A new network of seaplane routes connecting the northwestern provinces of Istanbul and Bursa to the country’s top holiday resorts in the southwest of the country has been inaugurated by Burulaş, Bursa’s municipal transport company.

The company reduced the Istanbul-Bursa journey time to 20 minutes by adding seaplane routes over the Marmara Sea last year and is now expanding its network to cover the Aegean holiday town of Çeşme in İzmir, the southwestern tourist magnet Bodrum and Bandırma district of the northwestern province of Bandırma.

Journeys from Istanbul to Bandırma, Çeşme and Bodrum, as well as from Bursa to Çeşme and Bodrum began on June 13, ahead of a busy summer season that witnesses a mass flock of local and foreign tourists to these popular holiday spots.

The Istanbul to Çeşme route, which normally takes seven hours by car, has been reduced to 1 hour and 25 minutes, while the 11-hour journey by car from Istanbul to Bodrum has been reduced to 1 hour and 45 minutes