► SOMALIA: Turkish Airlines says strongest performing route is Mogadishu.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has announced a marked growth in the number of passengers flying to Turkey and onward to its other international destinations.  Between January and June 2013, Turkish Airlines saw a 25.8 percent increase in global ticket sales over the same period in 2012, a total of more than 22.4 million passengers with African traffic accounting for a significant proportion in that increase.

Turkish Airlines Africa Network

The international carrier’s U.S. ticket sales to Turkey jumped 10 percent between May and June 2013 compared to the same months last year while the Turkish carrier's largest increase in passengers came from Africa, which had a 36.9 percent increase in ticket sales compared to 2012, with Somalia leading the way at 247 percent. 

As mentioned previously, Turkey is in the process of building metaphorical bridges to the Horn of Africa where it has thus far touched down in Mogadishu, Djibouti, Addis Ababa, Khartoum and soon, Asmara and even Berbera, in the Somaliland autonomous region, on the cards.

Turkish Airlines currently serves over 30 destinations in Africa at present with plans to add more.