The airline flying to more than 70% of countries in the world

Last week, OAG released its Megahubs report, showcasing the most connected airports in the world. Istanbul topped the list. Not Dubai. Not Heathrow. But Istanbul.

The hub of Turkish Airlines is now in the limelight, much like its hub carrier, which has long been the airline serving the most countries. But Turkish Airlines and Istanbul rarely get the aviation spotlight that Heathrow or Emirates does.

How did this happen?

Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 566 aircraft, including 28 operated by its subsidiary, Turkish Cargo. The airline has 144 wide-body aircraft, while its narrow-body fleet stands at 394. Its fleet is nearly half the size of those of large US carriers such as United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, each of which operates more than 1,000 aircraft.

But when it comes to serving countries, Turkish Airlines trumps them handsomely, serving 133 countries. For the record, Turkish Airlines is the only carrier to fly to nearly 69 per cent of all 193 countries listed by the United Nations. The airline flies to 358 destinations, 53 of which are domestic and 305 international, across Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America and South America.

The ME3, or the Middle Eastern Big Three — Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways — pale in comparison with Turkish Airlines when it comes to connectivity. All three have significant capacity to Europe and North America, with feed from Asia. Emirates served 152 destinations as of the end of March this year, with a fleet of just under 300 aircraft, all of which are wide-body aircraft. Etihad, on the other hand, flies to more than 120 destinations in a little over 40 countries, with a fleet of just over 120 aircraft. Qatar Airways, with more than 300 aircraft, serves 183 destinations.

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All three carriers do not have a domestic market, unlike Turkish Airlines or any of the American carriers. The American carriers serve a higher number of destinations than Turkish Airlines because of the huge size of the US and the large number of domestic airports in operation.

Geographic advantage

Historically, Istanbul is a city that spans Europe and Asia and has been at the crossroads of civilisations for centuries. This location gives the airline an edge like no other, with major points in Africa and almost all of Europe within the range of its narrow-body aircraft. This advantage is further strengthened by its fleet renewal, which involves newer-generation wide-body aircraft with slightly longer ranges.

The narrow-body range into most of Europe helps the airline offer more frequencies to major European airports compared with Middle Eastern operators. This gives it wider operations, better connections and greater flexibility for passengers. It also allows the airline to build multiple flight banks, compared with the one or two banks that carriers traditionally operate.

According to data shared exclusively for this article by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Turkish Airlines leads in frequency to all but the London-area airports and Barcelona among the top 10 airports in Europe by frequency. Emirates has higher frequencies to the London area and Barcelona. However, Emirates offers more seats in most cases because it deploys wide-body aircraft and, in some cases, the A380.

To the top 10 airports in North America, all of which are in the United States, Turkish Airlines offers higher frequencies than Emirates, which has the next-largest network among the four carriers.

Bypassing the West Asia

Since March this year, Middle Eastern carriers have faced disruptions due to the West Asia war, with some major cities seeing interruptions to air services. Turkish Airlines stood out, with operations that bypassed Middle Eastern airspace. It was one of the few airlines to continue operating to Russia and offer connections by flying through airspace not affected by the West Asia war.

The closure of Russian airspace to Western carriers and tensions in the Middle East have affected airlines across the world, not just those in the region. However, Istanbul’s unique geographic location has helped Turkish Airlines navigate these disruptions and continue to be an airline connecting more than 130 countries.

India challenge

The Middle Eastern carriers, especially Emirates and Etihad, are blessed with a large number of seats to Indian cities, unlike Turkish Airlines. The higher seat capacity translates into multiple frequencies, with Emirates operating five flights a day to Mumbai and deploying the A380 to three cities in India starting this winter. Compare that with Turkish Airlines, which operates one daily flight each to Mumbai and Delhi and cannot add flights or cities because of the non-revision of bilateral rights between India and Turkey.

Over the years, Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) have moved beyond the civil aviation domain and become a tool of geopolitics, used effectively or bartered against other important areas. This is understandable given that traffic rights are a scarce and tightly controlled commodity. Turkey’s stated position on Kashmir and its subsequent support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor only add to its difficulties in seeking more flights.

As both Air India and IndiGo try to establish global products and hubs in India, the competition extends beyond the Middle Eastern carriers, as is often seen. This makes the task as difficult as it is an opportunity.

Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.