Aussies love flying to Europe for the Northern Hemisphere summer, but hate how long it takes to get there. If you’re lucky you can go from Sydney to Athens in 22 hours and 40 minutes. But that’s only if you’re paying top dollar and manage to get a ticket with a short transit, which is harder than you think. You’re usually looking at 23-24 hours. But that’s all about to change, thanks to Turkish Airlines. 

The flag carrier of Türkiye only started flying to Australia this year. It launched its Melbourne-Istanbul route in March and its Sydney-Istanbul route in December. The routes currently take 19 hours and require a refuelling stopover, so are not direct. Come 2026, that will change. The airline will launch direct Sydney-Istanbul flights, followed by direct Melbourne-Istanbul flights, both of which will shave hours off how long it currently takes to fly to Europe. 

Direct Sydney-Istanbul flights will have a duration of 17 hours. If you were to use Istanbul as a stopover to Europe it’s only an hour and 25 minute flight to Athens. Which means you’d shave a couple of hours, or more, off how long it currently takes to fly to Europe from Australia. Plus, Turkish Airlines offers competitive fare prices, which means you won’t have to pay an exorbitant price for the fastest route to Europe. At the moment, the cheaper fares to Europe have a flight time of around 25-30 hours. 

This move will also compete with the launch of Qantas’ highly anticipated direct Sydney-London flight which will have a flight time of 22 hours. You can read all about what flying Economy and Premium Economy will look like for the new route here. We’ve well and truly entered the era of ultra-long-haul travel Down Under. 

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