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.
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