[AMcWhirter]

Turkish Airlines originally intended to serve Australia this month but it never happened.

Now, according to Turkish media, the carrier expects to launch Australia next March.

Board Chairman Ahmet Bolat says Australia (it’s unclear whether it will be Melbourne or Sydney or both) flights will start between March 15 and March 29.

The flight from Istanbul would operate with a stop in Singapore but, again, this is unclear and Bolat is quoted as saying there will be a 10-hour layover in the City State. A misprint ?

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/margot-robbie-to-become-new-face-of-turkish-airlines-188435

[cwoodward]

Didn’t we hear exactly this several months back and than nothing went ahead ?

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Rferguson2

[Rferguson2]

I find it incredible that Turkish still haven’t announced which city they plan to serve with flights starting in three months time.

[AMcWhirter]

I find the above-mentioned 10-hour layover in Singapore to be most odd.

Maybe behind-the-scenes timetable planners are still determining the schedules.

If the IST-SIN flight were to be TK208 that would reach Singapore the next morning and after the usual stopover time could continue onto Melbourne to arrive the same day. It could turn around in Melbourne for a 22:00 hrs departure back to Singapore.

This wouldn’t be possible for Sydney because of the latter’s strict curfew.

I say this because I am sure some of you can remember the Emirates A380 in 2012 which broke the Sydney curfew and was fined (although not sure if the fine was ever paid). Sydney Morning Herald ran the story.

[LetsFlyNow]

On Nov 28th Aeroroutes published TK’s service increase to Singapore from 14 to 17 weekly weeks. The additional flight would be:

TK154 IST 1630- 0750+1 SIN
TK155 SIN 0410-1055 IST

Turkish airlines retracted this 2 days later. That kind of schedule would allow a round trip to MEL with a quick turnaround arriving back in SIN at around 3a.m.
Given that the TK boss held a press conference in Melbourne, i’d expect MEL to be the first destination in Australia.

And those flight times would allow for lots of connections in Europe both ways.

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paddie76, AMcWhirter

[Rferguson2]

Just reading in the Australian media this morning that the OZ government has given the green light for TK to operate 21 weekly services to Australia (versus the already agreed 7) as well as permission to sell tickets OZ-Singapore.

So, c’mon TK, pull your finger out and announce some schedules!

[cwoodward]

As Rf2 mentions it’s time for an announcement from Turkish as it looks like they will be allowed 35 flights a week and with stopovers allowed.

From ABC Australia news –

“Turkish Airlines will be able to operate five times more flights in and out of Australia than it previously could, after Transport Minister Catherine King quietly approved a proposal by Türkiye.Ms King’s decision follows an earlier rejection of a similar proposal made by Qatar to add more weekly flights from Australia’s major airports.

Turkish Airlines will be able to run 35 flights a week in and out of Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Western Sydney by 2025, incrementally rising from the seven a week it currently operates.

It will also be allowed to run those flights with stopovers between Australia and Türkiye.”

[AMcWhirter]

TK would like fifth-freedom rights from Singapore to Australia and I expect it’s in negotiations with the Singaporeans.

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cwoodward

[superchris]

I assume that fifth freedom rights on Singapore to Oz are pretty well established principles with BA / Qantas having them presumably in return for access to SQ to their own markets?

[AMcWhirter]

Fifth-freedom rights can be highly political. Much depends on the airline or airlines serving the route, available capacity and so on.

So for example SIA did not face much of a problem gaining Manchester-Houston rights because no other airline wanted the route.

But it’s different with Singapore-Australia as there are a now a number of airlines serving these destinations.

Turkish Airlines had previously said that gaining these rights were essential to its Australian operation. Of course this airline could route via Bangkok instead but Bangkok does not have the revenue yields as does Singapore.

(As an aside fifth-freedom rights, these were drawn up in the ICAO 1944 Chicago convention, refer to the carriage of passengers between two nations by an airline of a third. So fifth-freedom rights in this case are not needed by an Australian airline)

Developments are awaited.

[Mark Caswell]

Turkish Airlines has confirmed plans to launch flights to Melbourne on the Investor Relations section of its website, although as yet no launch date has been announced.

https://investor.turkishairlines.com/en/announcements/public-disclosures/29122023-new-route-announcement

[cwoodward]

With the injection of these many Turkish flights into the Australian market I have been pondering as to where the traffic is going to come from as there will be lots of extra seats to fill and no substantial growth in the market likely unless a low cost player enters the market.
Probably flights to/via Singapore will be hit hardest if as seems likely the 5 freedom rights to Singapore are granted. If so Qantas Jet Star and Singapore will be hardest hit I suspect with perhaps BA also suffering some loss of traffic.
The ME airlines will also stand to lose a good deal traffic but airlines flying to HKG and beyond probably not a lot as CX do not fly to Turkey leaving the one daily Turkish flight as the only direct connection.

[LetsFlyNow]

Given that apparently TK has yet to apply for 5th freedom rights for the Singapore – Australia leg, is it possible that TK will be getting the A350-1000 shortly and could fly to MEL nonstop? The A351 in the most current update (16,500km) can do IST-MEL nonstop. Don’t forget that there’re those delivery slots that were initially intended for QR….

[Rferguson2]

Launch date is officially announced for Mar 15.

3 x per week IST-MEL via SIN on a 787.

Departing IST 17:30 arriving SIN 08:50. Depart SIN 10:20 arrive MEL 20:40.

Depart MEL 22:30 arrive SIN 03:00. Depart SIN 04:30 arrive IST 11:15

[onajetplane]

Reservations now seem available for a 3 weekly service starting 15th March…

787 until start of April and then switching to a 350.

Layover in Singapore is 1hr30mins on the way to Melbourne, and 1hr40mins on the way back to Istanbul.

Does seem quite short notice for such a launch but good luck to them! I have found ex-UK fares down to AUS particularly expensive post C19 lockdowns and so more competition is always welcomed!

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Woodpecker

[Author]

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