The promotion of Direct Izmir project, which Izmir Foundation has done to increase the tourism potential of the city with the support of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, was carried out in Historical Gasworks.

Promoting the direct flights from Izmir to the world and from world to Izmır, the directizmir.com website was put into service with the partnership protocol signed among Izmır Foundation, Corendon Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, SunExpress Airlines and Turkish Airlines.
Along with Tunç Soyer, Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Erhan Kılıç, Mayor of Buca Municipality, Utku Gümrükçü, Mayor of Çiğli Municipality, Halil Arda, Mayor of Gaziemir Municipality, Adil Kırgöz, Mayor of Dikili Municipality, Erkan Balcı, General Manager of TAV Ege, Emre Pekesen, Sales and Network Planning Director of Pegasus Airlines, Mine Aslan, Commercial Director of Corendon Airlines, Peter Glade, Commercial Director of SunExpress Airlines, Ömer Uzun, Sales Manager of Izmir Turkish Airlines, Mustafa Özuslu, Deputy Chairman of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Dr. Buğra Gökçe, Secretary General of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Izmır Metropolitan Municipality Bureaucrats, representatives of chamber and non governmental organizations, ambassadors and consuls, and a lot of sector representatives have attended to the project’s promotion in Historical Gasworks.
 
“It aims to improve the transportation opportunities in three steps”
Stating that they came together for a project which will strengthen direct transportation alternatives to İzmir by air, Soyer said “Direct Izmir project aims to improve the direct transportation opportunities to Izmir in three steps: First of all, we aim for the flights, which are on the market, yet have not enough passengers, to continue uninterrupted.  In the second step, we aim to make İzmir a city that attracts tourists 12 months of the year by spreading the direct flights only in the summer season throughout the year.  In the third and the last step, we aim to open new destinations which will have direct flights from Izmir. Thus, we leave the door ajar for the visitors from the different cities of the world so that they could see the natural and cultural heritage of Izmir.”
 
“We will host the first ship in Izmir port in March”
Highlighting that they have created drop off zones for the tour buses in Konak Square and opened tourism information offices in Alsancak, Kültürpark and Kemeraltı in line with the requests of sector representatives, Mayor Soyer expressed “The number of UNESCO World Heritage in Izmir will increase to six from two with Kemeraltı, Delta of Gediz, Genoese Castles and Birgi.  We work together with Province Directorate of Culture and Tourism, TÜRSAB, Izmir Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Shipping to make Izmir an important cruise port again.  We will host the first ship in Izmir port in March after years.  “If we do not face an unexpected issue due to the pandemic, we aim to spend the year 2022 to the fullest in terms of cruise tourism with a total of 29 ship routes.”
 
Aslan: “An important step towards branding”
Mine Aslan, Commercial Director of Corendon Airlines, said “We are aware the importance of Izmir for tourism before the importance of tourism for Izmir. With this awareness, started in 2019, we continue our flights from Izmir without a break, and we will continuously support the increase in this route. This web site is a very helpful platform to find the direct flights in Izmir. We wish this concrete step towards branding to be fortunate and auspicious for everyone. European tourists know historical and natural beauties of Izmir very well.  We hope Izmir will be a holiday brand not only in Europe, but also in the whole world and will get what it really deserves to be.
 
“All directs flights will be accessed easily”
Emre Pekesen, Sales and Network Planning Director of Pegasus Airlines said “All of our direct flights from Izmir will be accessed easily from directizmir.com. We continue to work on increasing the number of flights from Izmir in the near future.”
 
Glade: “We will continue to support tourism”
Peter Glade, Commercial Director of SunExpress Airlines, stated “We will have direct flights to Izmir from 33 destinations in 17 countries and 16 domestic destinations this summer. As part of our growth strategy in Izmir, we will continue to support tourism by offering more flight connections, adding new destinations and increasing our capacity.”
 
Uzun: “A motivating project”
Ömer Uzun, Sales Manager of Izmir Turkish Airlines, said “I wish that 2022 will be a year when the negative effects of the pandemic disappear.”
 
Direct Izmir: There is up to date tariff information for 49 different points
Directizmir.com stands out as the only address which people of Izmir can see direct flights. Users can see all the cities they can fly directly from Izmir to any point in the world through directizmir.com. As of the moment of its release, the website, which contains up-to-date tariff information for a total of 49 different destinations, 26 cities abroad and 23 cities in Turkey, has many airline companies. With summer season, there will be new flights which include Beirut, Geneva, Helsinki, Kiev, Kayseri, Milan, Nantes, Oslo and Skopje. Directizmir.com has only scheduled flights.  Apart from the flights mentioned here, travel agencies can be contacted to get information about charter flights.

Directizmir.com was prepared by institutions within the Izmir Foundation, airline companies and other stakeholders of the industry with the support of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in line with the expectations of aviation industry. Aiming to facilitate direct transportation opportunities in Izmir by air, this project intends to open new destinations with direct flights from Izmir, to increase the number and frequency of existing destinations, to spread seasonal flights throughout the year, and to increase the awareness of destinations with direct flights among Izmir residents.