Turkish Airlines cancels more than 160 flights

Passengers travelling to or via Istanbul Ataturk Airport following the attempted coup face heavy delays after Turkish Airlines cancelled 166 flights today.

Gulf passengers from Abu Dhabi and Doha have been affected although Dubai flights were not listed among the cancellations.

Click here to read the full list.

Turkish Airlines is offering passengers the options of rebooking, receiving refunds or extending ticket validity until August 15.

Laila El-Haddad ‏@gazamom tweeted: ‘#AtaturkAirport is a disaster waiting to happen. All flights to US grounded. Angry, hysterical, passengers +useless staff. #istanbul. Other tweets showed planes that did take off having empty loads (e.g. Tehran-Istanbul).

Dubai carrier Emirates also confirmed it was suspending service to
“Emirates can confirm that we are suspending services to Sabiha Gokcen International Airport from 1st August. This decision was made as part of our routine operational review, to ensure that our capacity is deployed to best serve customer demand across our global network. We remain committed to Istanbul and will continue to serve our customers via Ataturk International Airport with 11 weekly flights.” – an Emirates spokesperson

The FAA notice to airmen (NOTAM) dated July 15 states US airlines are currently prohibited from flying to or from Istanbul and Ankara airports.

“All airline carriers, regardless of country of registry, are currently prohibited from flying into the United States from Turkey either directly or via a third country,” it states. Atlanta became Turkish Airlines’ ninth gateway in May.

Read: Turkey rounds up nearly 3,000 suspects in failed coup attempt

It is the second major disruption to Ataturk Airport following the terrorist incident on June 28 which killed 41 people.

In a seperate announceent, Dubai carrier Emirates said it was suspending services to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen International Airport from next month.

“Emirates can confirm that we are suspending services to Sabiha Gokcen International Airport from 1st August,” an airline spokesperson said. “This decision was made as part of our routine operational review, to ensure that our capacity is deployed to best serve customer demand across our global network. We remain committed to Istanbul and will continue to serve our customers via Ataturk International Airport with 11 weekly flights.”