Turkish Airlines expands its African network with the addition of Juba in South Sudan
In Africa, Turkish Airlines currently connects 50 cities in 32 countries and, following an agreement between the governments of South Sudan and Turkey, the airline will start direct flights between the two countries.
Turkish Airlines will strengthen its presence in the African sky from the second half of this year. The company has announced the opening of a direct route to Juba from 1 June 2022. The announcement comes almost a month after the airline inspected the facilities at South Sudan's main airport hub. The direct Istanbul - Juba route will be operated without competition three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays by Boeing 737 MAX 8.
However, indirectly, Turkish Airlines will be competing with Ethiopian Airlines, which operates flights between Turkey and South Sudan via Addis Ababa. According to an announcement by the Turkish embassy in South Sudan on its twitter account, negotiations for the opening of this route have been going on for a year. This is not the first attempt by the authorities of the two countries to open this section. In 2016, it was already planned to open an Istanbul - Juba route with 3 weekly rotations.
