"We are studying other routes in India. The destinations include Hyderabad and Chennai. We may start these flights from 2010 but not this year," the airline's CEO Temel Kotil said in New Delhi.

With seven flights from Mumbai and Delhi, he said the airline has exhausted its existing rights of 14 services a week, but expressed hope that these would be increased in the next bilateral air traffic talks between India and Turkey. The Turkish carrier so far had four flights a week from Delhi and three from Mumbai.

Responding to questions, Kotil said the main attraction for Indian travellers to fly on Turkish Airlines would be its connectivity to Europe (including Russia), Middle East and Africa.

"More than half the passengers transit through Istanbul for Europe and Russia. It is almost like the ancient Silk Route which used to pass from Asia to the Europe via Turkey," he said, adding Indian passengers could get convenient connections to 93 destinations including those in Germany, France, the UK and Russia.

He said the airline connected even cities like Lyons in France, which would help a passenger to fly to such cities directly, instead of changing flights again.

With the launch of daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi today, the airline would be increasing the number of seats by 20 per cent, Kotil said. Turkish Airlines has 127 aircraft now and has placed orders for 105 more planes worth USD 6 billion over the next eight years. PTI