New non-stop flights to Europe? If all goes to plan, it’ll happen from either Sydney or Melbourne (or both?) before the year’s end.
Turkish Airlines chairman, Professor Ahmet Bolat has declared that Turkey’s national carrier intends to commence direct flights to Australia, although the airline has yet to decide on which of the country’s two biggest cities it will initially fly to – or if it will service both.
Posted on Bolat’s Linkedin page, the declaration comes after the chairman met with the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Linda Dessau AC CVO, while she was in Turkey for ANZAC commemorations and other appointments.
According to a translation of the post, the meetings also included the Australian Ambassador to Turkey Miles Armitage and Consul General in Istanbul, Tony Huber.
Bolat said the airline was “very interested” in flying to Australia and that the country “has been on our radar for quite some time”.
“Among the topics we discussed in our meeting was the inclusion of Australian cities in our ever-expanding flight network, with particular emphasis on Melbourne,” he wrote.
“We are witnessing the rapid development of cooperation opportunities between the two countries in areas such as tourism, trade and education.
“In the case of Australia, the question before us is: should we start our flights to Sydney or Melbourne first?”
On Twitter, the Victorian Governor said, “Turkish Airlines fly to more countries than any other airline”.
“Meeting Chairman, Professor Dr Ahmet Bolat, to discuss the opportunities for flights to Australia,” she tweeted.
Three flights per week to daily
According to Bolat, Turkish Airlines “carried 120,837 passengers in 2019 and 118,847 in 2022” from Australia through codeshare partner airlines.
“But we think it’s time to show the Turkish Airlines logo in Australia as well,” he posted.
Bolat said if the delivery of the carrier’s order of new generation, ultra-long-haul wide-body aircraft comes through, “we aim to start with 3 flights per week from Istanbul to Sydney or Melbourne before the end of 2023”.
But ultimately, TK’s “main goal is to fly directly and every day to both Sydney and Melbourne” utilising its new jets.
“Both Sydney and Melbourne are two beautiful cities that contribute greatly to our country and our company,” he wrote.
“Our aim is both to provide a more comfortable and beautiful travel opportunity to our Turkish citizens living there and to bring more visitors from Australia to our country.”
Big spenders
Citing unattributed data, Bolat said that while the average tourist to Turkey in 2022 spent “800 to 900 [US] dollars … it is estimated that those coming from Australia, whose per capita income is 65,000 dollars, spend more than 3,000 dollars on average in our country”.
Turkish Airlines picked up two gongs at the recent APEX Passenger Choice Awards, for Best Entertainment in Europe and Best Food & Beverage in Europe.
It also recently carried its one billionth passenger.
“Our brand, which has reached one billion passengers in 90 years, aims to reach its two billionth passenger in 2031, 8 years from now,” Bolat remarked upon the achievement.
“I would like to thank all our passengers who have shared this joy with us and all my colleagues who have contributed to this success.”
Last month, the company also released its vision for the next 10 years, with aims to achieve total revenue of over $US50 billion by 2033, expand its fleet to 435 aircraft by 2023 and to over 800 aircraft by 2033, and to expand its network to 400 destinations.
In addition to this, it plans to fly 170 million passengers per year by 2033 compared to just over 85 million in 2023.
