Turkish Airlines will commence flights from Izmir to Belgrade this winter season. The carrier plans to introduce services from Turkey's third largest city starting February 16 of next year. Flights will run two times per week. Tickets are expected to go on sale by the end of the year. The development comes as a result of a recent agreement between aviation stakeholders from Serbia and Turkey concerning new routes, frequencies and capacities. The new services will become Turkish Airlines’ third from the Serbian capital, complementing Istanbul and Ankara, with the latter operated by its regional brand AnadoluJet.
Air Serbia is expected to codeshare on the new services. In addition to the new route, Turkish Airlines will increase frequencies between Ankara and Belgrade, from two to four per week starting December 2. Services from Izmir face no direct competition and will be maintained on Thursdays and Sundays. It will mark the first time Izmir and Belgrade have been linked with a scheduled nonstop air service.
Air Serbia is also set to unveil new routes in Turkey in the coming months as part of its cooperation agreement with Turkish Airlines. The Serbian carrier recently scheduled additional flights to Istanbul’s main airport for this winter, which it will serve seventeen times per week. It will increase frequencies between the two cities to 21 weekly from next summer season. Although Turkish Airlines has been attempting to strike an agreement over the launch of scheduled flights from Antalya to Belgrade, it is believed no agreement has been reached so far. Antalya is operated over the summer through charter flights which run up to nine times per day during the peak holiday travel period.