Hello everyone welcome to November.

I am starting the thread on behalf of TK787 who is occupied on-location filming at the moment.

Here is some random (non TK) news.

o IST airport technically celebrated its 1-year anniversary on Oct 29th. How fast time has flown by.
o IST rolled out a new app available in Android and iOS which includes wayfinding capability around the airport
o For those with PriorityPass - the IGA Lounge at IST now accepts PP customers. It looks to be a huge lounge at 4,440sqm seating 585. (video https://youtu.be/MjGSCFWwqKU)
o Even with government hostility in the media, Israelis are flocking to Turkey approaching record numbers, especially to Antalya. 2019 expected to see about 480,000 Isreali tourist which is approaching the 2010 record of 540,000.
o Freebird Airlines which created a Malta AOC, will base aircraft in Germany - first base being Leipzig starting May 2020 and will operate flights on behalf of TUI Group to 11 destinations.
o Freebird also won a new contract replacing Aegean Airlines and will base an aircraft in Dubrovnik for winter charters from across Europe.
o On the cargo side - MNG which sold its Technic division to Turkish Airlines in 2013 no longer seems to be sending planes to to THY Techic instead signed a deal with Jordan's Joramco for 4 A300/A330 C-checks.
o VietJet Air will again lease pair of Onur Air A321s during the winter season
o More management shakeups at AtlasGlobal including departure of General Manager and a VP in October
o AtlasGlobal continues to experiment with its network with more A330 flights including upgauging existing services to markets like Kuwait and Iraq with larger type.
o AtlasGlobal also picked up a contract in Uzbekistan to operate pilgrimage flights in 2020.
o In addition as part of a brand refresh AtlasGlobal revealed new flight attendant uniforms. Uniforms were designed by 12 groups of students as part of a hackathon competition. Not too exciting in my opinion. Have a 1940s retro look.





As always, please continue below with your own news, views, photos and rumors.

Thanks for the new thread...
The lounge is definitely a must-visit on my next visit. Sure, it probably isn't as good as the TK one, but it looks great and worth a visit.

I like the uniforms, they are retro, but they also look kind of "Russian". Please don't get me wrong and no offense to our Russian friends, but would you say those are the new uniforms of Rossiya, Nordwind or Red Wings Airlines I would totally believe you

LAXintl wrote:

o In addition as part of a brand refresh AtlasGlobal revealed new flight attendant uniforms. Uniforms were designed by 12 groups of students as part of a hackathon competition. Not too exciting in my opinion. Have a 1940s retro look.

Dreadful uniform. They could have done something a lot better.

I wonder what's going to happen with AtlasGlobal and Air Serbia now that Turkish Airlines is inching closer to a codeshare agreement with Air Serbia.
Any ideas?

aldrigsomandre wrote:

I wonder what's going to happen with AtlasGlobal and Air Serbia now that Turkish Airlines is inching closer to a codeshare agreement with Air Serbia.
Any ideas?

Most likely nothing, things will stay as they are especially since JU is getting a lot of feed from KK flights. Turkish Parliament approved a rigid ASA so no more flights can be added unless JU approves it, that is the Serbian directorate. What will most likely happen is that JU will return to IST with a noon departure from Belgrade and will carry both a KK and TK code.

I think it's a shame KK can't add more flights, the four they have now are full and mostly operated by the A321.

As for their uniforms, they are not bad. They look practical which matters the most.

OA260 wrote:

LAXintl wrote:

o In addition as part of a brand refresh AtlasGlobal revealed new flight attendant uniforms. Uniforms were designed by 12 groups of students as part of a hackathon competition. Not too exciting in my opinion. Have a 1940s retro look.

Dreadful uniform. They could have done something a lot better.

Hmm...the models are certainly not dreadful!

what's the reason behind this demand to Belgrade?

Today, Turkish Airlines take delivery of 2 Airbus A321neo's. TC-LSJ and TC-LSK.

Both are on the way heading Istanbul.

Blerg wrote:

aldrigsomandre wrote:

I wonder what's going to happen with AtlasGlobal and Air Serbia now that Turkish Airlines is inching closer to a codeshare agreement with Air Serbia.
Any ideas?

Most likely nothing, things will stay as they are especially since JU is getting a lot of feed from KK flights. Turkish Parliament approved a rigid ASA so no more flights can be added unless JU approves it, that is the Serbian directorate. What will most likely happen is that JU will return to IST with a noon departure from Belgrade and will carry both a KK and TK code.

I think it's a shame KK can't add more flights, the four they have now are full and mostly operated by the A321.

KK cannot up-gauge to 330, same as TK, no?

aldrigsomandre wrote:

Blerg wrote:

aldrigsomandre wrote:

I wonder what's going to happen with AtlasGlobal and Air Serbia now that Turkish Airlines is inching closer to a codeshare agreement with Air Serbia.
Any ideas?

Most likely nothing, things will stay as they are especially since JU is getting a lot of feed from KK flights. Turkish Parliament approved a rigid ASA so no more flights can be added unless JU approves it, that is the Serbian directorate. What will most likely happen is that JU will return to IST with a noon departure from Belgrade and will carry both a KK and TK code.

I think it's a shame KK can't add more flights, the four they have now are full and mostly operated by the A321.

KK cannot up-gauge to 330, same as TK, no?

The bilateral forbids anything larger than A321/B739. Naturally this does not apply to the charter traffic that is completely liberalized.

stylo777 wrote:

what's the reason behind this demand to Belgrade?

Tourist numbers started booming since Serbia suspended the visa regime for Turkish passport holders. I think there is potential for more flights from other cities as well but nothing will change as long as this strict bilateral is in place. Sun Express operated some charter flights from Izmir but they didn't come back this year.

Mind you, some months ago TK requested to increase BEG to 17 weekly with certain morning/evening flights upgraded to widebodies. All requests were turned down.

Thanks LAXintl for the new thread
Greetings from Belgrade, Serbia.
I've been here for a week and working long hours. Yes, why wouldn't Turks love it here. No VISA, very affordable hotels, food and beverage prices, Casinos in the middle of the city and you can smoke cigarettes pretty much anywhere

TK787 wrote:

Thanks LAXintl for the new thread
Greetings from Belgrade, Serbia.
I've been here for a week and working long hours. Yes, why wouldn't Turks love it here. No VISA, very affordable hotels, food and beverage prices, Casinos in the middle of the city and you can smoke cigarettes pretty much anywhere

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay.

Actually there is a law that came into force that was supposed to ban indoor smoking. However it says that places smaller than (I think) 50m2 can't have indoor smoking all those that are larger can chose what they want to be so naturally they all allow smoking.

TK's first A350-900, MSN403 entered the FAL.

Source: https://digitalairliners.com/2019/10/31/log-toulouse-blagnac-30-31-10-2019/

Anyone know the status on potential IST-SYD/MEL flights on TK?

Dont hold your breath for Australia.

Longhaul focus still centered on Far East and Americas.

Australia will come, but not around the corner.

LAXintl wrote:

Dont hold your breath for Australia.

Longhaul focus still centered on Far East and Americas.

Australia will come, but not around the corner.

Thanks for your reply!

Tomotron

Can 359 ulr or potentail 351 ulr do syd/mel non stop with reasonable payload

If not TK should wait for 778 which might take an other 5-6 years and we are not sure whether boeing will launch 778 or not

When can we expect further details on the YVR flight? Any chance flights will start by S20?
I imagine they are in the process of finalizing the schedule?

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkis ... ear-148256

And EWR is back on the drawing board again

Starting from June 2020 TK will be increasing Minsk from 7 to 10 weekly while RAM launches AYT flights.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... june-2020/

Nicknuzzii wrote:

And EWR is back on the drawing board again

Little details about international gate availability.

Not sure 2020 will be any better unless TK willing to change its proposed schedule significantly, but that changes the routes entire business case as intended hub connectivity is largely lost.

Anyone know why TK decided to remove 1 weekly 789 service to MIA?

[threeid][/threeid]-Finally, after me requesting couple of times TK 789 seat plan is on seatguru.com
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turki ... _787-9.php
-By the way, no one mentioned that there is a very tall new control tower being built at SAW. It must be at least 40m or so from what I can see, two cylinder shaped towers adjacent to each other.

I saw IATA published a chart showing ASKs growth at the worlds 50 busiest airports since 2010, and the IST growth was spectacular 151 percent!
If one excludes the ME3 hubs, only Jeddah experienced more growth on percentage basis than IST.

I think Turkish is missing out in India. It surprises me that they don't fly to a lot more cities there.

peterinlisbon wrote:

I think Turkish is missing out in India. It surprises me that they don't fly to a lot more cities there.

They'd like to, but the relations between the two countries aren't good, hence, the bilateral agreement is rather limiting.

Apparently TK is retiring their only 737-700, TC-JKO, quite imminently. It's odd how long they kept a single 73G for!

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/82997-turkish-airlines-to-retire-only-b737-700-in-mid-4q19

Got to try out the new seats at WTM today. I really like the design .



.

.

AirbusA343 wrote:

Apparently TK is retiring their only 737-700, TC-JKO, quite imminently. It's odd how long they kept a single 73G for!

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/82997-turkish-airlines-to-retire-only-b737-700-in-mid-4q19

Do you have access to the whole article? It will be scrapped or for sale?

OA260 wrote:

Got to try out the new seats at WTM today. I really like the design .



.

.

It looks extremely cramped though. I'm guessing these are the Singapore 787-10 seats - so damn cramped those were.

Yakamoz wrote:

AirbusA343 wrote:

Apparently TK is retiring their only 737-700, TC-JKO, quite imminently. It's odd how long they kept a single 73G for!

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/82997-turkish-airlines-to-retire-only-b737-700-in-mid-4q19

Do you have access to the whole article? It will be scrapped or for sale?

Unfortunately I don't have full access, I imagine more news will come in the following days. If you take "mid Q4 2019" literally, then that means it will be gone in 10/11 days but it's probably not that exact!

aldrigsomandre wrote:

It looks extremely cramped though. I'm guessing these are the Singapore 787-10 seats - so damn cramped those were.

There is a an extensive trip report from last week, and the very experienced poster calls then one of his top 3 or maybe even top 2 business class products in the world.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-787- ... ss-review/

Turkish Airlines posted its Q3 financials

Net income profit 655mil USD

https://investor.turkishairlines.com/en ... ly-results

mercure1 wrote:

aldrigsomandre wrote:

It looks extremely cramped though. I'm guessing these are the Singapore 787-10 seats - so damn cramped those were.

There is a an extensive trip report from last week, and the very experienced poster calls then one of his top 3 or maybe even top 2 business class products in the world.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-787- ... ss-review/

His actual quote about the seats is:

"So, overall how does the seat rank? I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite business class seat, though I do think it’s an above average staggered seat, particularly for the privacy it affords. I’d say it ranks in the top five seat “styles” out there."

Regarding the overall business class experience, which includes food and service, as well as the comfort of the seat:

"I’ve long thought that Turkish Airlines has one of the best business class soft products out there, though their hard product wasn’t competitive.

"Their new 787-9 is a massive improvement, and all things considered this business class experience ranks in my top three in the world, and maybe even top two."

Next TK lounge has opened -- Miami - located in Concourse E. Will accept Priority Pass.

Xi'an launch official. Effective late December - 3x weekly. Will go daily effective summer 2020. A schedule should be published shortly.

Turkish Airlines signed an agreement with Global Eagle and Profen to bring IFC to its narrow body airplanes.

http://investors.geemedia.com/news-rele ... nnectivity

Zesta wrote:

Turkish Airlines signed an agreement with Global Eagle and Profen to bring IFC to its narrow body airplanes.

http://investors.geemedia.com/news-rele ... nnectivity

Interesting! Havelsan was supposed to fill this business line in Turkey.

LAXintl wrote:

Next TK lounge has opened -- Miami - located in Concourse E. Will accept Priority Pass.

Fifth outside of IST.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-airl ... nt-4277997

Miami wrote:

LAXintl wrote:

Next TK lounge has opened -- Miami - located in Concourse E. Will accept Priority Pass.

Fifth outside of IST.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-airl ... nt-4277997

6th. JFK opened last month.

TK rents the space and Turkish airport operator TAV manages them.

LAXintl wrote:

Miami wrote:

LAXintl wrote:

Next TK lounge has opened -- Miami - located in Concourse E. Will accept Priority Pass.

Fifth outside of IST.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-airl ... nt-4277997

6th. JFK opened last month.

TK rents the space and Turkish airport operator TAV manages them.

6th*. Still an impressive number.

TK105 wrote:

Zesta wrote:

Turkish Airlines signed an agreement with Global Eagle and Profen to bring IFC to its narrow body airplanes.

http://investors.geemedia.com/news-rele ... nnectivity

Interesting! Havelsan was supposed to fill this business line in Turkey.

Actually there's another press release which I forgot to post along;

http://investors.geemedia.com/news-rele ... le-deliver

LAXintl wrote:

Miami wrote:

LAXintl wrote:

Next TK lounge has opened -- Miami - located in Concourse E. Will accept Priority Pass.

Fifth outside of IST.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-airl ... nt-4277997

6th. JFK opened last month.

TK rents the space and Turkish airport operator TAV manages them.

Technically, this isn't a TK lounge right? It uses the Primeclass brand.

mict wrote:

Technically, this isn't a TK lounge right? It uses the Primeclass brand.

Its a TK lounge, the one they have talked about for 2-years, but they use TAV Primeclass branding as they seek to avoid Star Alliance conflict in the terminal(which is partially owned by LH) and also position lounge independently to attract many contract carriers. Already CA, J2, MU, JL, SV, AT, KX, and DY have agreed to use the lounge.

TAV runs TK branded lounges in places such as IAD, NBO, plus many in Turkey including ones in Ankara and Izmir while running others jointly under Primeclass branding.

Speaking of lounges, I had the chance to visit the TK Miles and Smiles lounge at IST for the first time and left with mixed feelings. Choice of meals is for sure top-notch, but it felt much much smaller than the one at Ataturk. Is that related to the fact that they have exactly the same one located on the East wing of the terminal just for business class passengers?

It was crowded today. The whole airport was very busy today. Every DutyFree register had at least 10 people waiting to pay in line. I gave up. Lounge was busy, hardly any place left to sit. Reporting from TK1, A333, TC-LNE. Full flight. 28 min taxi from D13 to 16R. 11 hour flight, already one Y bathroom inop:(

The flights will start in June 2020, slots assigend at YVR already, the Air Service Agreement between Canada and Turkey is expected to be ratified in the coming months and then the Press Release will be made. I expect this to happen in January or February as there were elections in Canada in the mean time...

mict wrote:

When can we expect further details on the YVR flight? Any chance flights will start by S20?
I imagine they are in the process of finalizing the schedule?

TK787 wrote:

It was crowded today. The whole airport was very busy today. Every DutyFree register had at least 10 people waiting to pay in line. I gave up. Lounge was busy, hardly any place left to sit. Reporting from TK1, A333, TC-LNE. Full flight. 28 min taxi from D13 to 16R. 11 hour flight, already one Y bathroom inop:(

Any special reason why the airport was busy today? Have they considerably boosted November flying compared to last year?