Turkish Airlines has put Durban back on sale, with flights returning in June. Its African network now comprises 53 cities by passenger aircraft.
Turkish Airlines’ return to Durban will initially involve a 2x weekly service, but it’ll double to 4x from late October as the Northern Hemisphere’s winter kicks in. Durban’s return comes long after Emirates and Qatar Airways reintroduced the South African city. It comes soon after Turkish announced Juba, South Sudan.
Reconnecting Istanbul to Durban is the latest development for South Africa. This year will welcome Eurowings Discover to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, gateway to one of the world’s best-known and largest national parks. And United Airlines has applied to serve Cape Town from its Washington Dulles hub.
It follows Emirates again delaying its second-daily A380 service to Johannesburg, with 1x daily A380 now running until June 30th. In early March, it had scheduled 2x daily A380 flights from May 1st, but it has been delayed by a further two months.
The Turkish flag carrier will take off to Durban on June 16th, with flights operating on Thursdays and Saturdays. Curiously, Thursdays will see 329-seat A350-900s, while 289-seat A330-300s will be deployed on Saturdays.
The 4,934-mile (7,941km) link to Durban reverts to A350-only from mid-August. It’ll switch exclusively to the A330-300 for the aviation’s winter season beginning October 30th, the date from which flights rise to 4x weekly.
The schedule in June is below, with all times local. Note that while it operates via Johannesburg in both directions, it does not, of course, have eighth freedom traffic rights. It cannot carry passengers exclusively between Durban and Johannesburg.
- Istanbul-Johannesburg: TK42, 01:35-10:20
- Johannesburg-Durban: TK42, 11:40-12:55
- Durban-Johannesburg: TK43, 15:10-16:30
- Johannesburg-Durban: TK43, 18:10-04:50+1
According to booking data, Turkish Airlines carried approximately 49,000 passengers who transited Istanbul in 2019. Not surprisingly, over three times as many transited than traveled solely between Durban and Istanbul.
Overwhelmingly the largest non-African market from Durban is London Heathrow. Yet the lack of London in the above list is plain to see. Turkish had a tiny share of the market against British Airways (which was then non-stop and also via Johannesburg with franchisee Comair), Emirates, Virgin (over Johannesburg with South Africa and now Airlink), South African (over Johannesburg), and Qatar Airways.
It illustrates how a vast network often means far less reliance on one or a small selection of markets, spreading risk and increasing the chance to dominate (albeit smaller) markets. It might also mean Turkish’s two-stop offering is more competitive.
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