By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkish Airlines now offers direct flights between London’s Gatwick Airport and Turkey’s popular Aegean holiday resort of Bodrum, the national flag carrier announced Thursday.

"Having increased its capacity for many destinations with the arrival of summer season, Turkish Airlines now enables its passengers to fly directly between Bodrum and London," the airline said in a written statement.

"The flights have been introduced as Turkey is tipped to be ‘the’ holiday destination for Brits seeking sun, sea, sand, and peace in 2018," the airline said.

The company said the Bodrum-London flights, which started this week, will be offered twice weekly during summer, Wednesdays and Saturdays, with costs as low as 235 pounds all-inclusive for round trips.

"Turkish Airlines, which made its first flight to the United Kingdom with its London flights on Sept. 9, 1961, now operates 90 flights per week to the United Kingdom, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh," the airline noted.

Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, currently has 325 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes, and flies to more than 300 destinations in 121 countries. Last year it carried 68.6 million passengers with a 79.1 percent seat occupancy rate.