Turkish Airlines Bets on the Chinese City UNESCO Crowned for Food

Turkish Airlines starts scheduled flights between Istanbul and Chengdu on Wednesday, November 11, adding the Sichuan capital as its fourth destination in mainland China after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The route serves Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, the city’s newer long-haul gateway, and will run three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Flight TK226 is scheduled to leave Istanbul at 02:05 and arrive in Chengdu at 15:40 local time, while the return, TK227, departs Chengdu at 00:45 and reaches Istanbul at 05:55, timings that slot into the airline’s early-morning connecting bank.

Aircraft planning has shifted during the run-up. Route-tracking site AeroRoutes reported that Turkish originally scheduled a Boeing 777-300ER for the first two rotations instead of the Boeing 787-9 listed for the route, but a later revision kept the larger 777 only for the inaugural departure from Istanbul on November 11, with its return the following day. To promote the launch, the airline advertised round-trip economy fares from $540 and business class from $1,991, according to Hürriyet Daily News.

Chengdu is a substantial market in its own right. The city of more than 21 million people anchors Sichuan province and has growing electronics, automotive, aviation, biotechnology and artificial intelligence industries. It is also a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, famous for numbing Sichuan pepper, hot pot and teahouse culture, and it is the base for visits to the giant panda breeding centre on the city’s northern edge. Turkish Airlines chief executive Ahmet Olmuştur described China as a strategic market and called Chengdu one of the country’s key tourism, technology and aviation centres.

The expansion fits a wider growth push. Turkish carried 54 million passengers between January and July 2026, up 5.4 percent, with international traffic rising 6.2 percent to 35.4 million, and its fleet reached 563 aircraft at the end of July against 491 a year earlier. For travellers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the new flights create one-stop itineraries to western China through Istanbul without a change in Beijing or Shanghai. Anyone planning a trip should check China’s current entry rules for their nationality before booking, since requirements vary by passport.

Sources: Hürriyet Daily News, AeroRoutes, Travel Extra