The wonders of Türkiye will soon be a single flight away. Turkish Airlines will shortly begin flying to Sydney as its second Australian destination. The flights will launch as four-weekly services via Kuala Lumpur on the modern Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Return fares will start from A$1,489, which mirrors the existing arrangement with Melbourne-Istanbul flights stopping in Singapore.
But Point Hacks understands that Turkish Airlines is looking to eventually shift to non-stop flights between Sydney and Istanbul on the forthcoming Airbus A350-1000.
Turkish Airlines’ existing Airbus A350-900s sport 32 lie-flat Business Class seats and 297 Economy Class seats. Business Class is set in a 1-2-1 layout – and the Stelia Solstys III seat might look familiar if you’ve flown Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-10 or regional Airbus A350 Business Class in the past.
Kicking off on 4 December 2024, TK174 departs Istanbul at 3:15pm, calling into Kuala Lumpur at 6:20am the next morning. After an 80-minute stop, the flight continues onto Sydney, arriving at 6:30pm.
Travellers heading to Istanbul will depart Sydney at 8:40pm and stop in Kuala Lumpur at 1:55am for two hours. The final leg of TK175 leaves at 3:55am and reaches Istanbul at 10:15am.
Sydney Airport CEO, Scott Charlton, says that new flights are a ‘significant milestone for travel to Europe.’
We are proud that Turkish Airlines Sydney and NSW for their first non-stop service which is a strong endorsement of everything our city and state has to offer. In the meantime, passengers will get to experience Turkish Airlines’ award winning service from Sydney to Istanbul via Kuala Lumpur in December 2024.
With more than 15,000 Turkish-born Australians in New South Wales and Türkiye consistently rated as one of the top destinations for Australian travellers, we’re confident this service will be strongly supported.
– Scott Charlton, Sydney Airport CEO, 12 September 2024
Seats are expected to go on sale shortly. If available, you’ll be able to book award seats on Turkish Airlines’ new Istanbul-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney route with points and miles of Star Alliance carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Air Canada.
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THY should increase flights to Melbourne as this service was launched back in March 2024. They should also be looking into a second and even third alternative stop over point other-than Singapore, as the stop in Singapore is much of a burden on the transit traveling passengers, where they have to vacate the aircraft with all of their on bourd cabin bags and then go through a very inadequate security to enter the waiting lounge of the aircraft that they just got off from. These alternatives could be Jakarta, Denpasar, Kuala Lumbar and or Bangkok.
With regards to the non stop flights, I think that THY should be prioritizing Melbourne Istanbul non stop flights first as this service was the first step into the Australian market, and the people of Victoria are expecting this.
good luck Qantas, turkish airways is going to give you a run for your money in every way possible
the only people who will fly Qantas will be boomers who dont know any better
what a ridiculous comment. I am a boomer and avoid Qantas at all costs.
I’ve flown on SQ’s version of the Stelia Solstys III seat and find it incredible narrow, making it uncomfortable to sit in, let alone trying to sleep. Might be OK for those of small stature, but otherwise best avoided. Ironically, I also flew recently on a Turkish 777-300ER and despite the now considered out-dated 2-3-2 layout, the width, length and overall space was outstanding.
Other then Singapore airlines is there a way of booking rewards seats from Australia on the Sydney to Istanbul flights ?
Any other Star Alliance program can do the same, provided you can get points into them.