Turkish Airlines plans daily flights to Australia
Will we see more flights to Melbourne or a new service to Sydney..?
By David Flynn, July 23 2024
Turkish Airlines is keen to expand its presence in Australian skies with an uptick to daily flights by the end of this year.
The Star Alliance member is weighing up two options: increasing its current Istanbul-Melbourne service to a daily schedule, or launching new Istanbul-Sydney flights at four days a week.
Both would continue to rely on a stopover at Singapore until the debut of Airbus A350-1000 long-range jets capable of non-stop flights between Türkiye and Australia.
Speaking overnight at the Farnborough International Airshow, where Turkish Airlines also officially launched its new Crystal Business Class suites, chairman Professor Ahmet Bolat indicated the Melbourne vs Sydney choice would be made in the coming months.
The flights would run on either an Airbus A350 or Boeing 787, both of which sport Turkish Airlines’ flatbed business class seat in a 1-2-1 arrangement.
Should Sydney come out the winner, Turkish Airlines will go up against a score of airlines already connecting Australia and Europe, while the Sydney-Singapore leg – which can be sold on its own – would add to a popular corridor already flown by Qantas, Singapore Airlines, British Airways and low-cost Scoot.
Speaking with Executive Traveller after the launch of Istanbul-Melbourne flights, Bolat said that daily flights to both Melbourne and Sydney “is our strategic target.”
However, while the airline can run a total of 21 return flights per week between Australia and Istanbul, with room for further growth to 28 flights per week from October 2024 and 35 per week from October 2025, Bolat said “we are going to stick with Sydney and Melbourne,” adding “other cities (like) Perth and Brisbane are not on our list right now.”
Bolat also reiterated his decision not to bring back Turkish Airlines premium economy, which the airline scrapped in 2016 in favour of a simplified two-class cabin.
As Turkish Airlines ramps up its push into Australian skies, the airline is offering a free status match to woo Qantas frequent flyers across to its Miles&Smiles loyalty programme.
You can also lounge access, extra baggage and other top frequent flyer perks on Turkish Airlines with this fast track to Star Alliance Gold status.
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1202
Initial loads to MEL have looked pretty ordinary but there appears to be virtually zero marketing and SIN-MEL does not appear to be available though this may be a rights issue.
Given the flight lengths, I do questions TK's decision to not offer a Premium Economy product.
26 Sep 2023
Total posts 27
The timing of the MEL-SIN flight is pretty horrific.
Out of curiousity I just looked the route up and the TK option is also by some margin the most expensive- you can get your Star Alliance mileage on the well-known product of SQ with more departure options for several hundred dollars cheaper. Or if you are one of the third of Australians with QFF, Qantas has two options MEL-SIN both of which are less than half the price of TK.
Turkish Airlines - Miles & Smiles
08 Jun 2014
Total posts 266
I've been using the PER IST to Europe via SIN since the start of this year and I'm enjoying it. Although older 777's for 10-11 hours, their service in Y and J is fantastic. The plane does need an update but their lounge is great in IST. Connecting onward to Europe with flights around 2-3 hours they're ideal.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 731
To borrow from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Bring it on !!!
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