Turkey seeks to restart economy with domestic flights in May

Turkey is deliberating whether to start reopening its economy with the resumption of some domestic flights as early as mid-May, officials with direct knowledge of the plans said.

Other steps that will be discussed at a cabinet meeting later Monday will include resuming rail transportation and reopening schools, officials said. On Sunday, the country reported its fewest new cases in almost three weeks.

Governments from Germany to the U.S. are taking the first steps to relax measures imposed to contain the global coronavirus pandemic as the world economy suffers the deepest downturn since the Great Depression.

Coming off a brief recession just over a year ago, the urgency is mounting for Turkey to loosen the screws on the economy as its currency and reserves come under pressure more than a month after it introduced social-distancing measures. Business confidence has collapsed as the outbreak paralyzed economic activity, with private banks criticized by the government for failing to support companies in distress.

The plans under consideration could deliver a boost to national carrier Turkish Airlines and retailers, which have been suffering since Turkey confirmed its first case of the disease in early March. Turkey has reported 110,130 coronavirus cases and 2,805 deaths, and recoveries surpassed new cases for a third day on Sunday.

Aviation authorities say they could resume flights as early as May 15, but the decision is subject to review by health experts and approval by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The government is inclined to resume flights around the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday that begins May 24, at the end of the Muslim Ramadan fasting month, one of the officials said.

Ready to Resume

“We are already ready to resume flights as long as it is approved” by health authorities, Pegasus Airlines CEO Mehmet Nane said. Nane, who’s also the head of Turkey’s Private Aviation Operators Association, said the Transportation Ministry has been contacted to stress the need for a board to set pandemic-related safety rules.

“Social-distancing rules inside the plane are just the tip of the iceberg, there is need for a comprehensive arrangement for rules about ticketing desks, security and access to the planes,” Nane said.

The cabinet is expected to discuss restricting the number of passengers to be allowed on planes and trains, and whether to reopen schools for about a month before the summer recess in June, said one of the officials. The sale of tickets could start about two weeks before the first flight to gauge the demand, he added.

Shopping malls that shut their doors in March have already asked the government’s permission to reopen a week or two before Eid al-Fitr, according to Huseyin Altas, head of the Shopping Malls and Investors Association.

“We can restart activity by taking necessary precautions. But movie theaters, restaurants and playgrounds for children will remain closed in the first stage,” Altas said. “The shopping malls have already lost a quarter of their annual gross income of about 160 billion liras ($22.9 billion).”

The government, meanwhile, is expected to decide whether to extend this weekend’s lockdown to include May 1, which falls on Friday.