A fifth freedom flight refers to an international service that does not take off or land within the carrier’s home country. Generally,they are reserved for tag flight extensions such as Qantas’ Singapore to London service,which directly follows flights from Australian ports into Singapore.
Turkey’s air rights with Australia were amended on December 13 to stipulate Turkish Airlines may fly from two intermediate points of choice in South Asia,South East Asia or the Middle East. This means passengers will be able to fly with Turkish Airlines from Australia to destinations such as Singapore without needing to book a second leg to Istanbul,which will increase competition on those routes,potentially lowering airfares to Europe.
Australia has granted fifth freedom rights for passenger services to other countries including Canada,Hong Kong,India,Japan and the Philippines.
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Under the new arrangement,Turkish Airlines will be allowed to launch its services to Australia with up to 21 flights instead of seven. This allotment will increase to 28 in the second half of 2024 and 35 in 2025. Flights are due to begin in March.
The carrier had originally requested 14 flights a week,so it could fly a daily service to Sydney and Melbourne.
Turkish Airlines flagged its intentions to fly to Australia in November last year but did not formally apply for bilateral air rights until earlier this year. The business placed an order for more than 220 Airbus aircraft last week that included 15 A350s. The business recently toldThe Australian Financial Review it could fly these planes direct from Australia’s east coast to Istanbul.