Turkish Airlines has introduced a promotional fare of N47,880 ($399) to Europe and N83,880 ($699) to Asia and Far East beginning from November 1, 2008.

This comes as the airlines re-scheduled its flights out of Lagos, moving Saturday flight to Sunday. Managing Director of the airline in Nigeria, Mr Abdullah Pinar, said the promotional fare was introduced as a mark of appreciation for Nigerians' patronage since the airline started in the country two years ago.

According to him, the special fare will cover Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and Common Independent States between November1-15, 2008. He said: "Our Nigerian passengers have been wonderful and loyal and there is no other way to reciprocate than by having such a fantastic promotional fare to Europe and the Eastern countries."

Pinar disclosed that "with effect from October 26, TurkishAirlines' Istanbul -Lagos-Istanbul flights had been rescheduled to Monday, Thursday and Sunday from Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Also time of arrival in Lagos will be 20:10hours.

"We shall alternate the new Airbus A330 aircraft dedicated to this route with the bigger A340 every week in order to accommodate more passengers at the weekend when we have more passengers travelling for religious pilgrimage to Jeddah and Tel Aviv,"he added. Mr Pinar reiterated that the airline would still operates a no-transit visa policy as long as the passenger had a valid visa to his final destination.

"There should be ease of travelling when flying with Turkish Airlines," said Pinar, who expressed satisfaction with the strides the airlines was making in its operations to Nigeria.

Turkish Airlines recently decided to purchase a total of 75 aircraft in line with its fleet planning policy for 2009-2023. The airline, which was established in 1933 with its 5 planes fleet, has transformed into a 4- star airlines' company with a fleet of 115 planes flying to 141 destinations worldwide.

Turkish Airlines is a member of Star Alliance allies which was established in 1997. Star Alliance flies over 975 directions in 162 countries.