Turkish Airlines is moving ahead on plans to launch flights between Istanbul and Sydney in 2016.

The airline’s CEO, Temel Kotil, has confirmed that the carrier plans to begin flying to Australia in June.

The new service will not be a non-stop flight; Turkish has had to abandon plans for a direct service, which would be some 17 hours. Instead, the airline instead plans to use one of its current destinations as a stopover. On the shortlist are Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, and the Maldives.

However, regulations from aviation authorities means that the airline is currently prevented from running a daily service between the two cities.

“Under the current arrangement we can [fly to] Sydney three times a week only, and Melbourne could be twice a week only,” said Kotil. “We are asking the authorities to make them daily, because less than daily doesn’t make sense. Hopefully by next summer, the civil evaluation [authorities] will have solved the problem and we can be daily to Sydney, and Melbourne will follow.” www.turkishairlines.com