Turkish Airlines (THY): Sydney to be its second Australia destination; nonstops to follow

Turkish Airlines (THY) is to add Sydney as a second destination in Australia, starting on 4-Dec-2024, just over nine months after launching flights to Melbourne.

It will deploy A350-900 aircraft on its four times weekly service to Sydney from its Istanbul hub, via a stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

Melbourne is served three times weekly via Singapore, also with the A350-900.

THY will join British Airways as only the second European airline serving Sydney, but it will have two destinations in Australia to British Airways' one.

THY has also earmarked Sydney to be its first nonstop destination in the future, but without saying exactly when. This will likely only happen after its Airbus A350-1000 deliveries start in 2028, allowing Qantas to be the first nonstop operator between Europe and Australia when it receives the same aircraft in 2026.

After many years of unrealised plans to add Australia to its network, THY is making a considerable impact on the Europe-Australia market in 2024.