Turkish Delights As Airbus A350s Push Melbourne Airport To New Record

During 2023, the team at Melbourne Airport diligently reconstructed its pre-pandemic international network dot by dot and was the first Australian airport to recover international traffic to pre-pandemic levels. While the recovery was built mainly around enticing pre-COVID carriers to return, the cherry on the cake came when Turkish Airlines commenced flights on March 2 this year.

Breaking a 2018 record

Today, Melbourne Airport (MEL) released its March traffic figures, which showed that it had surpassed the 3 million passenger mark for the fourth time in the past six months. The report also highlighted that the addition of Turkish Airlines flights had lifted international passenger numbers to 923,065 travelers, surpassing the previous March record of 916,849 set in 2018.

Melbourne Airport handled 3.016 million passengers in March, 11% higher than the 2.711 million that passed through the airport in March 2023. International traffic grew 28% Year-on-Year (YoY) to 923,065, but domestic remains stubbornly below expectations, increasing just 5% to 2.093 million this year. This sluggish domestic demand is a pattern across Australia, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, and the airport puts it down to airline capacity constraints and the higher airfares dampening demand.

Melbourne Aiport CEO Lorie Argus has often spoken about the softness of domestic demand but today highlighted the international market, noting that more competition and capacity help reduce airfares and allow more people to travel.

"It's clear from our international figures that Victorians want to travel, and they're prepared to do so in record numbers. While domestic travel remains constrained by reduced capacity and subsequent higher airfares, it's unlikely we'll see a full recovery in the local market in the near future."

Melbourne Airport runs its financial year from July to June, and on a year-to-date basis, it has handled 26.730 million passengers, of which 8.400 million traveled on international services and 18.330 million on domestic flights. For the same nine-month period in FY2022/23, the corresponding total was 22.790 million, with 5.935 million international and 16.855 million domestic passengers, with international growth a standout at 42% YoY.

Melbourne Airport operates 24/7, and the absence of a night curfew makes it an attractive proposition for overseas carriers, particularly long-haul operators who need their aircraft back in time for connecting flights. To cater to future growth and maintain operational efficiency, the airport has submitted plans for a parallel north-south third runway and is also working with airlines to increase terminal capacity in a timely and cost-effective way.

Turkish delights in Melbourne

The new service from Turkish Airlines (Turkish) operates three times weekly from Istanbul with a transit stop in Singapore, although once it has the appropriate aircraft, the airline plans to run the flight nonstop from Turkey to Australia. Turkish is currently using one of its Airbus A350-900s on the route via Singapore, but once it has the A350-1000 XWB, it will fly nonstop, firstly to Melbourne and later add services to Sydney (SYD). (The picture above is from an introductory flight to Melbourne, which was flown by a Boeing 777-300ER)

Turkish is operating the route three times weekly, with the most recent rotation departing Istanbul Airport (IST) on Tuesday at 17:24. Flight TK168 was operated with a 2022 Airbus A350-900, registration TC-LGF and MSN 496, which took 9:54 hours to cover the first leg and landed in Singapore at 08:18 on Wednesday. The A350 departed Singapore Changi Airport at 10:41 for the shorter 7:08 trip to Melbourne, landing at 19:49, then leaving as flight TK169 for Istanbul via Singapore at 22:38.

Turkish Airlines lays claim to the title of the world's most connected airline, with flights to 364 destinations in 133 countries. In 2023, it carried 83.4 million passengers, a 16% increase compared to 2022 and surpassing its previous high of 75 million in 2018.

The full-service carrier has ambitious plans for the next decade, including more than doubling its annual passenger numbers to reach 170 million by 2023. To do that, it will need a fleet of more than 800 aircraft and with 440 planes at the end of 2023, there will be many new planes, crews and other personnel heading to Istanbul in the coming years.

Have you traveled on the new Turkish Airlines Melbourne route? Let us know in the comments.