Turkish Airlines will be able to operate up to 35 flights a week in and out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Western Sydney airports by 2025 after Transport Minister Catherine King approved a proposal from Turkey.
The airline, which recently announced it would commence flights to Australia in March 2024, will also be allowed to add stopovers between Turkey and Australia – within the Middle East or more likely Singapore (or elsewhere in South East Asia) – under a condition called “fifth freedom rights”, which allows a carrier to fly between cities where neither port is its home base.
The new approval equates to a five-fold increase in the flights the carrier could have operated – although the airline would have likely always planned to operate more than seven flights per week out of Australia.
While a new Turkish Airlines service could help lower fares between Australia and Europe, the added flight capacity could also put downward pressure on fares to the Middle East and South East Asia or wherever it chooses to stopover.
The approval of Turkish Airlines’ flight increase comes after Minister King controversially rejected a similar capacity boost proposal by Qatar Airways, a decision which a Senate committee has since called on the government to “immediately review”. The government faced backlash over that decision, after it was accused of protecting Qantas interests.
Over the weekend, the “Register of available capacity for Australian international airlines” was quietly updated, theABC reported. The latest revisions include approvals for Turkey, along with additional flights granted to Vietnam and Canada. These decisions have been under consideration for several months.
According to Shadow Transport Minister Bridget McKenzie, Ms King needs to be transparent about her decision to approve Turkey’s proposal, especially in light of Qatar’s recent rejection.
“It’s a sign of the embarrassment the minister must feel about her failure to approve the Qatar Airways application,” Senator McKenzie said.
“Australians have rightly felt affronted by that decision, and the fact they are not lauding this with great fanfare shows that they are embarrassed they have had to be kicking and screaming not just by the Senate inquiry process but by the outrage of everyday Australians.
“Here on the week of Christmas they are quietly saying, ‘You know what, you were right’; more flights out of Australia means better prices for Australians and more choice of destination.”
Turkish Airlines had originally planned to commence operations down under in December 2023, all but confirming the move in June. But its launch was put on hold while it waited to gain approval on more capacity from the federal government.