Turkish Airlines is the world's most connected airline, serving 340 destinations across 129 countries from its massive hub in Istanbul. Still, the carrier continues rapidly growing its worldwide influence, ordering hundreds of new planes and showing no sign of expanding its impressive global reach.

Many might wonder about the longest routes in Turkish Airlines' current route network. As such, we will examine the five longest routes currently flown by the global giant.

As a disclaimer, this list covers nonstop routes only. Turkish Airlines operates various flights that might take much longer; however, those flights are not nonstop.

One colossal example would be the new service to Melbourne, Australia (MEL). Turkish operates the flight via Singapore (SIN) to refuel the aircraft. Eventually, the airline plans to utilize this route nonstop using the new Airbus A350-1000s, which will surely add that route to this list when it becomes nonstop.
 

Istanbul - Mexico City

Turkish has been serving Mexico City (MEX) since September 2019. The carrier operates multiple weekly flights from Istanbul to Mexico City with continuing service to Cancún (CUN).

Because of Mexico City's high elevation, the Turkish cannot fully refuel the aircraft for the nonstop trek back to Türkiye. As such, the Mexico City flight continues to Cancún, is fully refueled there, and then makes the journey back to Istanbul.

Istanbul to Mexico City covers a distance of 7,088 miles and is the only route in Turkish Airlines' network that surpasses 7,000 miles. The Boeing 787-9 operates the route, which is blocked at 14 hours and 30 minutes of flying time.

Istanbul - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California (LAX) is among the busiest of Turkish's long-haul services. The route from Istanbul covers 6,852 miles and usually takes around 14 hours and 15 minutes.

On average, the flights between Istanbul and Los Angeles offer 329.6 seats per departure, the second-highest number for the carrier.

Turkish currently operates two daily flights to Los Angeles, one with the Boeing 787-9 and the other with the Boeing 777-300ER. In June 2024, this amounted to nearly 40,000 available seats for passengers wishing to take this route.

Istanbul - Panama City

Turkish has steadily grown its operations in the Americas over the past few years, particularly in Latin America. The route to Panama City, Panama (PTY) was inaugurated in 2016 with an onward service to Bogotá, Colombia (BOG), the fifth city featured in this list.

Istanbul to Panama City is a 6,730-mile route that takes an average of 13 hours and 45 minutes. The Boeing 787-9 operates the route, which is the least popular on this list.

In June 2024, Turkish operated only 14 flights in the IST-PTY sector, meaning only 4,200 seats were available throughout the entire month. This starkly contrasts the opposite route, as PTY-IST saw 44 flights operating in June.

This is related to the Bogotá service, which we will cover in more detail once we cover that route in a few moments.

Istanbul - San Francisco

California is located on the American West Coast, so any flight heading there from Europe or the Middle East is bound to take a decent amount of time.

In addition to Los Angeles, Turkish operates a San Francisco (SFO) service inaugurated in 2016. As a fun fact, Turkish painted a Boeing 777-300ER (TC-JJU) in a beautiful special livery celebrating the launch of the Istanbul to San Francisco service. That aircraft has since been repainted.

IST-SFO covers 6,705 miles and has an average flight time of 13 hours and 10 minutes. Turkish has been upping its capacity in the United States lately, adding additional frequencies to multiple markets, including Chicago, Houston, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

The SFO route is currently served by both the Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9.

Istanbul - Bogotá

Turkish Airlines has served Bogotá, Colombia (BOG), and Panama City since 2016. The route covers 6,552 miles and has an average flight time of 12 hours and 30 minutes. 

Turkish currently serves the Colombian capital with the Boeing 787-9. The airline operates nonstop between Istanbul and Bogotá. However, the return service always stops in Panama City.

You might recall that earlier; we mentioned that Turkish operates the Panama City—Istanbul sector roughly three times more frequently in the month than Istanbul—Panama City.

This is because the return trek from Colombia stops in Panama, meaning that there are more passengers on this leg, which explains why PTY-IST is operated more often.