To my business partners and friends who urgently need to travel internationally, right now:
I've done this several times over the past few months. You can still fly from almost anywhere to anywhere via Istanbul airport. Turkey currently imposes no restrictions on entry for any nationality. They have a Covid testing facility in the arrivals hall (landside, past immigration) that operates 24/7 and delivers test results within 2-4 hours. Max 4! Cost per person is 250 Lira, equaling EUR 27 or $32. If you have visa-free access to Turkey (e.g. EU citizens, Russians, Chinese) or an e-visa (e.g. Americans) and schedule a 7-hour-layover in Istanbul, you can comfortably pass your Covid test and continue your journey to the MANY countries who'll let you in with that test result. If you test positive, you'll be quarantined for 14 days in a hotel-like facility, with all expenses paid by the Turkish government. Staff told me that queues are zero at night and up to 30 mins during mornings. They catch about 20+ positive cases per day, the remainder is negative.
When I took these pics earlier this month, I saw flights from/to the US, Brazil, EU, Russia, GCC, Africa, ASEAN, HK (not PRC China), Korea.
A big thank you to the Turks for being so organized and keeping the world connected!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stefanzwanzger_to-my-business-partners-and-friends-here-activity-6739083245872279552-obh3