Turkish Airlines direct flights to Australia by the end of 2023
Turkish Airlines CEO shared on social media that they are considering adding direct flights to either Sydney or Melbourne in Australia, with a goal to start three flights per week from Istanbul by the end of 2023.
Currently, Turkish Airlines has codeshare agreements with airlines operating in Australia and carried 120,837 passengers in 2019 and 118,847 passengers in 2022. The aim is to increase the airline’s presence in Australia and improve travel options for Turkish citizens living there, while also attracting more visitors to Turkey. The CEO stated that the ultimate goal is to fly directly to both cities every day with the next generation of ultra-long-range aircraft.
“Australia has been on our radar for a while now, and while we haven’t flown directly or indirectly to the country yet, we’re very interested in expanding our flight network to include Australian cities. During a meeting with Governor Linda Dessau of Victoria State, we discussed the possibility of adding Melbourne to our flight network, as well as opportunities for collaboration in areas such as tourism, trade, and education.
Although we have code-sharing agreements with airlines in Australia, we believe it’s time to display the Turkish Airlines logo in the country. If our new wide-body aircraft are delivered as promised, we aim to start operating three weekly flights from Istanbul to either Sydney or Melbourne before the end of 2023.
Both Sydney and Melbourne are beautiful cities that contribute greatly to our company and our country. Flying to these cities, even with transfers, will improve the quality of our services but may decrease our profits slightly. However, there is a strong desire among our top management to increase the number of continents we fly to from six to seven by December of this year.
Our goal is to provide better travel opportunities for Turkish citizens living in Australia and to attract more visitors from Australia to our country. In 2022, the average tourist who visited our country spent between $800 and $900, while visitors from Australia, with a per capita income of $65,000, spent an estimated $3,000 or more.
Our ultimate goal is to fly directly and daily to both Sydney and Melbourne with the next generation of ultra-long-range aircraft. However, if aircraft manufacturers do not increase their productivity, it will take us another five years to achieve this goal. Until then, what do you think we should focus on more, Sydney or Melbourne? “
The CEO of Turkish Airlines posted this on his social media account.
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