Turkish Airlines to begin nonstop service to DTW

[Atticus]

Big news on the international air service front. Turkish Airlines is looking to provide nonstop flights between their megahub in Istanbul, and DTW.

While this is obviously big news for anyone wishing to travel to/from Turkey, it is equally big news for folks traveling to the Middle East or India. Turkish Airlines globally offers service to more countries than any other airline, and Istanbul is an easy connecting point for folks heading to visit friends or relatives in those Indian or MiddleEastern destinations that might otherwise require more stops. More so, this will hopefully bring some competition and lower prices, as Delta tends to dominate the Transatlantic market, sans a couple flights by Lufthansa and Royal Jordanian.

Regardless, it would connect another dot on DTW’s international map, and bring a bit of Detroit to a new corner of the world. Hope they can find success here.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/turk...attle-flights/

[Ray1936]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk

Couldn't resist it. Sorry.

[Gistok]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk

Couldn't resist it. Sorry.

Call me old school... I prefer Byzantium...

[Honky Tonk]

This could mean fresh Turkish taffy.

[mtburb]

And it only took five years to get to this from the filmed-in-Detroit ads for Turkish Airlines promoting Batman v. Superman.

[Richard]

That all well and good and here is a partial list of similar non stop international flights

http://nsflight.com/Data/DTW.html

but you have a flow international tourists without a way of lightening their pockets along the way,without figuring out how to capture some of that,you are just a bus stop.

Pure Michigan does not even address the river of cash flowing across the sky just out of reach,that’s hundreds of millions of dollars that could be pumped into the local economy.

The airport In itself is irrelevant,millions are spent to establish them in order to draw tourists,non stop international flights are for travelers to reach a destination with least resistance,without capitalizing on it it becomes kinda meaningless.

The name Detroit is already recognized across the world,if you cannot bank it it does not mean anything.

[louis]

fantastic news. This means more and cheaper flights to the whole ME region and all other hubs connected to it [[east Africa and the Indian subcontinent).

[casscorridor]

fantastic news. This means more and cheaper flights to the whole ME region and all other hubs connected to it [[east Africa and the Indian subcontinent).

Interesting that Turkish is flying direct from Istanbul to Detroit, which isn't a hub for the Star Alliance. Perhaps this suggest most of the incoming passengers will have Detroit as their final destination. But since Istanbul is such a massive hub with connections to every continent in the world [[minus Australia, although I hear they will add that soon), it shouldn't be a problem at all. This means Detroit passengers will have many more convenient and affordable choices when flying to Africa and Eurasia. Great news for Detroit!

[MrNittany]

Interesting that Turkish is flying direct from Istanbul to Detroit, which isn't a hub for the Star Alliance. Perhaps this suggest most of the incoming passengers will have Detroit as their final destination. But since Istanbul is such a massive hub with connections to every continent in the world [[minus Australia, although I hear they will add that soon), it shouldn't be a problem at all. This means Detroit passengers will have many more convenient and affordable choices when flying to Africa and Eurasia. Great news for Detroit!

Yes. 98%+ of the incoming traffic would be terminating in Detroit. I suppose some connections like Istanbul-Detroit-Denver are possible but they'd be a significant majority.

This flight is primarily aimed at the Detroit to Eastern Europe/Middle East/Africa/India market.

[Atticus]

Yes. 98%+ of the incoming traffic would be terminating in Detroit. I suppose some connections like Istanbul-Detroit-Denver are possible but they'd be a significant majority.

This flight is primarily aimed at the Detroit to Eastern Europe/Middle East/Africa/India market.

Correct. And for what it’s worth, even though Turkish is in Star Alliance, they don’t coordinate well with United. United would much prefer you to fly Lufthansa, with whom they have a joint venture business partnership with.

But the point of 98% of traffic beginning/ending their journey in DTW is absolutely correct. Turkish Airlines also tends to have lower fares in general. It’s not quite Norwegian or defunct WOW low prices, but still noticeably lower than Delta, AirFrance, or Lufthansa. And with those lower fares, they will probably be able to capture some traffic to Eastern Europe as well, as many may find the extra hour or two of backtracking through Istanbul is with the cost savings.

The final piece is that connecting in Istanbul means passengers don’t have to connect in the European Union, and deal with the regulations that the EU may impose. For many, for various legal or other procedural reasons, avoiding that connection makes transiting to the Middle East or India much easier.

[bust]

I wonder if Turkish Airlines may also be thinking a direct flight to Istanbul will be attractive because Western airlines cannot fly over Belarus and parts of Ukraine. That creates a large obstacle from most of Europe to a large part of the world that doesn't exist from Turkey. Wouldn't overall flight miles connecting to India, the Middle East, and thereabouts via Istanbul be fewer than via most of Europe? Maybe someone who knows more than I do can tell us about that.