Turkish Airlines in Kathmandu said on Monday that it has decided to add an additional flight on the Kathmandu-Istanbul sector starting December following an increased travel demand. The airline has also refuted reports that suggested suspension of the flights between Nepal and Turkey.

Abdullah Tuncer Kececi, general manager of Turkish Airlines for Kathmandu, told the Post that the reports that ‘Turkish Airlines has suspended flights to Brazil, South Africa, Nepal and Sri Lanka as part of measures against the Covid-19 pandemic’ are baseless.

“Instead, we have decided to add additional flights from December onwards,” he said.

With the addition of flights, the carrier will be operating four weekly flights–Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays–-December onwards.

“We have also issued a new travel protocol for the people from Nepal and India to enter Turkey,” he said.

Turkey has removed the 14-day mandatory quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated passengers.

As per the new travel protocol, passengers travelling to Turkey must submit a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival.

The 14-day of quarantine requirement has been exempted to the passengers who certify that they have had at least two doses [single dose for Jonson & Jonson] of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organisation or Turkey, according to the new travel protocol issued by the Turkish embassy in New Delhi on Monday.

“At least 14 days should pass since the last dose,” according to the new travel protocol.

The unvaccinated passengers have to quarantine in their residence or the address they will declare.

“On the 10th day of the quarantine, passengers will be subjected to do the PCR test. If the PCR test is negative, quarantine will be terminated. And if the PCR test is positive, treatment will be conducted as per the Covid-19 guidelines of the Ministry of Health.”

However, these rules are not applicable to transit or transfer passengers.