Turkish Airlines to serve Australia from March

Turkish Airlines has been working on this route for years and it is now official. The airline, which serves the world's largest number of countries, will serve Melbourne from March 15, operating three times a week via Singapore (for now). So Melbourne would be its 346th destination out of 130 countries.

These flights will be operated by Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900.

But Turkish Airlines aims to operate direct flights to Melbourne and other Australian cities in the coming years by purchasing new aircraft capable of operating non-stop flights between Istanbul and Melbourne.

As a reminder, the Turkish flag carrier carried 83.4 million passengers last year, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has praised Turkish Airlines' contribution to the country's economy, with revenues of around $56 billion and service exports of $16 billion.

The airline wants to double its capacity by 2033 and in December ordered 220 new Airbus aircraft, including 70 A350s.

(Photo by Le Journal de l'Aviation – All rights reserved)