Turkish Airlines Moves Sydney-Istanbul Stopover To Singapore

Turkish Airlines is changing the stopover on its Sydney service, swapping Kuala Lumpur for Singapore from October 2026. Thanks to fifth freedom rights, the Star Alliance carrier will allow travellers to book flights between Sydney and Singapore on their own, without needing to be flying through to Istanbul.

This means that the Sydney-Singapore route will soon welcome five airlines, with Turkish Airlines to join British Airways, Qantas, Scoot, and Singapore Airlines.

It's a change worth putting in context, because when Turkish Airlines launched Sydney flights in December 2024, the plan was for the Kuala Lumpur stopover to disappear altogether by late 2026. The carrier still plans to offer nonstop Sydney-Istanbul flights, but delivery delays have meant its longer-range A350-1000 has not yet entered service. Once it does, Turkish will join Qantas' Project Sunrise as one of the few carriers offering direct Australia to Europe flights.

The New Schedule

From 26 October 2026, Turkish will renumber its switch service from TK174/175 to TK22/23, swapping the Kuala Lumpur stop for Singapore. Flights will continue to run 5 times weekly using Airbus A350-900 jets with Economy and lie-flat Business Class.

• TK23: Sydney 9:35pm → Singapore 2:50am (next day), departs Singapore 4:35am → Istanbul 11:10am
• TK22: Istanbul 3:20pm → Singapore 6:50am (next day), departs Singapore 8:30am → Sydney 7:25pm

Fifth Freedom Rights Are The Real Story

Turkish Airlines holds no fifth freedom rights between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, meaning that leg could only carry passengers travelling on the full journey. Singapore is different as Turkish already sells its Melbourne route on a standalone Singapore–Melbourne basis, and now it can do the same for Sydney.

This makes Turkish the fifth carrier flying nonstop between Singapore and Sydney, joining Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Scoot and British Airways (the latter also operating on fifth freedom rights via its Heathrow–Singapore service).

The commercial upside is significant. Rather than flying a half-empty aircraft on the Sydney-Kuala Lumpur leg with only through-passengers aboard, Turkish can now sell the first hop to Singapore independently. When you have to make a stopover, that's a much better way to make use of an aircraft.

Redeeming Points For Turkish Airlines' Sydney Flights

This route is bookable using points/miles. Turkish Airlines has its own Miles&Smiles program, but perhaps more useful for Australians is Aeroplan and KrisFlyer.

Here's how many points you would need to fly Turkish Airlines between Sydney and Singapore.

Although the redemption rates aren't the best of the bunch, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer will likely be the most viable option for Australians. You can transfer credit card points to KrisFlyer from American Express Membership Rewards, ANZ Rewards, NAB Rewards, Westpac Rewards and more - see our Flexible Bank Rewards Program Guide for further details.

You can also transfer Velocity Points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles at a 1.55:1 rate.

Summing Up

Turkish Airlines' Sydney service will undergo a shakeup from October 2026. Kuala Lumpur is out, Singapore is in, and thanks to fifth freedom rights you can now book the Singapore–Sydney leg entirely on its own.

Turkish's real ambition is still to fly Istanbul–Sydney nonstop. Those flights were originally set to soar in late 2026, but just like Qantas' Project Sunrise, has since been delayed until the end of 2027 for Sydney. Melbourne is expected to follow at some point in 2028.