New and resumed destinations for 2026.

One daily rotation between IST and TIA.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260101-tkjan26tia

For the NS26 longhaul, not much has been added (yet). The only real addition I am seeing so far are 3 extra IST NRT roundtrips, so TK will go 10 weekly to NRT and daily to HND next summer. All other extra frequencies are already operating or have operated during NS25. Interestingly, TK has not (yet) loaded any of the additional China frequencies it is currently operating into PEK, PVG and CAN, so all of those flights are currently slated to end come late March.

DPS going from 7 weekly to 10 weekly should also be mentioned as I think it was never 10 weekly.

China Southern will boost CAN-IST from 3 weekly to 10 weekly, PKX to 4 weekly as well as URC to 3 weekly. Not sure if TK should go head to head with them (and other rumored Chinese carriers to launch IST anytime soon) or maybe focus on secondary cities like Chengdu, Kunming, Xian, Wuhan etc. where there is less direct competition. Considering the huge feeder network (still to be expanded with already announced new destinations Tirana, Yerevan, Stansted, Bissau, Timisoara, Monrovia) it should work out to fill planes to those cities.

Normally summer timetable is the time when US destinations get additional frequencies or even new routes are launched but considering the current political situation this won't happen this year (North America 2025: just +6.2% passengers) so really curios what will be the plan for the long haul aircraft this summer, replace A330 with A350/B789 and use A330 on medium-haul routes to growing markets Europe (+9.4%), Middle East (+16.5%), Central Asia, Africa (+20.7%) or even A330 to be returned/phased-out? New bilateral agreements with Canada or India (also the 2 B77W leased to IndiGo will come back to TK) definitely help to shift capacity.

As mentioned earlier not sure about Latin America (2025: just +0.2%) as the situation in Mexico, Colombia might not that be stable any longer. Therefore unlikely they will launch new destinations like LIM, GIG which require huge aircraft/personal utilization with expected lower yields compared to Asian/North American flights.

*passenger figures for 2025:
https://investor.turkishairlines.com...25-traffic.pdf

I think this is now the third time they are trying Urumqi, it has never stuck. So I cannot imagine TK matching this. If Daxing works I can see TK trying it out but the truth of the matter is that all of TK's Star Alliance partners especially Air China fly out of PEK, so I cannot imaging them going there. CAN is its own market, LOTS of shuttle traders to everywhere, and having been on QR flights from CAN, and seeing the massive amounts of shuttle trade from there to anywhere and everywhere I can imagine TK wanting to increase flights there, in fact it took them years to get CAN approval and they will want to increase their frequencies. In fact TK has said for years that it wants to fly to at least a half dozen more places in China, but the Chinese have not let them, as no one wanted to fly from the other end. If Eastern/Southern/Xiamen etc start new cities, not only will TK match some of them, but will in fact also codeshare with them, just like they have done with Air China for years.

Will the Indigo 777's come back to TK soon? Really? They were supposed to have been returned 2 years ago, then got a final 6 month extension, then a final final 6 month extension Then a final final final 6 month extension, and despite Turkey's "support" Pakistan, and public uproar a final final final final 6 month extension! If they are to eventually be returned to TK they would NOT go into TK service, they will be either be dumped or scrapped. They go tech at least once a month, are almost 20 years old, had a full service life with a Emirates for more than a decade dumped on a Russian carrier and were opportunistically re-leased when Azur Air could not pay their lease anymore. They spent maybe 3 months with TK to get everything stripped out of them and are going on 3 years of the wear and tear of 548 passengers, etc. When Indigo is done with them, they are done for.

North America will in fact increase this year by at least 3 destinations, and they will increase more frequencies than they drop. Saying North America is "only" 6.2% of passengers ignores the 10+% of Cargo that has increases, the 86+% load factor and ignores that 80+% of these North American passengers heading East are connecting to all those other flights, raising their percentages as well.

Latin America has and will continue to take a hit, at least for now. Due to political issues, TK had to shut down t[edited]' the nonstop to PTY. Caracas will cease as a destination for awhile, perhaps HAV may as well as a consequence. As the area only essentially had 5 or maybe 6 transoceanic flights per day to start with, that is of course a huge loss. Sao Paolo and its connectors have been the the only growth in the area for TK.

What, they stopped the PTY route? What about BOG, is it running non-stop both ways now?

No ffay, for a couple of years they had BOTH the Ist-bog-pty-ist AND ist-pty-ist, in fact it is possible that the ist-pty flight was the single most profitable route in the world in 2022/3, [edited]

IST DPS has been increased from 7 to 9 already at the beginning of NW25 and will further increase to 10 soon.

The PTY route is up and running. A daily IST BOG PTY IST as TK800/801/900 depending on the day. And three weekly terminators IST PTY IST as TK903/904.

Currently suspended is the CCS terminator TK223/224, while the four weekly IST HAV CCS IST triangles are now operating as IST HAV terminators.

I am pretty sure that Indigo will not get another extension from the Indian Government given the recent massive operational troubles, so the TC-LKD and TC-LKE are bound to return.

On the other hand, it seems that the 3 aircraft on lease from Kenya Airways (TC-LKA, LKB and LKC) will return to KQ.

Why not? Indian Governmentcan be extremely flexible if needed!

Do you have a source for this? If cargo is that strong (consider also tariffs which might reduce cargo volumes), dedicated cargo service can be launched. Just wonder when they would announce such changes as we already have mid-January and new routes (assume to be launched in summer timetable) require some time in advance.

TK has loaded the increased frequencies to China for NS26. IST PEK will be 10 weekly (daily 77W + 3 weekly 787-9), IST PVG will be 11 weekly (daily 77W + 4 weekly 787-9) and IST CAN will be 10 weekly (daily 77W + 3 weekly 787-9).

https://investor.turkishairlines.com...e-announcement

TK plans to restart Venezuela Operations, initially with 3 and then 4 terminators. The schedule has been adjusted and follows the transatlantic departure wave rather than the overnight pattern TK223/224 used to have.

TK223 IST CCS 1540 2120, Mon and Thu
TK223 IST CCS 1700 2240, Tue and Sat

TK224 CCS IST 0030 1910, Wed and Sun
TK224 CCS IST 2310 1750+1, Mon and Thu

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260211-tkmar26ccs


Meanwhile, it seems that TK has stopped IST HAV, which had been operating as a terminator. There is probably no fuel to be had at HAV for the way back.

Scratch that. TK is now operating to HAV as TK221/222 with a refueling stop at CUN on the way back so TK222 operates HAV CUN IST.