Istanbul to Seattle will begin in late May with 4x weekly flights. It'll be Turkish Airlines' 12th US route. However, there is no sign yet of Detroit – or, for that matter, Denver. Last summer, the Colorado city was revealed alongside Dallas, which launched in September. If they are to happen this summer, they'll be bookable soon.

Istanbul to Seattle is now bookable

The brand-new route from Istanbul to Seattle will begin on May 27th, in less than two months. The 6,071-mile (9,770km) route will be served 4x weekly using 300-seat B787-9s. These have 30 flat-bed business seats (1-2-1 layout) and 270 seats (3-3-3) in economy. The type is Turkish's third-largest by capacity after the B777-300ER and A350-900.

The schedule is as follows, with all times local. Outbound has a block time of 12h 10m, while it is 11h 40m inbound. The difference in direction, while not significant, is because of the difference in wind direction.

• Istanbul to Seattle: TK203, 14:05-16:15
• Seattle to Istanbul: TK204, 17:45-15:25+1 (the next day)

It'll connect to 75 places

As you'd expect, Seattle to Istanbul has modest traffic, especially for long-haul. According to booking data, the point-to-point market only had about 15,000 round-trip passengers in 2019. For Turkey as a whole, it was barely more than 20,000.

Like most of Turkish Airlines' long-haul routes, it'll rely heavily on transit passengers over its Istanbul hub. Using OAG's Connection Analyzer tool, 75 airports will be connected to Seattle in two directions via Turkey's largest city. Turkish's new route will mean Seattle is connected to many more cities on a one-stop basis.

A market of ~320,000 passengers

If related to booking data, the 75 connecting opportunities mean a market (excluding Istanbul) of about 320,000 passengers. That's a pretty reasonable volume given it excludes a lot of higher-volume places, especially India. Turkish Airlines only serves Mumbai and Delhi on a passenger basis, mainly because of a strict bilateral limit.

Note: For more destinations, either circuity or transit time could be increased, but the issue of competitiveness then comes ever more into play. It might not be such an issue to particular places, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, as there are fewer alternatives.

Now 12 US routes

Turkish Airlines now has 12 routes to the US, rising to 14 if or when Detroit and Denver materialize. Looking at mid-July, Seattle will be its only sub-daily route, hardly surprising given it'll be brand-new.

Note the growing use of the B787-9, mainly alongside the B777-300ER. The smaller aircraft typically operates during smaller departure banks to the US (especially around 08:00). The A350-900 is not scheduled in the analyzed period, while the A330-300 is now only used to Boston and Newark. Turkish resumed Newark in 2021 after an absence of 27 years.

1. JFK: 3x daily, B777-300ER
2. Chicago: 2x daily, B777-300ER and B787-9
3. Los Angeles: 2x daily, B777-300ER and B787-9
4. Miami: 2x daily, B777-300ER and B787-9
5. San Francisco: 2x daily, B777-300ER and B787-9
6. Washington: 2x daily, B777-300ER and B787-9
7. Boston: 10x weekly, A330-300
8. Houston: 10x weekly, B777-300ER and B787-9
9. Atlanta: 1x daily, B787-9
10. Dallas: 1x daily, B787-9
11. Newark: 1x daily, A330-300
12. Seattle: 4x weekly, B787-9