Minister says government will review Turkish air rights
Transport Minister Catherine King says she will review whether Turkish Airlines can add more flights to Australia, blaming the carrier for failing to submit a formal request before it was set to announced expanded services.
The Australian Financial Review on Monday reported that Turkish Airlines chairman Ahmet Bolat had blamed “legal issues” with the government for calling off plans to outline the additional flights last week. Mr Bolat added that the airline, one of the world’s largest, wanted to fly 14 flights per week, or daily services, to both Sydney and Melbourne.
A spokeswoman for Ms King said Turkish Airlines was “already entitled to operate a total of up to seven services per week to Australia… under current bilateral arrangements, subject to meeting safety, security and licensing requirements”. “These critical regulatory processes will take many months to complete before services could commence to Australia,” she added.
Transport Minister Catherine King has knocked back Qatar Airways’ bid for more slots on the east coast. Alex Ellinghausen
Ms King’s office said the Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation applied for initial discussions on updating air services arrangements with Australia earlier this month, but that Turkish Airlines has not formally applied to Australian aviation authorities to operate services to Australia.
“We look forward to these discussions shortly,” her spokeswoman said.
The decision to review the bilateral agreement with Turkey comes after Ms King blocked a request by Qatar Airways, that was opposed by Qantas, to double its flights into Australia. It is understood, however, that Qantas has not opposed Turkish Airlines’ bid to expand its flights locally.
Ms King has repeatedly
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