TURKISH AIRLINES: Plans to fly to Australia in 2023

According to Aviation Week, re-stating predictions from April this year, Turkish Airlines is working on flights to Australia. Initially targeting Melbourne for three flights per week, via Singapore commencing in December 2023. Flights will use Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Turkish Airlines is limited by current agreements to four flights per week but could be contemplating eventually direct Istanbul to Sydney flights.

Flying to Australia would make Turkish a truly global airline since it is the only continent that the airline doesn’t currently cover.

Longer term

Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat has made statements at this year’s IATA AGM in Istanbul, that eventually, say in five years’ time, using either newly ordered Boeing 777X or Airbus A350 aircraft, the airline could offer daily non-stop flights direct between Istanbul and Sydney and Istanbul to Melbourne. Australia has a significant Turkish immigrant community. The two countries are also linked by the shared story of heroism during the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey during World War One by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

The Chairman then went on to speculate about other Australian destinations like Perth and Brisbane.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is exciting news. Direct flights between Australia and Turkey would add another potential international hub for passengers wishing to travel between Europe and Australia. Other centres are in Asia – like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, and the Middle East including Dubai, Qatar, and potentially Oman. Currently, the main hub in Europe is London and possibly Frankfurt. Adding a new hub, and that of an airline with a truly international focus could be a game-changer.

All that hub talk ignores the spectacular charms of Turkey itself, already on the travel radar of Australians through the Gallipoli ANZAC story.

Turkish Airlines has a massive 600 aircraft order in the pipeline, including 400 narrow bodies and 200 long-haul widebody aircraft on order. The announcement was expected to be made at the IATA conference, but has been delayed by a few months due to the Turkish presidential run-off election. Once those aircraft start arriving, the sky is the limit for the airline’s expansion.

Count me as a passenger on that inaugural fIstanbul-Singapore-Melbourne flight!