SINGAPORE - Despite going public with plans to fly from Istanbul to Australia with a layover in Singapore, Turkish Airlines has not lodged any application with the Republic’s authorities to operate these flights.
Responding to queries from The Straits Times on Dec 27, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said it “has not received any application from Turkish Airlines to operate fifth-freedom services between Singapore and Australia”.
“Airlines must obtain regulatory approvals before the flights can be operated,” said CAAS director of air transport Sidney Koh.
Fifth-freedom flights allow a carrier to fly from its home country to another, and offload passengers and freight, before picking up passengers and cargo and flying on to its final destination.
Turkish Airlines chairman Ahmet Bolat told Hurriyet Daily News, an English daily in Turkey, that it will start flights to Australia between March 15 and 25, 2024. The carrier plans to operate flights to Sydney and Melbourne.
“The Australia flight will involve a layover, a 10-hour stopover in Singapore, and then a further seven-hour journey to Australia,” he said in the news report published on Dec 8.
He added that the carrier is in talks with Hollywood star Margot Robbie, the lead actress in the hit 2023 movie Barbie, to front the airline’s advertising campaigns for this new route.
Turkish Airlines did not respond to ST’s repeated inquiries on why it has not applied for regulatory approval for the flights and its plans for the route.
In the absence of fifth-freedom services, airlines are allowed to sell flights only to and from their own hub, which would be Turkey for the Istanbul-based Turkish Airlines.
CAAS’ comments came more than a week after Australia earlier in December gave Turkish Airlines the right to operate 21 weekly flights to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and western Sydney with immediate effect. This increases to 28 flights a week from 2024, and 35 per week from 2025.
At the same time, Australia’s authorities also granted Turkish Airlines fifth-freedom rights. This allows the carrier to stop at other ports – in South Asia, South-east Asia or the Middle East – on the way to Australia, subject to regulatory approvals at the layover destinations.
In September, Australia’s Transport Minister Catherine King came under fire for rejecting the Doha-based Qatar Airways’ request to operate more flights out of the country.
Other carriers operating fifth-freedom flights between Singapore and Australia are British Airways, which flies from London to Singapore and then to Sydney, and Emirates, which flies from Dubai to Singapore and onwards to Melbourne.
National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Australia’s flag carrier Qantas dominate routes between Singapore and Australia. Low-cost airlines Scoot and Jetstar also fly between the two countries.
Asked for comment on Turkish Airlines’ plans, SIA said it has “faced competition from day one”.
“Singapore is a completely open airline market, and SIA and Scoot face competition on almost every route we operate on,” said an SIA spokesperson.
At present, SIA operates flights to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, while SIA-owned Scoot operates flights to Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Qantas did not respond to ST’s queries. The Australian carrier operates flights from Singapore to Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.
If Turkish Airlines’ plan materialises, it will increase flight options for travellers, and the competition will “normalise airfares” on those routes, Mr Mayur Patel, head of Asia at aviation data consultancy OAG, said.
He added that the addition of Turkish Airlines’ services will also intensify competition on routes between Singapore and Europe, since the Turkish carrier has an extensive network from its Istanbul hub.
Should Turkish Airlines operate 35 weekly flights between Istanbul and Australia from 2025, this will have a long-term impact on SIA and Qantas’ European services, said Mr Patel.
Passenger traffic between Singapore and Australia has caught up to 94 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, based on figures that airport operator Changi Airport Group released in November.
