop in demand amid “the massive deterioration of the security situation.”“In addition, the strong growth of the partly state-owned Turkish Airlines has led to overcapacity and a sharp fall in prices on the Zurich-Istanbul route”, a spokeswoman for the Lufthansa unit said by mail, confirming media reports.
It would continue to evaluate market conditions and planned at the moment to resume flights to Istanbul in summer 2017.
The number of foreigners visiting Turkey plummeted more than 40 percent in June, official data showed on Thursday, marking the biggest drop in at least 22 years as tensions with Russia and a series of deadly bombings kept tourists away.