Ankara, June 1 (IANS): Turkey on Monday partially resumes domestic flight operations after a two-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

National flag carrier Turkish Airlines and the Pegasus Airlines currently only resumed flights from Istanbul to a few major cities, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Turkish Airlines' first aircraft departed to the capital Ankara from Istanbul Airport, and a plane with Pegasus Airlines flew to the western province of Izmir from Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul in the morning.

Turkish Airlines will begin to fly to other cities on June 4 and launch its international flights on June 10.

Pegasus administration, meanwhile, said the company would soon start its domestic and international flights without revealing further details.

Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey would enter a new normalization period on June 1 as the figures related to COVID-19 cases tend downwards.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Turkey has climbed to 4,540 and the number of confirmed cases totalled 163,942, according to the figures announced by the Health Ministry.