Indian tourists avoided Turkey in a flock this June, a month after the Sindoor operation, during which the Indian armed forces made cross -border strikes in response to a terrorist attack on civilians in Pahalgam in April.
The campaign urged Indians to boycott travel to Turkey, with some online travel agencies (OTA) to stop reservations to the country and other advice against the visit. The last such boycott led by the social media was against the Maldives, which proved to be highly effective-Indian travel to the island nation after the diplomatic series and have remained low since then.
Also read | Indian trade in Turkey and Azerbaijan in May in the middle of diplomatic tension
In his speech at Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister referred to three countries that did not support India during the Sindoor operation. Although they did not name them, it is widely understood that China, Turkey and Azerbaijan were widely.
According to data published by Turkey by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the country visited the country in June 2025 24 250 Indian tourists, which is 36 % decrease compared to June 2024, when 38,307 Indians traveled to Turkey.
This decline also influenced the cumulative data for the first half of the year. From January to June 2025, Turkey visited 1,39,215 Indians compared to 1.64,373 during the same period in 2024, a year -on -year decline of 15 %.
The decline began in May 2025, in the immediate consequence of Sindoor operation. That month, Turkey visited only 31,659 Indians compared to 41,544 in May 2024, which is a 24 % decline. June data fell below May’s.
In all year 2024, Turkey visited 3.30 985 Indians, which is 20 % increase compared to 2023.
Also read | Indigo Q2 is soft but smooth take -off expected in the second half
Indians make up a tiny 0.6 % of total foreign incoming to Turkey, the market mostly driven by travelers from Europe and Russia. However, the Indian market has been growing in recent years, with Indigo playing a key role in this growth.
For years, the Turkish airline was the only carrier connecting both countries, although there were several options in the Middle East. This changed in 2018–19, when Indigo started direct flights, which significantly increased traffic between India and Turkey.
Post-pandemic, indigo operated aircraft for rented from Turkish airlines leased, but cannot extend rent after 31 August. Although no official reason was awarded, this step seems to be related to Turkey’s voice support Pakistan during the Sindoor operation and its attitude to Kashmir.
Turkish Airlines tried to expand operations in India, but fought due to lack of progress in the revision of the Agreement agreement (bass).
The Celebi is carefully suspended overnight. Employees were accommodated across other agencies without affecting operations at airports where they operate. Celebi India was mostly owned by the Turkish company Celebi.
Decreasing traffic to Istanbul is probably the key reason why Indigo may decide not to deploy its humid aircraft from the Norwegian Atlantic to the Turkish city. Instead, the airline is expected to prefer its deployment on European routes while continuing in Istanbul operations using a narrow body aircraft with a technical stop.
As Indigo reduces its dependence on Turkish airlines, through partnership with KLM, Air France and Virgin Atlantic, it can reconsider its ties with the Turkish carrier completely, especially if traffic continues to decline due to public sentiment.
Also read | Air India, Indigo, others face control after Audits DGCA find 263 safety garbage
Both Indigo and The Air India currently have maintenance agreements with Turkish technology and aircraft are still sent to Turkey to operate. Since now on the Flightradar24 flight web has shown two Air India Boeing 777s and one Indigo A321neo at Istanbul Atatürk airport, where the Turkish technical base is located.
Indigo has already announced a new agreement with Lufthansa technician for redelivery checks, services previously processed by Turkish technology. Meanwhile, Air India’s CEO indicated that the airline was investigating an alternative maintenance provider, although no formal announcements have been made yet.
(Tagstotranslate) Turkey
