Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) and Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over a potential joint venture on flights between Europe and Asia.
"Thai and Turkish Airlines will work towards joint venture operations to maximize the synergies that this strategic partnership offers to both airlines... The collaboration will provide an unrivalled choice of destinations in Europe and Asia for passengers of Thai and Turkish Airlines," the airlines said.
As the first step towards strengthening the partnership between the two Star Alliance carriers, Thai will launch a daily Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Istanbul Airport flight in December 2023. Turkish Airlines currently flies 2x daily between the two hubs using A330-300 aircraft, increasing to 3x daily during the high season in Northern winter. The airline will also fly daily from Istanbul to Phuket during the winter season, using the same aircraft type.
Besides the alliance-backed interline agreement, Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines currently have a limited code-share partnership. The ch-aviation schedules module shows that Thai places its code on Turkish Airlines' services from Istanbul to Thailand, while Turkish Airlines places its code on Thai's operations from Bangkok to Sydney Kingsford Smith, Melbourne Airport, and Hong Kong International.
