The Turkish carrier is revising its Australian service. Effective October 26, 2026, Turkish Airlines will replace the stopover in Kuala Lumpur on its Istanbul-Sydney route with a stopover in Singapore.
Stopover change confirmed for winter 2026–2027:
Turkish Airlines has submitted a schedule change to reservation systems valid for the entire Northern Hemisphere winter season, from October 26, 2026, to March 27, 2027. Specifically, the Istanbul-Sydney route, which until now has been operated via the Malaysian capital, will now transit through Changi Airport.
This change is accompanied by a change in flight numbers: flight numbers TK174 and TK175 will be replaced by TK022 (outbound) and TK023 (inbound).
Schedule for the new service:
The route will operate five times a week, with the following schedule:
Istanbul → Singapore → Sydney: departs Istanbul at 3:20 p.m., stops in Singapore from 6:50 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. (the following day), then arrives in Sydney at 7:25 p.m.
Sydney → Singapore → Istanbul: departs Sydney at 9:35 p.m., arrives in Singapore at 2:50 a.m., then continues to Istanbul, landing at 11:10 a.m.
Flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays departing from Australia.
Turkish Airlines is operating the Airbus A350-900 on this route. The aircraft offers about 30 business class seats that convert into fully flat beds, but there is no premium economy cabin available.
Singapore, a new hub for Australia:
This restructuring reflects a broader rebalancing of the Turkish airline’s Southeast Asian network:
– Weekly flights to Singapore are increasing from 17 to 22
– Flights to Kuala Lumpur are decreasing from 19 to 14
– Melbourne continues to be served separately, with three weekly round trips via Singapore using the same aircraft type
Turkish Airlines has also secured so-called “fifth freedom” traffic rights on the Sydney-Singapore route, allowing it to market this segment completely independently, without routing through Istanbul.
It should be noted, however, that at the time the new schedules were filed, seats on flights TK022/TK023 were not yet available for sale, a common technical delay when an airline modifies its network before it is fully integrated into reservation systems.
Oceania, a key region for Turkish Airlines’ expansion:
With Sydney and Melbourne, Turkish Airlines currently serves two destinations in Oceania, both located in Australia. The airline has no plans at this stage to launch new routes to Brisbane or Perth, although it has expressed interest in these markets in the longer term. An extension to Auckland, New Zealand, via Singapore has also been mentioned in the past, though no timeline has been set.
The stopover in Singapore is only a stop along the way. Turkish Airlines is aiming to launch a direct, nonstop service between Istanbul and Sydney as soon as its fleet of Airbus A350-1000s becomes operational, with a target date set for around 2027. This very long-range aircraft would make it possible to cover the approximately 19-hour flight in a single leg.
Under the traffic rights currently in effect between Turkey and Australia, the airline is authorized to operate up to 35 weekly flights between the two countries, a volume significantly higher than what its Gulf competitors currently offer on the Kangaroo Route.
What this means for travelers:
For passengers traveling to or from Sydney, this change in layover location means potentially longer layover times than in Kuala Lumpur, but in return offers more connection options via the Changi hub, one of Asia’s best-connected airports. Those traveling only the Sydney-Singapore leg, provided they are not continuing on to Istanbul the same day, may prefer the Singapore Airlines lounges in Terminal 3 over the Marhaba Lounge in Terminal 1 used by Turkish Airlines.
This move also places Turkish Airlines in more direct competition on the Sydney-Singapore route, which is already contested by Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, and British Airways.