Turkish Airlines could soon join Istanbul and Auckland with non-stop flights as the flag-carrier builds out a network of ultra-long range routes on globe-striding Airbus A350-1000 jets.
The airline has already committed to launching non-stop flights to Sydney in 2025, with Sydney first up for the 17-hour marathons and Melbourne to follow.
New Zealand could be next in line, although it’s more likely a 2026 proposition says Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi.
“We are looking at our options,” Eksi told Aviation Week journalist Kurt Hofmann on the carrier’s inaugural flight from Istanbul to Sydney via Kuala Lumpur – a route which will skip that stopover in 2026, shaving around three hours off the current 20-hour route.
“But, especially for 2025, our main agenda is to increase frequencies on the existing network, which is quite substantial already,” Eksi said.
South America has also been tipped for non-stop flights, with airline chairman Professor Ahmet Bolat telling Executive Traveller earlier this year that the A350-1000s jets could also fly direct to Santiago and Buenos Aires.
And while Turkish Airlines will launch flights to Santiago via Sao Paolo on December 18, “when we receive the A350-1000, we can do those flights nonstop from Istanbul,” Eksi reflected.
Turkish Airlines will take delivery of the first of 15 long-legged A350-1000s in 2025.
This is the same aircraft which will power Qantas’ non-stop Project Sunrise flights to London and New York, although Turkish Airlines’ chairman Bolat said his A350-1000s would get a boost from “advanced higher-capacity” Rolls-Royce engines, enabling the jet to carry a full load of passengers from one corner of the world to the other.
“Right now we can come direct from Istanbul to Melbourne with a Boeing 787, but with less passengers,” Bolat told Executive Traveller.
The possibility of Turkish Airlines connecting Auckland to Istanbul in one colossal leap comes as Star Alliance sibling Air New Zealand scopes out a return to London – a route once flown via Los Angeles, and abandoned in early 2020.
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Publish date : 2024-12-02 20:46:00
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