SINGAPORE - After months of public speculation, plans by Turkish Airlines to fly between Istanbul and Australia with a stop in Singapore have materialised, with the inaugural flight taking off in March.
Tickets for the service between the Turkish city and Melbourne, the capital of Australia’s Victoria state, went on sale on Jan 19.
A check of the Turkish Airlines website showed that the thrice-weekly flights will include a 1？-hour stopover at Changi Airport without the need to change aircraft.
The first flight will depart Istanbul on March 15 and land in Singapore the next day, before proceeding to Melbourne.
The flights will initially use 300-seat Boeing 787-9 passenger jets, before switching to 329-seat Airbus A350-900 planes from April.
Over time, Turkish Airlines plans to make this a daily service, Melbourne Airport said.
Also being sold are tickets solely for the Singapore-Melbourne leg, which means Turkish Airlines has secured the right to operate fifth-freedom flights between the two cities.
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Airport operator Changi Airport Group confirmed to The Straits Times (ST) that Turkish Airlines will operate fifth-freedom flights between Singapore and Melbourne from Terminal 1 starting March 16.
Fifth-freedom flights allow a carrier to fly from its home country to another, where it can offload passengers and freight, pick up other passengers and cargo, then proceed to a third country.
Without this air right, airlines can sell flights only to and from their home country.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) had told ST in December 2023 that it had not received any application from Turkish Airlines to operate fifth-freedom services between Singapore and Australia at the time.
This was after Turkish Airlines chairman Ahmet Bolat made public the carrier’s intentions to operate flights to Sydney and Melbourne via Singapore.
Earlier in December, Australia granted the airline fifth-freedom rights to stop at other ports – in South Asia, South-east Asia or the Middle East – on the way from Istanbul to Australia.
Fifth-freedom flights must be agreed upon among all the governments and civil aviation authorities involved.
What are fifth-freedom flights and how do they benefit travellers?
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ST has asked CAAS for comment, given the latest development.
In a statement on Jan 19, Turkish Airlines said it would be the only European airline to operate flights to Melbourne Airport.
“In the next few years, Turkish Airlines aims to organise direct flights to Melbourne and other potential cities in (Australia), with the acquisition of new aircraft capable of operating non-stop flights between Istanbul and Melbourne,” it added.
In December, the airline placed an order for 220 Airbus jets, including 15 A350-1000 planes with the range to enable such non-stop connections.
Turkish Airlines will become the sixth carrier to fly between Singapore and Melbourne, joining an already-crowded field that includes Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its budget arm Scoot, as well as Australia’s Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar.
In addition, Emirates has fifth-freedom rights to fly from its Dubai base to Singapore, and onwards to Melbourne.
Aviation analysts had said Turkish Airlines’ plans to fly between Istanbul and Australia via Singapore would increase options for travellers.
The heightened competition on these routes could also bring down fares.
Asked to weigh in on Turkish Airlines’ plans to fly between Singapore and Australia, SIA previously said it has faced competition “from day one”.
At present, it operates flights to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, while Scoot flies to Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
In 2023, the Singapore-Australia market was among the fastest growing for Changi Airport.
It made one of the strongest recoveries after the lifting of Covid-19 travel curbs, with passenger traffic between the two countries reaching 94 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in November.
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