MELBOURNE: The Australian government has agreed to let Turkish Airlines fly more frequently to Australia, opening up more travel options to Europe for Australians.

The Transport Minister, Catherine King, approved the deal before Christmas, which could lower the prices of flights to the Middle East and South-East Asia from 2024.

Turkish Airlines was supposed to start flying to Australia with seven flights a week, but the updated plans show that it will begin with 21 flights instead.

The number of flights will increase to 28 a week by mid-2024 and 35 by mid-2025, surpassing Qatar Airways’ services to Australia.

Turkish Airlines plans to start flying to Australia early next year, with direct flights between the east coast, including the new Western Sydney Airport, and its base in Istanbul. The agreement also includes a fifth freedom flight, which means that the airline can fly to another country without stopping in Turkey.

This will allow Australians to fly to places like Singapore on Turkish Airlines without having to book another flight to Istanbul.

The government also negotiated landing rights with other countries, such as Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, France, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vietnam.

A spokesperson for Ms King said that these agreements were normal government decisions.

“Turkey is a new market for Australia … Australia and Turkey have strong cultural, historical and personal ties, and aviation helps to strengthen these connections,” she said.

The government hopes that passenger traffic will recover to pre-Covid levels in the next year, as airlines add new flights and increase capacity, and offer more competitive fares to popular destinations.

“As the minister has said before, capacity is coming back and there have been requests like the ones approved recently. Covid recovery will take time and she is considering what the sector will look like in the future when making these decisions,” the spokesperson said.

Ms King’s decision follows her controversial rejection of a similar request from Qatar Airways earlier this year.

The government said that the decision was in the “national interest”, but Ms King also mentioned the invasive strip searches of five Australian women in Doha in 2020 as part of the “context” for her decision.

Qantas had objected to the Qatar Airways request, saying that it would skew the market. The airline did not object to the Turkish Airlines request.

A senate inquiry was set up after allegations that the government had denied the request to protect Qantas’ profits.

It recommended that Ms King’s decision be reconsidered.

The Coalition’s transport spokesperson, Bridget McKenzie, called the Turkish Airlines decision a “policy reversal”.

“For months, the public was told by the Prime Minister, and a line of ministers, that the aviation market did not need more capacity, now the minister has given other airlines more international flight permits without explanation,” she said.

“The inconsistent decision-making process shows that the Albanese government makes aviation policy decisions without transparency or any reasonable explanation to the suffering Australian travellers.”

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