Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines have agreed a major expansion of codeshare ties, covering destinations beyond both Istanbul and Singapore.

The Star Alliance partners have been codesharing on each other’s flights on the route from Istanbul to Singapore and vice versa since February 2009.

Singapore Airlines currently operates four weekly flights on the mentioned route, increasing frequency on a seasonal basis to six times per week to meet growth in demand, effective from May 30th 2014.

On the other hand, Turkish Airlines operates seven weekly flights between Istanbul to Singapore and vice versa which is one of the strategic gateways in line with its development plans to south-east Asia and Southwest Pacific.

Under the expansion of the agreement, Singapore Airlines will add its ‘SQ’ designator code to Turkish Airlines-operated flights beyond Istanbul to destinations within Turkey, as well as to points in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America, benefiting from the global network of Turkish Airlines.

On a reciprocal basis, Turkish Airlines will add its ‘TK’ designator code to Singapore Airlines-operated flights beyond Singapore to points in South East Asia and the south-west Pacific benefiting from the global network of Singapore Airlines.

The expanded codeshare ties are expected to take effect from May 1st 2014, subject to regulatory approvals.

“This significant expansion of our partnership with Turkish Airlines, together with our increase in frequency to Istanbul, is in line with ongoing efforts to expand our network reach and to offer customers more travel options.

“This partnership is another example of how we can jointly do more together than we could each do on our own,” said Singapore Airlines executive vice president commercial, Mak Swee Wah.