TURKISH AIRLINES: Non-stop sights set on New Zealand

Brace yourself, Auckland: You’re about to get a whole lot more Turkish delight. Turkish Airlines will repeat its direct flights to Australia model with flights to New Zealand.

Turkish Airlines has announced plans to start flights to Auckland, with a pit stop in Singapore, naturally, because even planes need a breather on a 17,000-kilometre slog.

Background to Turkish Airlines and New Zealand

Originally reported in January 2025, the plan seems to have solidified after a meeting between the Chairman of Turkish Airlines, Ahmet Bolat, and the New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, related to Galipoli ANZAC celebrations.

The news came out over the weekend at the Turkish Airlines Management Summit in Antalya (with flights to over 3000 destinations — you need a summit). Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat revealed that flights to Auckland would kick off alongside a new service to Minneapolis around April or May 2025.

Bilateral Agreement

Under the 2010 bilateral air services agreement New Zealand airlines can serve any destination in Türkiye (via any intermediate point) and beyond. The agreement is reciprocal allowing Türkiye-based airlines the same rights.

Air New Zealand does not currently operate flights to any airport in Türkiye, something that Turkish Airlines seems keen to exploit.

Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s largest airlines, has the most expansive worldwide network, covering over 360 destinations. It has been eyeballing New Zealand for a while now, hoping to add even more bragging rights to its already ridiculous global network.

Türkiye and Australia

Currently, Turkish already flies from Istanbul to Melbourne (via Singapore) three times a week. As of April 2025, Turkish Airlines operates four weekly flights between Istanbul and Sydney, with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

The airline has announced plans to increase this frequency to five weekly flights starting June 9, 2025 and then to six weekly flights from October 27, 2025. Ultimately, Turkish will run daily flights to Sydney beginning January 5, 2026.

Non-stop flights are on the cards once new aircraft — Airbus A350-1000s — join the fleet. Yep, that’s the same type of jet that Qantas will use to launch its marathon 20-hour Project Sunrise services to London and New York.

About Turkish Airlines

If you need a quick history lesson, Turkish Airlines is one of the true aviation giants. Founded in 1933 Turkish Airlines now has a fleet of 450+ aircraft. It flies to 52 domestic and 270 international destinations across 131 countries. That’s a total of 322 destinations across 130 countries.

The airline employs roughly 56,000 staff and takes revenue of about US$21 billion a year. Turkish Airlines is half owned by the Türkiye sovereign wealth fund.

2PAXfly Takeout

Hmmm. This could be interesting. With a population of a little over 5 million, New Zealand is not a large market. Like Australians, New Zealanders do travel a lot, especially on the Kangaroo route to London.

I can only see this new route working between Auckland and Istanbul for two markets: people who want to travel to Türkiye, and people who are happy to do a two-stop journey to Europe and surrounds. That is, until the route becomes non-stop to Istanbul. Once that happens, I think all bets are off.

Project Sunrise will take you direct to London and maybe Paris. So, you will still have a stop if you want to travel further. Will passengers prefer Istanbul over London or Paris? We will see.

It looks like Türkiye and its airline want to position Istanbul as a worldwide hub. The models are Dubai for Emirates or Doha for Qatar. For some markets this might work, but I am not sure it will be successful for Australia and New Zealand. However, if the price is right, a two-stop trip on a quality airline between New Zealand and Europe might work.