Turkish Airlines for Australia

[Foreigner]

Not sure if this is mentioned on AFF...

Turkish Airlines orders 777s for possible Australia flights | Plane Talking

Turkish could be on-line in Australia.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Not sure if this is mentioned on AFF...

Turkish Airlines orders 777s for possible Australia flights | Plane Talking

Turkish could be on-line in Australia.

Good lord, qantas struggle to serve us internationally, what makes the Turkish think they will do it justice?

 

[markis10]

Turkish have been saying for a few years Australia will be a destination, as has Air India.

 

[gypsyinabigtown]

This made a lot of sense particularly when Qantas' euro routings refused to acknowledge there was anything in Europe outside the British Isles.
A few years ago, when I had queries my agent about Qantas itineraries ex-SYD on to Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Romania or Russia, I was frequently offered flights with connections in London.
I kid you not.
Needless to say, I went ahead and booked with one of the middle eastern carriers.

Turkish Airlines is one of the highest quality airlines in Europe and serves the more destinations in its immediate area (Balkans, Southeastern Europe, Caucasia, ex-Soviet) than any other airline in the world. It would be a huge positive, if they took the leap and offered a direct service to IST with onward connections.

However, I must caveat that the QF/EK tie-up will be more of a challenge compared to the previous feeble Qantas offering. I am also sure that Qantas (and other incumbents) will try their hardest to lobby for restricted access from foreign airlines on 'competition' grounds (read: protectionism).

 

[smit0847]

Would a direct IST-SYD be the worlds longest flight?

 

[cmon0005]

Turkish have been saying for a few years Australia will be a destination, as has Air India.

I can just see it in a few years time, due to Australia's lax laws/regulations on Airlines setting up & flying into Aust we're going to have too many airlines and not enough pax to fill them all, as well as more loss making airlines.
Competition is good until you have too much of it.

 

[anat0l]

Would a direct IST-SYD be the worlds longest flight?

It would be, but could it actually make that distance without stopping? (Notwithstanding using the 77W's max range on max payload... there are other factors to add into that mix)

PER-IST is in the "feasible" range of most other long haul flights.


TK in Australia would certainly start to introduce even more *A into the nation, and a bit more variety compared to just Asia stop. It's a shame TK removed F from their aircraft, but TK J is reportedly very, very good.

I can just see it in a few years time, due to Australia's lax laws/regulations on Airlines setting up & flying into Aust we're going to have too many airlines and not enough pax to fill them all, as well as more loss making airlines.
Competition is good until you have too much of it.

I'm sure it won't get that bad, and then after that who in the government is really going to care? They'll just let the airlines battle it out, and it'll be survival of the fittest. Those in the same alliance may even start to consolidate with codesharing so the situation "fixes" itself.

As far as the public is concerned, I don't think there's any such thing as "too much competition".

 

[gypsyinabigtown]

I can just see it in a few years time, due to Australia's lax laws/regulations on Airlines setting up & flying into Aust we're going to have too many airlines and not enough pax to fill them all, as well as more loss making airlines.
Competition is good until you have too much of it.

That would be fabulous news, right? Us Australian Frequent Flyers would enjoy travelling at depressed low-fares while airlines battle it out and let their foreign shareholders take the hit.
I hope your good wishes come alive as soon as possible.

 

[cmon0005]

That would be fabulous news, right? Us Australian Frequent Flyers would enjoy travelling at depressed low-fares while airlines battle it out and let their foreign shareholders take the hit.
I hope your good wishes come alive as soon as possible.

Not sure what you're trying to get at here....but I didn't make any wish in my post, merely stating a prediction on what might happen to the industry in the future.

 

[gypsyinabigtown]

Not sure what you're trying to get at here....but I didn't make any wish in my post, merely stating a prediction on what might happen to the industry in the future.

That's fair, sorry to have misquoted you. I should have said "I hope your predictions can materialize as soon as possible."

 

[JessicaTam]

Having flown TK earlier this year I would welcome it if they flew ex AU. They are switched on and keen to build their business. If this provides a(nother) wake up call to QF then so be it.

 

[gypsyinabigtown]

Would a direct IST-SYD be the worlds longest flight?

SYD-IST is 9,293 miles.
I actually think TK may go for a IST-MEL routing - SYD is served up pretty well, and there are much more people with Turkish/Greek heritage in MEL, who may be interested in IST as a destination/connection point, compared to SYD.
IST-MEL is still a chunky 9,083 miles.

According to Non-stop flight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia both of these would be the longest non-stop commercial flights in the world, after SQ stops its SIN-EWR routing.

Having a world record non-stop route could be considered a "prestige point" for TK, (helpful marketing spot for an up-and-coming airline anxious to build a global brand). Just like having built the world's record tallest tower was a "prestige point" for other emerging economies like Malaysia or UAE.

However, I very strongly doubt that they would do this route non-stop.
* It is difficult to build a reliable clientele as hardly many Turks ever visit Australia for tourism. Besides the obvious cost of a flight, visa requirements are substantially onerous and may take several weeks, if not months. Most prefer travel to Russia nearby, and Thailand/Bali for exotic travel. Business links are also not as strong.
* TK is operated more as a privately owned carrier, than the hobby horse of an oil-rich kingdom. This would be a very costly marketing exercise.

Thus, I suspect their routing would allow for a streamlined refuelling stop in Jakarta or KL, which would increase route flexibility and would introduce some welcome competition to QF on these routes.

 

[elbarto]

Is this article actually about TK looking at flying to Australia or another opportunity to bash Qantas? I'm really failing to see any need to even mention Qantas in it.

This made a lot of sense particularly when Qantas' euro routings refused to acknowledge there was anything in Europe outside the British Isles.

And how many European airlines who aren't from the British Isle fly to Australia?

I can just see it in a few years time, due to Australia's lax laws/regulations on Airlines setting up & flying into Aust we're going to have too many airlines and not enough pax to fill them all, as well as more loss making airlines.
Competition is good until you have too much of it.

If they route doesn't make money they'll drop it. No one is going to operate a route out of pride.

 

[JessicaTam]

Is this article actually about TK looking at flying to Australia or another opportunity to bash Qantas? I'm really failing to see any need to even mention Qantas in it.

The article is only about the purchase of 15 to 20 B777-300ER aircraft. Everything else is pure speculation about what they will do with them.

Including AU in that speculation seems reasonable.

 

[Isochronous]

I think TK IST-MEL could work. It would be an ideal gateway to Russia and Eastern Europe.

 

[N860CR]

It's really not very likely. They'll have the same issues the rest of the European carriers had in the past (which has led to basically all of them pulling out). Direct from IST isn't really on the cards, so it would likely be a MEL/SYD-SIN/KUL-IST. Sure, TK have good connections onwards from IST, however it still ends up a 3 flight journey. EK can do a lot of them with only the two flights and TK's access to Star Alliance simply means they can sell connections onwards from IST with pax arriving on an Asian based Star member.

Would be nice to see a Euro carrier here, but it's very unlikely (look how many have dropped out). We're down to BA/VS and who knows what will happen to BA when the JSA with QF dies. Services to LHR will always be strong simply because there is still good demand for travel between the UK and Sydney.

 

[Isochronous]

When did Austrian stop flying Melbourne-Vienna? (I think via BKK from memory)

 

[N860CR]

Not sure about Melbourne, but they dumped Sydney not all that long ago (ie in the last 5 years or so) as I remember flying with them.

Can't even remember where it stopped. Might have been KUL, although I could be confusing that with Olympic.

 

[markis10]

Not sure about Melbourne, but they dumped Sydney not all that long ago (ie in the last 5 years or so) as I remember flying with them.

Can't even remember where it stopped. Might have been KUL, although I could be confusing that with Olympic.

It was KUL, caught them one time on Xmas eve to go to Langkawi as they were cheap.

 

[777]

Pet theory of mine but i wonder whether PER is the obvious destination for airlines like TK. I really think that when Virgin co-locate to the international terminal in Perth they should heavily target the "seamless transfers to other Australian ports" market. Perth massive under-utilises its potential as a gateway due the coughpiness of Int-Dom connections but i can really see that changing with new developments coming online.