The carrier in HCMC told on Monday that it had added three more weekly flights to make its service daily from July. The airline still operates the Airbus A340 airplane configured with 270 seats, including 34 Business-class seats.

Turkish Airlines said it was cooperating with Vietnam Airlines for Hanoi-Bangkok service, giving those passengers departing from Hanoi an opportunity to enplane the flight operated by Turkey’s airline from Bangkok to Istanbul and beyond.

Previously, Turkish Airlines flew to and from Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and passengers who wanted to travel from HCMC to Istanbul on the other days had to board the flights of Vietnam’s carrier and other airlines to Bangkok.

Turkish Airlines added flights to the HCMC-Bangkok route in anticipation of rising demand of both leisure and business passengers for travel between Turkey and Vietnam, as their relations, especially trade, have grown significantly.

The two countries are looking to take their two-way trade to US$1 billion this year and a double trade expansion by 2012 from more than US$600 million in 2009.

Huong Giang Travel, the general sales agent of Turkish Airlines in Vietnam, is working with its partners to offer more packages to the Vietnamese market. The company has a nine-day tour to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Grand Bazaar and other sites of interest in Turkey, with cost from US$2,479.

The local travel firm has launched a three-day free-and-easy tour to Bangkok from US$165 per person, including a return trip on Turkish Airlines. In Bangkok, this airline is allowed to let passengers embark and disembark its aircraft as a result of the fifth freedom granted by aviation authorities of Thailand and Vietnam.