Turkish Airlines is the latest to tap into the startup ecosystem following its backing for the Plug and Play accelerator scheme for newbies in travel.
The airline says it will be one of the supporting "anchor" members of the organisation's new travel and hospitality acceleration programme.
P&P's focus on the travel sector is aimed at discovering, supporting and scaling new businesses that it hopes will make an impact on the industry.
Turkish Airlines, for its part, will work alongside P&P to mentor new businesses and collaborate with emerging technologies.
In particular, Turkish Airlines will have a focus on partnering with startups that focus on technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, augmented and virtual reality and so-called Internet Of Things.
P&P will accept between 20 and 30 startups over the course of 12 months for its travel sector classes.
Turkish's move comes two months after JetBlue in the US opened a venture capital fund to invest and incubate early stage startups.
The first recipient of funding (undisclosed) was airline forecasting service Flyr.
NB:Turkish Airlines image via Shutterstock.