Turkish Airlines adding Singapore services; planning onward flights to Melbourne

Turkish Airlines has announced an expansion of its services to Singapore, which will increase the number of weekly flights from 10x currently to twice daily by mid-September 2023.

In a boost for passenger experience, the additional flights will be operated by the Airbus A350-900, which offers a much superior Business Class product to the ageing Boeing B777-300ERs.

We also know that Turkish Airlines plans to announce the launch of flights to Australia imminently, with Melbourne set to be added by December 2023. While the long-term goal is to operate these as non-stop flights, current technology necessitates a stopover in Singapore.

It was previously stated that there would not be fifth freedom traffic rights between Singapore and Melbourne, but a representative I spoke to at a recent press event said otherwise. He could just have been mistaken, but either way we should have a definite answer by the end of this week, when Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat visits Melbourne to make the formal announcement.

Turkish Airlines’ expanded Singapore schedule

Turkish Airlines currently serves Singapore Changi Airport 10x weekly through TK55/54 and TK209/208. TK55/54 is a daily service, while TK209/208 operates three times a week.

From 12 August 2023, TK209/208 will add Saturday and Sunday frequencies…

…and from 13 September 2023, Wednesday and Thursday. 

In other words, TK209/208 will become a daily service from mid-September, and in total, Turkish Airlines will offer 9,492 seats to passengers flying the Singapore route each week, an increase of 28%.

The additional services will be operated by the Airbus A350-900, which is an improvement on the status quo. Currently, 70% of the weekly flights between Singapore and Istanbul are operated on the B777-300ER, where the Business Class cabin consists of lie-flat seats in a high-density 2-3-2 configuration.

Needless to say, a middle seat in Business Class in this day and age is simply not competitive  enough (even if you’re Emirates!). 

But the Airbus A350-900 has lie-flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration with all-aisle access. These offer superior comfort and privacy, as well as better storage space (Turkish also has some A350-900s with a different Business Class product that were intended for Aeroflot, but these won’t be deployed on the Singapore route).

If the seat looks familiar, that’s because it’s basically the same one that Singapore Airlines uses for its regional Business Class product on the A350-900 regional and B787-9. This is the Stelia Aerospace Solstys III, further customised and released as the Symphony.

Onwards to Australia

Turkish Airlines is due to announce the commencement of flights to Australia later this week, with Melbourne flights starting in December 2023. These flights will initially operate three days a week, with a stopover in Singapore. 

When interviewed on the topic last month, Chairman Ahmet Bolat said that fifth freedom rights between Singapore and Melbourne were not necessary, “because there are so many flights from Singapore to Australia”. That said, I can’t imagine he’d mind taking a little bit of that pie, seeing as how the plane needs to be on the ground in Singapore anyway.

At a Turkish Airlines media event earlier this week, I asked a representative about fifth freedom flights, who interestingly enough indicated that they would be happening. The representative didn’t mention a timeline, however, so it could be that Turkish is looking at adding these flights later on, though not immediately at launch.

Incidentally, Turkish would not be the only fifth freedom operator on this route. Emirates already offers daily Singapore-Melbourne flights on its B777-300ER. 

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles award rates

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has some great value sweet spots for travel between Singapore and Europe, with one-way Business Class awards costing just 45,000 miles. North America is also great value at 67,500 miles, as is South America at 75,000 miles. 

✈️ One-way Awards to/from Singapore
	Economy	Business
Europe (inc. Turkey)	30K	45K
Middle East	32K	47K
North Africa	45K	60K
Central Africa	47.5K	72.5K
South Africa	50K	85K
North America	45K	67.5K
South America	52.5K	75K

While flights will involve a stopover in Istanbul, don’t forget that Turkish Airlines has the largest network of any commercial airline, and serves many cities that Singapore Airlines does not. If you’re looking to travel to places like Boston, Dallas, Dublin, Hamburg, Madrid, Sao Paulo or Toronto, you’d be looking at a one-stop journey regardless of whether you flew Turkish or SIA. 

The main catch is that Turkish Airlines award space out of Singapore is near impossible to find, and Turkish Airlines imposes fuel surcharges on redemptions.

If it’s any consolation, it does not pass on the full fuel surcharge to award tickets. For example, a Naples to Singapore Business Class redemption has €290.72 of taxes and surcharges attached to it.

When I search for the same ticket on ITA Matrix, I can see that the taxes component sums up to €30.39. This means that the fuel surcharge component on the award ticket is €260.33, which is still significant, but somewhat lower than the €315 surcharge on the cash ticket. 

If you’re looking to earn Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles, the only bank in Singapore offering transfers is Citibank, at the following ratios: 

• 10,000 Citi Miles= 10,000 Miles&Smiles miles
• 25,000 ThankYou Points= 10,000 Miles& Smiles miles

A flat transfer fee of S$27 is applicable.

However, it’s more likely than not we’ll see HSBC add Miles&Smiles as a transfer partner before the year is out, at least for the TravelOne Card. Miles&Smiles is already a HSBC TravelOne Card transfer partner in Malaysia.

Conclusion

Turkish Airlines will be increasing its Singapore services to twice daily from 13 September 2023, and is set to launch an onward flight to Melbourne by the end of this year. Fifth freedom flights may not be on the cards straight away, but I’d be surprised if Turkish is content to use Singapore purely as a technical stop. 

If nothing else, the airline is also bringing more of its latest Business Class seats to Changi, a welcome alternative to the dated products on the B777-300ER.

Now, if only Turkish would actually release some award space out of Singapore…

Do you think we’ll see fifth freedom flights on TK from Singapore to Melbourne?