Turkish Airlines serves more destinations than any other airline in the world – 358 and counting. For a luxury travel agent sitting opposite a client who wants somewhere truly different, where are the most exciting or underserved destinations Turkish Airlines can open up right now?

This is where the scale of our network becomes particularly valuable for travel advisors. Turkish Airlines currently serves 358 destinations in 133 countries, and some of the most interesting opportunities lie beyond the traditional gateways.

For example, Central Asia and Mongolia offer some particularly distinctive possibilities. Destinations such as Samarkand and Bukhara give travellers access to the history and architecture of the Silk Road, while Ulaanbaatar opens the door to a very different experience in Mongolia, with its vast landscapes, distinctive culture and growing appeal for travellers looking for more immersive journeys.

China is another market where our presence is expanding. From 11 November, we will begin serving Chengdu, our fourth destination in mainland China. As a gateway to Sichuan, Chengdu brings together a rich culinary tradition, cultural heritage and one of China’s most distinctive tourism attractions through its association with the giant panda.

Africa offers another opportunity. We can take travellers through Istanbul to destinations such as Kilimanjaro, creating a natural gateway to a high-end safari itinerary, while Zanzibar can add an Indian Ocean beach component to the same journey. This breadth gives travel agents considerable flexibility when creating the most comprehensive itineraries around a client’s interests.

That is ultimately what Turkish Airlines can offer the luxury travel trade. For travellers who have already visited many of the world’s established destinations, our reach allows an agent to look further afield without making the journey unnecessarily complicated. Istanbul becomes the connecting point between the familiar and somewhere genuinely new.

Turkish Airlines

Istanbul Airport has become one of the world’s busiest international transfer hubs – how has this happened, and how do you ensure a seamless and efficient journey for your customers here? What enhancements have been taking place in airport infrastructure?

Within approximately three hours of Istanbul, Turkish Airlines can reach 78 countries, and its success as a global hub naturally begins with geography. Across our wider narrow-body range, the potential catchment extends to around 100 countries and approximately four billion people.

But geography alone does not create a successful connecting network. The scale of our operations turns that location into something much more powerful. Through Istanbul, we can connect passengers from major cities and regional markets with destinations across the world, offering greater choice and flexibility in how they travel. Istanbul Airport gives us the infrastructure and capacity to coordinate arrivals and departures efficiently, helping passengers connect smoothly to onward flights.

The airport itself continues to evolve alongside that growth. A major milestone was the introduction of Triple Independent Runway Operations in April 2025, a first in European aviation, increasing hourly air traffic capacity from 120 to 148 movements, and helping to reduce waiting times. The next step is already under way, with work on Istanbul Airport’s fourth main runway now at an advanced stage. The new east-west runway is expected to further increase operational flexibility and reduce taxi times, with operations currently targeted to begin in the final quarter of 2026 following technical testing.

For our passengers, we focus on the complete transfer experience. This includes dedicated transfer services, our international lounges, free and unlimited TK WiFi at the airport and services that can transform a longer connection into part of the holiday itself. Eligible passengers with sufficient connection time can also use Touristanbul to explore the city, while our Stopover in Istanbul programme gives qualifying travellers another opportunity to experience Istanbul during their journey.

That is an important part of our philosophy. Istanbul should work efficiently when a passenger wants a straightforward connection. When they have more time, the hub can become part of the travel experience.

Turkish Airlines now operates from three London airports: Heathrow, Gatwick and the newly launched Stansted. How has the UK market evolved in the past 12 months, and what does having three London gateways mean for travel agents and their clients across the country?

The UK continues to be a very important market for Turkish Airlines, and over the past year we have seen strong and consistent demand alongside growing expectations around flexibility, convenience and choice.

The addition of Stansted alongside Heathrow and Gatwick gives us a broader presence across London and provides travel agents with more options when planning their clients’ journeys. Each traveller has different priorities, whether that is proximity to an airport, departure time or their onward journey, so offering three gateways allows agents to find an option that works best for the individual client.

This broader presence also supports our proposition across the UK. For agents, the value lies in combining greater choice at the point of departure with the connectivity available through Istanbul. From there, their clients can continue to destinations across Türkiye and around the world, giving agents considerable flexibility when building straightforward or more complex itineraries. 

Turkish Airlines

How are you working with UK travel agents to help them position Istanbul itself – not just as a connection point but as a destination worth building time around?

Istanbul has a great deal to offer beyond its role as a connecting point, and one of our priorities is helping agents bring that part of the story into the itineraries they create for their clients.

The city offers an exceptional combination of history, culture, gastronomy, shopping, design and contemporary luxury. Its location between Europe and Asia gives it a distinctive character, with enough depth for travellers to experience Istanbul as a destination in its own right or incorporate it into a wider journey.

We work closely with our UK trade partners through destination storytelling, product training, familiarisation trips and direct engagement, giving advisors the knowledge and first-hand experience they need to sell the city with confidence.

Our Touristanbul and Stopover in Istanbul programmes also give eligible passengers different ways to experience the city as part of their journey. This allows agents to think about a connection through Istanbul differently and, where the itinerary allows, turn time between flights into an additional travel experience.

Ultimately, we want agents to see the Istanbul transfer as part of the experience they are selling rather than simply the point between two flights.

Turkish Airlines

The Turkish Airlines Business Lounge at Istanbul is now seen as one of the world’s great airport experiences – from the sleep suites, to live cooking stations, and even a golf simulator! How many UK agents and their clients actually know about all this, and what more can be done to make the Istanbul transit part of the selling proposition?

The Business Lounge is one of the strongest examples of how the Turkish Airlines experience continues beyond the aircraft, and we want more travel advisors to see it as part of the overall journey they are offering their clients.

Those features such as the sleep suites, live cooking stations and golf simulator make the lounge much more tangible when an advisor is talking to a client. Rather than presenting a connection in Istanbul simply in terms of time between flights, agents can explain what the passenger can actually experience during that time.

That is particularly relevant for luxury travellers, because the quality of the journey matters at every stage. A comfortable place to rest, freshly prepared food and spaces designed around different ways of spending time can make a longer connection feel very different.

Our role is to make sure the trade understands these details. Product training, familiarisation trips and direct engagement allow advisors to experience the offering themselves and communicate it confidently to their clients. Our three-year partnership with England Golf and headline sponsorship of the Brabazon Trophy this year also give us another way to connect with audiences for whom golf and travel are closely linked, creating a natural connection with features such as the golf simulator in our Istanbul lounge.

The revival of your Premium Economy cabin, Comfort Class, is a significant announcement for the leisure market. Who is the Turkish Airlines client for this do you think – and how should luxury agents be positioning it to their clients?

Our return of Premium Economy responds to a very clear change in what travellers are looking for, particularly on long-haul journeys. There is a growing group of passengers who value additional space, comfort and a more elevated experience, while Business Class may not be the right choice for every trip or every budget.

We see strong potential for this among premium leisure travellers, couples taking milestone journeys, families, frequent long-haul passengers, and business travellers whose travel policies do not always extend to Business Class. Our research also shows strong demand among long-haul passengers for greater personal space, additional legroom and a more comfortable journey.

For luxury travel agents, I think Premium Economy should be positioned as a distinct travel experience rather than simply an upgrade from Economy. We are developing the product with increased recline and legroom, an enhanced dining experience and additional benefits within the wider Turkish Airlines journey. We are targeting the introduction of the new cabin from 2028, with a wider rollout planned as the programme develops.

For a customer who wants to arrive more rested and enjoy a more refined journey without moving all the way to Business Class, then Premium Economy creates a very attractive new choice.

Turkish Airlines

Offering free unlimited Wi-Fi fleet-wide is a bold commitment, so how important is the connectivity story when it comes to winning business travellers, and premium leisure clients? How much does it make you stand out?

Connectivity has become part of the travel experience rather than an optional extra. A business traveller may need to remain productive during a long-haul flight, while a leisure passenger increasingly expects to communicate, plan their trip, or stay connected with family and friends throughout the journey.

We already offer inflight connectivity on more than 300 aircraft, with the number continuing to grow, and we are working towards providing free, unlimited and faster connectivity across the entire fleet. This requires a significant technology programme across different aircraft generations and connectivity systems, but our direction is clear.

What is particularly important to us is continuity across the journey. At Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines passengers already have access to free and unlimited TK WiFi for example, which is also available in our lounges. Our ambition is for that connected experience to increasingly continue from the airport into the aircraft.

For passengers – particularly premium ones – small points of friction matter. While passengers move through the airport, enter the lounge, board the aircraft, and remain connected within all those phases, this kind of uninterrupted connectivity creates meaningful value for our guests throughout their journey.

What have been your biggest most successful trade activations in the UK (and globally) this year – and what plans do you have to further ignite interest in your airline, in Turkey, and your routes in 2027?

Some of our strongest engagement this year has come from creating opportunities for our trade partners to experience Turkish Airlines in a more personal and memorable way.

In the UK, our activities have ranged from the Jazz Festival, Horse Show and the Farnborough Air Show to our annual Golf Tournament and Bowling Tournament. We have complemented these with destination experiences and familiarisation trips, alongside more informal occasions such as our Darts Event, Iftar Dinner and New Year’s Event. Each format is different, but they share the same purpose: bringing us closer to our trade partners and giving them a stronger understanding of the Turkish Airlines brand and the experiences we can offer their clients.

This approach also reflects how we engage with partners globally. We want our trade relationships to go beyond traditional presentations by creating opportunities for advisors to experience our products, destinations and hospitality first-hand. These experiences give them greater confidence when they return to their clients and begin building future journeys.

Looking ahead to 2027, we will continue investing in our relationship with the UK travel trade through experiential activity, destination storytelling, education and strategic partnerships.

We also have further initiatives in development that we look forward to sharing in due course. Türkiye will remain central to that story, alongside Istanbul and the destinations we serve around the world. Our aim is to give travel advisors the knowledge, confidence and inspiration to turn that breadth into compelling journeys for their clients.

Turkish Airlines has chosen Black Book as a Premier Partner – what is it about this particular event and its audience of luxury travel advisors that made it the right platform for the airline right now? 

Black Book is a natural fit for Turkish Airlines because it brings us together with a highly engaged community of luxury travel advisors who play an important role in shaping how their clients experience the world.

Luxury travel is increasingly about the complete journey. Advisors are creating highly individual experiences around their clients’ interests, expectations and priorities, and that aligns closely with what we offer at Turkish Airlines.

Our story extends across the entire travel experience, from our onboard hospitality and culinary offering to our lounges and the opportunities that Istanbul creates as a destination and global hub. Our international reach also gives advisors considerable freedom to build distinctive itineraries for clients looking beyond more established destinations.

Black Book gives us the opportunity to engage directly with those advisors, understand what their clients are looking for and show how Turkish Airlines can become an integral part of the luxury journeys they create. The timing is particularly relevant as we continue to develop our premium offering and look for new ways to engage travellers seeking more distinctive and personalised journeys.

Turkish Airlines

If you could tell every luxury agent in the UK one thing about Turkish Airlines that would genuinely change how they sell it today – what would it be?

I would encourage them to think about Turkish Airlines as an exclusive part of the experience they are creating for their client, rather than simply the way they reach the destination.

For a luxury traveller, the journey matters. Our onboard hospitality and Turkish culinary offering, the experience at Istanbul Airport and our Business Lounge all contribute to the quality of the journey before the passenger arrives at their final destination.

Istanbul can also become part of the itinerary itself, while our international reach gives travel advisors the flexibility to introduce their clients to places they may not previously have considered and create journeys around individual interests.

That is the message I would want every luxury travel advisor to take away: when you choose Turkish Airlines, you have the opportunity to make the journey a memorable part of the overall travel experience.