Hello there Turkish Aviation fans,
I had to start this thread a bit early this month. I have a flight this afternoon, hope you understand.

You can find last month's thread here: (thanks to a.net member "mickster" to tell me how to link like below)
Turkish Aviation February 2018




-Latest big news is that, Istanbul's new airport is going ahead with a sharp opening date; starting the move on Oct29. In a matter of couple days it will be completed and I hope it all goes smoothly. It will change the city of Istanbul immensely with more and more development will move closer to this giant airport.
At the same time SAW is getting a second runway and will continue to flourish.
-Last month it was mentioned that the next US markets for TK will be DFW, EWR and SEA by a.net member LAXintl. Exciting times ahead.
-Maybe this month we will see both the 789 and 359 orders to be finalized for TK.
-TK annouced few more routes, Samarkand starts this month.
-Corendon to add 3 more jets, aiming to carry 3M pax with 900 employees in 2018.
-TAV acquired 49% of AYT.

Please continue with your views, news, photos, rumors and good old sense of humor. Welcome.

I know many chose IST because it's more convenient since it's close to downtown, given that the new airport will be quite far away, will it make SAW more appealing for certain passengers?

The move from IST to INA will be very interesting. How's the new TK lounge at INA going? Hope the new is as good as the one in IST.

Blerg wrote:

I know many chose IST because it's more convenient since it's close to downtown, given that the new airport will be quite far away, will it make SAW more appealing for certain passengers?

SAW will become even more attractive for the European side passengers, as long as they keep the ball running with LCCs. Distance from the misc. town centers in Istanbul is an important factor and the fact that the New Airport may not attract LCCs is yet another factor... Take myself as a typical example. I live in Etiler. By car I should be able to reach the New Airport probably in 45-60 minutes, assuming no traffic congestions. Bus shuttle: I can't tell now as all these services is still big question mark. If and when the Metro line opens, it will still take me 60 minutes. SAW takes more than an hour by car, depending on the time... (due to traffic congestions on the bridge/highways) but I will still be using SAW willingly because of LCC basing. Besides it's a practical airport; much less hassles than present day's Ataturk when inside the terminal.

BOEING777EK wrote:

The move from IST to INA will be very interesting. How's the new TK lounge at INA going? Hope the new is as good as the one in IST.

I am not fully sure (trying to find it out, asap) that they may not have started building the TK lounges at INA, yet!... The insides of the piers are being done pretty fast (especially PB1), but as these lounges will be housed inside the main terminal body block, that area may still not be available for that kind of construction yet. Will keep you updated, whenever possible...

TK787 wrote:

Hello there Turkish Aviation fans,
I had to start this thread a bit early this month. I have a flight this afternoon, hope you understand.

You can find last month's thread here: (thanks to a.net member "mickster" to tell me how to link like below)
Turkish Aviation February 2018

-Latest big news is that, Istanbul's new airport is going ahead with a sharp opening date; starting the move on Oct29. In a matter of couple days it will be completed and I hope it all goes smoothly. It will change the city of Istanbul immensely with more and more development will move closer to this giant airport.
At the same time SAW is getting a second runway and will continue to flourish.
-Last month it was mentioned that the next US markets for TK will be DFW, EWR and SEA by a.net member LAXintl. Exciting times ahead.
-Maybe this month we will see both the 789 and 359 orders to be finalized for TK.
-TK annouced few more routes, Samarkand starts this month.
-Corendon to add 3 more jets, aiming to carry 3M pax with 900 employees in 2018.
-TAV acquired 49% of AYT.

Please continue with your views, news, photos, rumors and good old sense of humor. Welcome.

You always sound as if you are one of the spokesman of the AKP goverment. These threads are more like a monthly advertisement of new airport and TK. I see you highly biased.

Same here.
When I'm in Istanbul I stay on the Asian side, very convenient to SAW. And when the new subway line finishes within a year or two; that will make SAW subway accessible, 30-40 mins for me. On the other hand, INA will be close to 1.5 hrs of commuting by car. No reasonable public transportation currently or even in the future for me to INA. For me it will always be a cab, UBER to INA from where I stay
If there was to be a JFK-SAW flight one day, I will never have to use INA

imthedreamliner wrote:

TK787 wrote:

Hello there Turkish Aviation fans,
I had to start this thread a bit early this month. I have a flight this afternoon, hope you understand.

You can find last month's thread here: (thanks to a.net member "mickster" to tell me how to link like below)
Turkish Aviation February 2018

-Latest big news is that, Istanbul's new airport is going ahead with a sharp opening date; starting the move on Oct29. In a matter of couple days it will be completed and I hope it all goes smoothly. It will change the city of Istanbul immensely with more and more development will move closer to this giant airport.
At the same time SAW is getting a second runway and will continue to flourish.
-Last month it was mentioned that the next US markets for TK will be DFW, EWR and SEA by a.net member LAXintl. Exciting times ahead.
-Maybe this month we will see both the 789 and 359 orders to be finalized for TK.
-TK annouced few more routes, Samarkand starts this month.
-Corendon to add 3 more jets, aiming to carry 3M pax with 900 employees in 2018.
-TAV acquired 49% of AYT.

Please continue with your views, news, photos, rumors and good old sense of humor. Welcome.

You always sound as if you are one of the spokesman of the AKP goverment. These threads are more like a monthly advertisement of new airport and TK. I see you highly biased.

?????? I am sorry but I don't see how this biased towards the new airport or the AKP government. TK787 have been doing a great job maintaining these Turkish aviations threads for years and all I can see here (in his summary) are facts or opinions posted by other users. He even shared concerns about the opening of the new airport within the last posts of the February threads.

Sure as close followers of Turkish aviation and TK flyers we get excited for this big project but in no way these are AKP propaganda.

And as far as SAW discussion goes, I guess it's a great airport for O&D traffic if you live close to it but for connections, I find it's a horrible airport. (My main TK route is BRU-IST/SAW/-ADB).
The experience for premium pax (J or Y with status) doing Intl -> Domestic especially. Sure I get that they don't get a lounge in the main domestic terminal building, but no priority security, no priority boarding, cramped terminal makes it unbearable compared to IST. (Please don't interpret my statement as an entitled pax wanting all the premium experience, this is just a comparison of why SAW sucks compared to IST for intl to domestic connections). And yes I know I can walk to the CIP terminal but I have done it once and I am not sure if it was worth the walk. Depends on your layover time I guess.

While writing about this, I just remembered I had a strange experience boarding my flight to ADB from the SAW CIP terminal. I got an op up at boarding but not like the usual one. Usually, for op ups, when the agent scans your boarding pass, the thing will beeeep and you will get a new J boarding pass. That time, the agent scanned my boarding pass as normal, no beeeep, then took a pen, crossed my seat number and wrote a new seat number on my BP (in J). Same for the PAX in front of me (we were both elites). And my Y seat remained empty that flight (was easy to check because I went from first row of Y to last row of J). Strange but welcome experience.

Thanks for a new thread TK787. Looking forward to reading more developments about the progress of the new airport. Are there any artist impressions of the new lounges ?

OA260 wrote:

Thanks for a new thread TK787. Looking forward to reading more developments about the progress of the new airport. Are there any artist impressions of the new lounges ?

I do know the Architects Group who are involved in TK's CIP lounges and I'm sure there are a lot of renderings tried and tested. But none of these have leaked...

BTW there is a typo in the title, it say Tukish and not Turkish. No big deal but was confused on not finding this thread with my regular CMD + F search.

I have a question regarding the intent of Turkish Airlines buying Airbus A350-900 (20+5) and Boeing 787-9 (20+20).

If we look to the future, TK would like to fly to YVR, SEA, MEX, DPS, maybe one time SCL and UIO nonstop, and also SYD, PER, MEL, maybe AKL.

There is no problem with YVR, SEA, DPS. Are there some problems/restrictions doing PER (7480 miles), MEX (7104 miles) and UIO (7119 miles) nonstop today without A350/B789 order in terms of cargo capacity/range/seat capacity, if it is done by B77W or A332/A333?

And what about the intent of A359 and B789? I mean we talk for ages now about SYD (9294 miles), MEL (9084 miles), PER (7480 miles), and I add now SCL (8132 miles) and AKL (10602 miles) for future. AKL is clearly not possible, maybe with B777X, I don´t know. But is IST-SYD/MEL nonstop without restrictions in flight hours/cargo/pax doable with A350-900 and B787-9? In my opinion, TK should order the A350-900ULR, not?

I ask these because I don´t think with the normal A350-900 or Boeing 787-9 TK could do anything without restrictions regarding Australia or longer routes to South America nonstop.

Thanks for feedback.

Erdoğan to be on first test flight at new airport

After a long and arduous construction process, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım will be joining President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the first test flight at Istanbul New Airport.

The announcement came from Celal Koloğlu, the chairman of the Turkish Construction Industrialists Employer's Union (INTES) - one of the airport's contractors - who said the planned test flight will take place on Feb. 26, 2018, the president's 64th birthday.

https://www.dailysabah.com/business/201 ... ew-airport


I presume this did not go ahead?

Nope it didn't. I doubt the runway was ready for any sort of landing at that date.

Yakamoz wrote:

I have a question regarding the intent of Turkish Airlines buying Airbus A350-900 (20+5) and Boeing 787-9 (20+20).

If we look to the future, TK would like to fly to YVR, SEA, MEX, DPS, maybe one time SCL and UIO nonstop, and also SYD, PER, MEL, maybe AKL.

There is no problem with YVR, SEA, DPS. Are there some problems/restrictions doing PER (7480 miles), MEX (7104 miles) and UIO (7119 miles) nonstop today without A350/B789 order in terms of cargo capacity/range/seat capacity, if it is done by B77W or A332/A333?

And what about the intent of A359 and B789? I mean we talk for ages now about SYD (9294 miles), MEL (9084 miles), PER (7480 miles), and I add now SCL (8132 miles) and AKL (10602 miles) for future. AKL is clearly not possible, maybe with B777X, I don´t know. But is IST-SYD/MEL nonstop without restrictions in flight hours/cargo/pax doable with A350-900 and B787-9? In my opinion, TK should order the A350-900ULR, not?

I ask these because I don´t think with the normal A350-900 or Boeing 787-9 TK could do anything without restrictions regarding Australia or longer routes to South America nonstop.

Thanks for feedback.

So on my side of the pond, Australia, Qantas is making a big fuss about fleet decisions and the new 787 being a game changing aircraft, along with their new premium economy and economy classes, which they also dubbed as game changing. (Basically, everything Qantas does is game changing for Qantas.) They recently challenged Airbus and Boeing to extend the range of the A350 and 777X to be able to run direct flights from Sydney/Melbourne to London and New York. Their current "game changing" aircraft 787-9 isn't able to do direct flights to London and New York. You can Google "Project Sunrise" and a few articles show up with some details. I think that TK might benefit from these extended range birds as well. I would love to see TK in Australia.

mict wrote:

BTW there is a typo in the title, it say Tukish and not Turkish. No big deal but was confused on not finding this thread with my regular CMD + F search.

Thanks for the heads up, got that one fixed
Thank you, moderators !!

leftyboarder wrote:

Nope it didn't. I doubt the runway was ready for any sort of landing at that date.

Well, let's see if anything will be fully ready in Oct'18

My TK RFID Baggage Cards arrived in mail:
https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-tr/a ... index.html

looks like this:
https://twitter.com/feritodman/status/8 ... 8924126208

TK787 wrote:

My TK RFID Baggage Cards arrived in mail:
https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-tr/a ... index.html

looks like this:
https://twitter.com/feritodman/status/8 ... 8924126208

received mine a month ago, however wasn't able to register both cards that was sent to me on TK website, only one could be registered, and when you click add another it just replaces the previous one.

Any update on the timeline for installing wifi on the shorthaul fleet? I heard it was coming this Summer.

A321Neo and 737MAX fleets will arrive with WiFi as part of IFE.
I have not seen anything about retrofitting existing fleet.

LAXintl wrote:

A321Neo and 737MAX fleets will arrive with WiFi as part of IFE.
I have not seen anything about retrofitting existing fleet.

And I guess that wi-fi has got nothing to do with internet connection for the pax. We'll only be able to downstream music, movies, etc. during the flight!

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

Thenoflyzone wrote:

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

I am confused by this quote in the article:

Air Canada to serve the additional point Izmir, Turkey by selling transportation in its own name on flights operated by Turkish Airlines between points in Turkey;

Air Canada already has codeshare into Izmir on TK metal. In fact I have even already flown ADB-IST-YYZ-DTW on a AC ticket with all AC codes and only the short ADB-IST operated by TK.

mict wrote:

Thenoflyzone wrote:

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

I am confused by this quote in the article:

Air Canada to serve the additional point Izmir, Turkey by selling transportation in its own name on flights operated by Turkish Airlines between points in Turkey;

Air Canada already has codeshare into Izmir on TK metal. In fact I have even already flown ADB-IST-YYZ-DTW on a AC ticket with all AC codes and only the short ADB-IST operated by TK.

It's a renewal of the codeshare extension to Izmir, as it is granted on a 1 year basis only. Same thing on the TK end into Canada.

Link to 2017 extra-bilateral authority (same as this year's)

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/30-a-2017

mafaky wrote:

And I guess that wi-fi has got nothing to do with internet connection for the pax. We'll only be able to downstream music, movies, etc. during the flight!

No, in addition to streaming content and live TV, the system will have internet access capability via satellite also.

THY and Pegasus 2017 financial numbers released.

TK post USD $223mil net profit in 2017 vs $77m loss in 2016.
http://investor.turkishairlines.com/doc ... _RAPOR.pdf
More details from THY on Wednesday when they hold their investor event.

Meanwhile Pegasus says it earned a USD $131mil profit in 2017 vs $35.7m loss on 2016.
Likewise should hear more details once they hold their investor event later.

February numbers released, Ankara ESB still posts record growth with 39% for the month of February, (41% domestic, 29% international pax), the way is this is going ESB will pass 20 million pax in 2018. ESB urgently needs international route expansion....

Turkish Airlines will be the first customer of A321neo with Cabin Flex (NX version).

Yakamoz wrote:

Turkish Airlines will be the first customer of A321neo with Cabin Flex (NX version).

How dense will the cabin be?

Yakamoz wrote:

Turkish Airlines will be the first customer of A321neo with Cabin Flex (NX version).

Quite surprising actually since TK is probably one of the few 321 operators nowadays having a "more relaxed and comfortable" layout in both classes. Is this going to be a subfleet for lets say domestic ops?

stylo777 wrote:

Yakamoz wrote:

Turkish Airlines will be the first customer of A321neo with Cabin Flex (NX version).

Quite surprising actually since TK is probably one of the few 321 operators nowadays having a "more relaxed and comfortable" layout in both classes. Is this going to be a subfleet for lets say domestic ops?

TK, unfortunately, mostly utilises the aircraft in its fleet "rather haphazardly". No specific frames are only dedicated to domestic ops. There may be some, who are "mostly allocated" for domestic ops. but this will never be an unbreakable rule. Currently the only exception will be the 4 343 frames dedicated primarily to the Hadj & Umrah flights.

TK's first A321neo has been spotted in XFW. If you look closely, it has two over wing exit doors, which confirms the Cabin Flex option. The L2 door is gone.


A321neo NX Turkish Airlines TC- by Tobias Gudat, on Flickr

aldrigsomandre wrote:

Yakamoz wrote:

Turkish Airlines will be the first customer of A321neo with Cabin Flex (NX version).

How dense will the cabin be?

2-class ~ 202 seats it is spoken

KarelXWB wrote:

TK's first A321neo has been spotted in XFW. If you look closely, it has two over wing exit doors, which confirms the Cabin Flex option. The L2 door is gone.


A321neo NX Turkish Airlines TC- by Tobias Gudat, on Flickr

But is not a LR version, right? So no additional tanks?

We are expecting IST YVR to be commenced Summer 2018, announcement by THY expected any time

Thenoflyzone wrote:

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

Speaking of A321, Pegasus has elected to exercise options for 25 A321neos from its 2012 Airbus order.

LAXintl wrote:

Speaking of A321, Pegasus has elected to exercise options for 25 A321neos from its 2012 Airbus order.

Well, if their deliveries will be during 2020 and later for these 25 Neo frames, those will be delivered in "Flex" version (by this date "Flex" ill become standard on 321s) that will enable PGS to seat 240 pax in sardine can configuration!....

ankaraflyjet wrote:

We are expecting IST YVR to be commenced Summer 2018, announcement by THY expected any time

Thenoflyzone wrote:

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

It clearly says only two points selected. Copied below from the article. Nowhere is Vancouver mentioned.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Canadian carriers may operate services to two points in Turkey, and Turkish carriers may operate services to two points in Canada. Istanbul and Ankara have been selected by the Government of Canada, and Toronto, Ontario and Montréal, Quebec have been selected by the Government of Turkey. There is no provision for additional points to be served. Therefore, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines require extra-bilateral authorities to offer services to the additional points through code sharing.

Flightsimboy wrote:

ankaraflyjet wrote:

We are expecting IST YVR to be commenced Summer 2018, announcement by THY expected any time

Thenoflyzone wrote:

Canada and Turkey announce additional codesharing. No additional slots into Canada for TK, for now.

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/a-2018-40

It clearly says only two points selected. Copied below from the article. Nowhere is Vancouver mentioned.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Canadian carriers may operate services to two points in Turkey, and Turkish carriers may operate services to two points in Canada. Istanbul and Ankara have been selected by the Government of Canada, and Toronto, Ontario and Montréal, Quebec have been selected by the Government of Turkey. There is no provision for additional points to be served. Therefore, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines require extra-bilateral authorities to offer services to the additional points through code sharing.

True, but this revision is valid until 29.03.2019. Thereafter, things may change (and possibly, bilaterally). So IST-Vancouver flights may become reality during Summer 2019.

But anyone thinks AC may ever start a service to ESB, within foreseeable future???

The Air Service Agreement is being amended and IST YVR will be operated thrice weekly from Summer 2018 by TK, please wait, it will be announced soon
TK will continue to sertve YYZ and YUL at the same frequency just so there is no misunderstanding
AC will not fly to IST or ESB in 2018 or 2019, the first likelyhood is 2020 to reinstate YYZ IST by AC and that will be decided upon developments in 2019
If tourist demand peaks to Turkey Air Canada Rouge may do seasonal YYZ IST in 2019 summer schedule

mafaky wrote:

Flightsimboy wrote:

ankaraflyjet wrote:

We are expecting IST YVR to be commenced Summer 2018, announcement by THY expected any time

It clearly says only two points selected. Copied below from the article. Nowhere is Vancouver mentioned.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Canadian carriers may operate services to two points in Turkey, and Turkish carriers may operate services to two points in Canada. Istanbul and Ankara have been selected by the Government of Canada, and Toronto, Ontario and Montréal, Quebec have been selected by the Government of Turkey. There is no provision for additional points to be served. Therefore, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines require extra-bilateral authorities to offer services to the additional points through code sharing.

True, but this revision is valid until 29.03.2019. Thereafter, things may change (and possibly, bilaterally). So IST-Vancouver flights may become reality during Summer 2019.

But anyone thinks AC may ever start a service to ESB, within foreseeable future???

TK787 wrote:

-Last month it was mentioned that the next US markets for TK will be DFW, EWR and SEA by a.net member LAXintl. Exciting times ahead.

Interesting

Would LAXintl or any other user happen to have any idea which of the three markets will be launched first?

Turkish market grows 11% in 2017, bouncing above the records of 2015; Istanbul accounts for 50% of traffic; Antalya leads net passenger growth
Turkey is a favourite among anna.aero’s number crunchers, not only because of its luscious beaches and dynamic culture (one of our data elves has been there six times), but also because of how phenomenally fast the market has grown in recent times. Between 2000 and 2017 the market has developed by a whopping 450%, rising from 34.97 million passengers in 2000 to over 190 million last year. To put the growth of Turkey’s aviation scene into perspective, the nation now welcomes more passengers in the Q1 period of a year (35.42 million passengers in Q1 2017) than it did in the whole of 2000. This is a trend which appears to be continuing in 2018. In January, Turkey’s leading airports processed 14.74 million passengers, up by nearly 29% versus the 11.47 million they handled in January 2017. If this rate of growth is maintained throughout this year, Turkey could expect to handle well over 230 million passengers in 2018, although this target is ambitious. Along with this growth aspiration, Turkey will see the opening of a brand new airport in October in Istanbul which is still on target for completion according to Yusuf Akçayoğlu, CEO of İGA Airports Construction
Looks like the trend is climbing upwards for Turkish aviation great news. http://www.anna.aero/2018/03/07/turkish ... ords-2015/

BoD approved 787 and A350 orders according to stock market notice.

787-9 25+5 options
A350-900 25+5 options

LAXintl wrote:

BoD approved 787 and A350 orders according to stock market notice.

787-9 25+5 options
A350-900 25+5 options

Hoping to see some in Australia one day.
Also hoping for an 8-abreast configuration.

BoD also approved the purchase of an additional A330-200F. Believe its a used frame (MH)

LAXintl wrote:

BoD also approved the purchase of an additional A330-200F. Believe its a used frame (MH)

Yes, that one TK has wet-leased earlier from Malaysia, which Royal Jordanien not taken up. The bird is stored in Mojave for a long period. But a young aircraft, just 6 years.

LAXintl wrote:

BoD approved 787 and A350 orders according to stock market notice.

787-9 25+5 options
A350-900 25+5 options

Yes, finally!!! I was getting a bit worried.
airporthaber.com says first 6 frames (A+B) will join the fleet in 2019, last ones in 2024.
50+10 new widebodies. Congratulations to TK and Airbus and Boeing

Congrats to TK and to both A and B I also wonder if out of the 25 for Airbus some ULR models for Australia ? Would the 35K fit with TK or is it to big ? And with the B team would some 787-10 models fit also ? Is TK looking for longer range or more bums on seats ?

TK773ER wrote:

I also wonder if out of the 25 for Airbus some ULR models for Australia ?

AFAIK, there is only one airline interested in 359 ULR, correct me if I'm wrong. And also IIRC, there are about 250 seats. Not sure if this will be profitable at all for TK.