, has announced plans to begin flights to the Armenian capital of Yerevan in a move that could further strengthen ties amid a fragile normalization process between the two neighboring countries, according to Turkish and Armenian media.){kind=link}
Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), has announced plans to begin flights to the Armenian capital of Yerevan in a move that could further strengthen ties amid a fragile normalization process between the two neighboring countries, according to Turkish and Armenian media.
The airline said in a notification to Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) on Tuesday that its board of directors approved the start of scheduled flights to Yerevan and Timișoara, a city in western Romania, “depending on opportunities and market conditions.”
No specific information was provided on when the flights will begin or how frequently they will operate.
Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, a closed land border and a long history of hostility rooted in the mass killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
As a result flights between the two countries have been limited in recent decades due to the long-standing political tensions.
The route was previously served by Turkey’s now-defunct AtlasJet and resumed in February 2022, when Moldova’s low-cost carrier FlyOne, which has a subsidiary in Armenia, launched services to İstanbul, followed by Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines with flights between İstanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport and Yerevan.
Pegasus currently operates daily flights between the two cities. THY is expected to tap into a large transit market, particularly among diaspora Armenians in the United States, with Los Angeles seen as a key hub.
The announcement comes as Turkey and Armenia continue their cautious dialogue aimed at normalizing relations after decades of hostility. In September representatives of both countries held their sixth round of talks in Yerevan, the first such meeting on Armenian soil.
Following that meeting Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said both sides agreed to make preparations that would allow multiple airlines to operate flights between the two countries starting in the summer of 2026, with the aim of increasing routes and frequency.