THY to run 14 Istanbul-Houston round flights

Turkey's Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan has attended luncheon held to mark Turkish Airlines (THY) starting off its Houston flights. Minister Caglayan who is on his last day of holding talks in Houston, US addressed attendees at the meeting on Tuesday. Texas Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Mayor of Houston Annise Parker attended luncheon where Caglayan spoke and stated, "I think that we will be able to fulfill 14 round flights a week between Istanbul and Houston. These flights will improve the trade, friendship and alliance between us." Caglayan said they attached special attention to Houston since it was the heart of US economy. He underlined, the beginning of THY flights to Houston would positively affect the trade links within the US, noting they would consider Houston as a logistics base. Caglayan reiterated that a possible free trade agreement between the US and the EU might "turn into a disaster" for Turkey. He called on the US to take action to avoid any damage to Turkey's competition balance on that issue. Caglayan added, THY was the pride of Turkey and said, "A decade ago, THY was carrying 10 million passengers and in the year of 2013, we have reached the aim of carrying 46 million passengers." Furthermore, Caglayan attended the opening ceremony of the offices of Turkuaz Council (TCAE) and Texas Turkish American Chamber of Commerce (TTACC). Also speaking there, Caglayan started his speech by saying, "I enjoy working with TCACC and we are here to attend such an important event with TCACC as they are our ministry's work partner." Later on, Caglayan left Houston to continue his talks in Austin, US. Turkish minister will visit House of Representatives in Austin and come together with high level officials of Texas.