Turkish Airlines is Adding Frequency to the SIN – IST Route

Turkish Airlines is expanding its presence in Singapore by making the SIN – IST route a 14x weekly affair by September from 10x weekly currently.

At the moment, Turkish Airlines has TK55 which departs SIN daily at 2330 and arrives in IST the next day at 535. The IST to SIN leg  (TK54) departs Istanbul at 0210 and arrives in Singapore at 1750. I have personally taken this flight a number of times and this is usually quite a full flight as it leaves Singapore late at night, allowing passengers to arrive in Istanbul or to most European destinations by morning the next day.

Turkish Airlines also has TK2o9 which departs SIN every Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 1040 and arrives in IST at 1645. From 12th August, TK will add Saturday and Sunday flights for TK209, departing at 1115. From 13th September, TK209 will become a daily flight with a Wednesday and Thursday departure. 

Consequently, the IST-SIN flight – TK208 – which currently departs IST at 1715 every Monday, Thursday and Sunday will become a daily affair by September.

The new flights will increase total seat capacity by 2,632 seats for a total of 9,492 seats per week. TK55/54 will continue to be serviced with Boeing 777-300ER while the new flights will be serviced with the Airbus A350 which has the newer Turkish Airlines business class seats. The current TK209/208 3x weekly flights are already serviced by the Airbus A350s. 

I have personally been on TK’s A330s, 777-300ERs and Dreamliner, the latter having the same seat configuration as their A350s. The newer business class seats provide an all-aisle access, something which the Boeing 777-300ERs don’t possess. I am probably one among a minority who actually likes the older seat configuration. Though lacking in privacy and possessing a middle seat, I find it wider and more comfortable for sleeping.  

In terms of flight redemptions, Turkish Airlines has the Miles & Smiles frequent flyer programme. If you are based in Singapore, you can redeem for Miles and Smiles points through a Citi credit card. 

I have been redeeming Turkish Airlines flights for years. It used to be quite straightforward to find availability out of Singapore even a month or two before departure but it has become challenging since the reopening in 2022. My most recent Turkish Airlines redemption flight to Baku led me to fly out of KUL! Hopefully, there will be more availability after the increased frequency kicks in.