Air and Train Ticket Sales Have Started! Ticket sales for air and rail travel have resumed following the coronavirus disruptions. Services on both rail and air routes were suspended during the pandemic. With plans to begin normalization steps after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, ticket sales for travel by train and plane have now reopened.
During the coronavirus outbreak, mass transportation modes such as rail and air services were halted. After that pause, authorities began planning a gradual return to normal operations. As part of this process, ticket sales for air and rail journeys have begun ahead of service resumptions planned for after the Eid holiday. Conventional and high-speed train services that were suspended will restart on May 28, 2020, and tickets for those departures are now on sale. Meanwhile, previously announced airline services are planned to resume on June 4, 2020. International flights were halted worldwide during the outbreak, and many domestic flights were also canceled. As the spread of the virus has started to decline, air and rail services are scheduled to restart after the holiday.
Tickets for Rail Travel Are Now on Sale!
Tickets for rail travel are now available. Preparations are continuing at full speed for the conventional and high-speed train services planned to resume on May 28, 2020. Ticket sales for the planned train services have begun today. As part of the post-coronavirus normalization process, high-speed trains (YHT) will operate from May 28, 2020, on routes including Ankara–Istanbul, Ankara–Eskişehir, Ankara–Konya and Konya–Istanbul, with a total of 16 scheduled trips per day across these lines.
Train tickets can initially be purchased contactlessly through the mobile application, website, or at station ticket counters. Tickets will not be sold via call centers or agencies. Meanwhile, urban lines such as Marmaray and Başkentray were not suspended and service frequencies on those routes are planned to be increased. Air and rail ticketing will be linked to passengers’ coronavirus-related data via the Ministry of Health information systems, using the Hayat Eve Sığar (HES) code to ensure travelers’ health status is checked. Travelers from or to provinces under entry and exit restrictions must also obtain a Travel Permit Document.