A nonstop service between Vietnam and Turkey is slated for launch in July 2016, the chief executive officer of the European country’s national flag carrier said Wednesday.

The straight route will spare passengers the connecting flights in Thailand, Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil said at a meeting with a Vietnamese delegation in Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines is eying an expansion of investment in the Asia-Pacific market, where air passenger growth is forecast to quicken at an average pace of 5.5 percent in the next 20 years, according to the executive.

The growth rate in Europe and North America is only three percent and four percent, respectively, Kotil said, adding the passenger growth in Asia-Pacific will thus be the world’s fastest in the next two decades.

Once the nonstop service is launched, there will be four to five flights from Istanbul to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City per week, said Ngo Minh Duc, director of Huong Giang Co., the official agent of Turkish Airlines in Vietnam.

Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil (L) speaks during a meeting in Istanbul on September 23, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Turkish Airlines opened its Ho Chi Minh City branch in 2010 and has since won the choice of passengers traveling between Europe and Vietnam.

The coming direct flight will offer more convenient travel options to passengers, as well as helping boost the trade, tourism and cultural cooperation between Vietnam and Turkey, said Ahmet Akpinar, general director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch.

Trade between the two countries topped $2.2 billion in 2014, with Vietnam exporting $2 billion worth of goods to Turkey, according to Duong Quy Nam, First Secretary of Political and Economic Affairs with the Vietnamese Embassy in Ankara.

Last year Turkish Airlines, with services to 110 countries and territories, became the third largest carrier by passengers in Europe, following Air France and Lufthansa.

The Turkish government is giving incentives to encourage aviation development, such as building more airports, cutting taxes, and scrapping visas.

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