New TK 321 Neo with reg. LUP?
Should this not be LT something?

Tkairlines wrote:

New TK 321 Neo with reg. LUP?
Should this not be LT something?

The remaining LT* series (LTS and further) was given to AnadoluJet instead. An illogical move as they could simply make LU* series exclusively for AnadoluJet.

By the way, AnadoluJet's 7M8 (TC-LAK) now flies on selected TK Mainline routes from IST, e.g. to Mardin.

afterwards .....

SUNEXPRESS
• TC-SMF Boeing 737-8, msn/ln 43300/7461, ex N1786B, N56807, N57002, N6046P, (ntu OK–SWI Smartwings), C-FLQF Flair Airlines, N981EC Bank of Utah, VP-CBX dd 01/06/2023 AYT. first in svc 09/06/2023

As previously known, Turkish Airlines had returned TC-JOM Airbus A330–302, msn 1499 to Afriqiyah Airways. Now she is being transferred from Istanbul (SAW) to Tripoli Mitiga (MJI) as 5A-ONQ.

The interesting thing is that the 5A-ONQ kept the gray underside of the fuselage (belly) and white engine cowlings from Turkish Airlines. Afriqiyah Airways, on the other hand, has a white belly and dark blue engine cowlings.

see photo above left
see also photo of 5A–ONR for comparison

Hello everyone,
Thank you Stylo for starting the thread
I was on a AnadoluJet 321neo today. LTU or LUT. 8 extra space purple seats upfront. How old is this frame, delivered when?? Thank you.

TK787 wrote:

Hello everyone,
Thank you Stylo for starting the thread
I was on a AnadoluJet 321neo today. LTU or LUT. 8 extra space purple seats upfront. How old is this frame, delivered when?? Thank you.

The reg. TC-LUT does not exist "yet", so it is
• TC–LTU Airbus A321–271NX, msn 11239, ex D-AZXD, (ntu S7 Airlines), dd 28/04/2023
C8Y203

The following 777-300ER are or will be configured with 496 Seats.

> TC- JJE > TC-JJF > TC-JJG > TC-JJH > TC-JJI

That much we all knew. But Turkish Technic actually updated their ancient Website and released a promo video which details the work done on those B777s

At around 01:08 you can see the new seats being installed.
Spoiler it looks very tight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut4qFJppkEI

The Work appears quite thorough and those are new seats designed and produced in house.
The Question remains will they really remove those brand new Seats after the Summer Operations to Russia ?

TK is one of the few Airlines that's 9 abreast in 77W Economy and this might be about to change.
These new Seats likely wont be thrown out and would result in 10 abreast in Economy

The Seats in the front (where the Business Seats were) will likely be removed and replaced by the Business Class seats in the 787 and A350.
The removed new seats up front could be installed in the following 77Ws, followed by all Boeing 777-300ERs.
I think this is TK testing the 10 abreast Economy on Russian Tourists before introducing them on all the 777-300ERs.

But I Realized the Seats don't have IFEs.
That would likely be unacceptable, it could still be a Test before going 10 abreast because this has to be quite expensive and the previous interior is pretty old.

Perhaps my memory fails me but were (some of) these 777s not ex-Russian-owned aircraft (not by SU but by some of its tourist offshoots)?

I can very well imagine some kind of an arrangement between Russia and Turkey to continue utilising these aircraft to cater to the needs of Russian tourists traveling to SE Asia in the winter (e.g. MLE, HKT, KBV, etc.) (or likewise, other holiday destinations, that are considered "friendly")

TKflyer wrote:

TK787 wrote:

Hello everyone,
Thank you Stylo for starting the thread
I was on a AnadoluJet 321neo today. LTU or LUT. 8 extra space purple seats upfront. How old is this frame, delivered when?? Thank you.

The reg. TC-LUT does not exist "yet", so it is
• TC–LTU Airbus A321–271NX, msn 11239, ex D-AZXD, (ntu S7 Airlines), dd 28/04/2023
C8Y203

Thank you. Too rushed to remember. Full flight from DLM, bringing ManCity fans to the final game. They all behaved very well even with an hour delay due to inbound flight doing two go-arounds.

mickster wrote:

Perhaps my memory fails me but were (some of) these 777s not ex-Russian-owned aircraft (not by SU but by some of its tourist offshoots)?

I can very well imagine some kind of an arrangement between Russia and Turkey to continue utilising these aircraft to cater to the needs of Russian tourists traveling to SE Asia in the winter (e.g. MLE, HKT, KBV, etc.) (or likewise, other holiday destinations, that are considered "friendly")

No, TK doesn't have any ex-Russian 777s. These were purchased directly from Boeing around 2010. IIRC their financing payments were completed and they are fully owned by TK at this point.

I don't think utilizing these aircraft for Russian ops would be a good idea, TK already has a significant shortage of long range widebody aircraft capacity. It still baffles me how they plan to survive this summer with 5 fewer frames. The 77W flights last summer had chronic delays all season.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

leftyboarder wrote:

The skew towards IST / AYT post Covid continues. Before Covid these two cities were dominant too but not to this level. I believe we had seen ESB and ADB at or over 15m pax with SAW / AYT around 25-30m and IST at 55-60m. Now the second and third largest cities see less than 10% IST does and less than 30% AYT does. It is pretty sad for regional aviation honestly, I don't think Germany, France, UK, Spain see this kind of disparity.

Aviation in the UK is completely and utterly dominated by London. In 2019, London's airports had 180.9 million pax. Manchester had 29.4 million pax. Edinburgh had 14.7 million pax
Aviation in France is completely and utterly dominated by Paris

Most of French and UK provincial flying is international, and the number of places you can reach from MAN, BHX, NCE, MRS, TLS is a much bigger list than ESB or ADB, and most of those connections with multiple flight options. If you remove the IST/SAW shuttle from ESB or ADB, and look at what remains, pickings are quite slim. In fact, apart from BA to London and Loganair, no domestic flights operate from MAN simply because you can get anywhere in the UK by rail. If there were good rail connections from Ankara to provinces, we would simply have an empty airport that would only serve to feed IST.

leftyboarder wrote:

davidjohnson6 wrote:

leftyboarder wrote:

The skew towards IST / AYT post Covid continues. Before Covid these two cities were dominant too but not to this level. I believe we had seen ESB and ADB at or over 15m pax with SAW / AYT around 25-30m and IST at 55-60m. Now the second and third largest cities see less than 10% IST does and less than 30% AYT does. It is pretty sad for regional aviation honestly, I don't think Germany, France, UK, Spain see this kind of disparity.

Aviation in the UK is completely and utterly dominated by London. In 2019, London's airports had 180.9 million pax. Manchester had 29.4 million pax. Edinburgh had 14.7 million pax
Aviation in France is completely and utterly dominated by Paris

Most of French and UK provincial flying is international, and the number of places you can reach from MAN, BHX, NCE, MRS, TLS is a much bigger list than ESB or ADB, and most of those connections with multiple flight options. If you remove the IST/SAW shuttle from ESB or ADB, and look at what remains, pickings are quite slim. In fact, apart from BA to London and Loganair, no domestic flights operate from MAN simply because you can get anywhere in the UK by rail. If there were good rail connections from Ankara to provinces, we would simply have an empty airport that would only serve to feed IST.

I must make a small correction to this (domestic MAN travel is not just simply BA and LM):
Aer Lingus UK serves BHD, Easyjet serves BHD, BFS, NQY, IOM and JER, Ryanair serves BFS and LDY and Aurigny serves GCI.

However - big caveat - all of these (except for NQY) are not accessible by rail or road from MAN. In the past many more regional routes were served, and I certainly agree with you that it is sad to see this happen to regional connectivity, but I believe this is a trend being witnessed in many countries and may not be specific to ESB/ADB. Post-covid has certainly seen a trend towards shuttle routes between the regions and large city hubs replacing regional routes, even here in the UK.

In addition, the only BA route from MAN is LHR - so TK keeping at least some domestic and International destinations served from ESB/ADB other than IST is a hell of a lot more than what we have here, in a like for like comparison (I'm not jealous at all)

UK aviation is extremely London dominant - I would argue much more so than IST is in Turkey - and this is something I think a lot of countries are experiencing. At least some non-IST routes exist!

dozerman wrote:

mickster wrote:

Perhaps my memory fails me but were (some of) these 777s not ex-Russian-owned aircraft (not by SU but by some of its tourist offshoots)?

I can very well imagine some kind of an arrangement between Russia and Turkey to continue utilising these aircraft to cater to the needs of Russian tourists traveling to SE Asia in the winter (e.g. MLE, HKT, KBV, etc.) (or likewise, other holiday destinations, that are considered "friendly")

No, TK doesn't have any ex-Russian 777s. These were purchased directly from Boeing around 2010. IIRC their financing payments were completed and they are fully owned by TK at this point.

I don't think utilizing these aircraft for Russian ops would be a good idea, TK already has a significant shortage of long range widebody aircraft capacity. It still baffles me how they plan to survive this summer with 5 fewer frames. The 77W flights last summer had chronic delays all season.

I totally agree with you. They could have temporarily leased some B777s originating from Russian charters (Azur Air, Royal Flight) and do this routing with them.

HB-IWC wrote:

stylo777 wrote:

FloridaMakos wrote:

TK to begin Detroit service from November 15, 2023. 3 weekly, 787-9

any source for that?

This seems to be the reference:

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-New ... it-service

but the flights have not yet been loaded in the reservation systems. That could happen imminently I guess as TK has been loading other changes progressively.

Airporthaber writes that flights starts from Dec 15 on Boeing 787-9.

Detroit flights have been loaded, starting 15NOV, 3 weekly with B787-9:

TK205 IST DTW 1545 1850 Mo/We/Fr
TK206 DTW IST 2135 1535 Mo/We/Fr

According to https://twitter.com/HavaSosyalMedya/sta ... 5399085059 and latter checking on TK's website, TK is adding 1 fx on Oct 29 to PTY and 1 more on Dec 26.

So it looks like IST- PTY will move from 10 fx to 12 fx per week by the end of the year. 5 of them will be direct and 7 will have a stop at BOG.

Havana and Caracas will also get an extra flight.

Kilgen wrote:

According to https://twitter.com/HavaSosyalMedya/sta ... 5399085059 and latter checking on TK's website, TK is adding 1 fx on Oct 29 to PTY and 1 more on Dec 26.

So it looks like IST- PTY will move from 10 fx to 12 fx per week by the end of the year. 5 of them will be direct and 7 will have a stop at BOG.

Hope they move to PTY Terminal 2 soon. It's pretty crowded where they're at in terminal 1.

Turkish Airlines' new advertisement to celebrate 90 years
https://www.airporthaber.com/havacilik- ... video.html

Sad but ....
The TC-JSH, the Airbus A321-231 sl, msn 5546 „VAN“, which lost the front wheels during the hard landing at IST on 27/02/2020, has since been withdrawn from regular flight operations and is likely to become an insurance case and thus a written-off case.

Enormous wear and tear on aircraft in recent years. Landing accidents
• TC–JOC Airbus A330–303, msn 1522 „GÖBEKLITEPE“
Damaged beyond repair 04/03/2015 at Kathmandu (KTM) when aircraft veered off the runway on landing causing the nose gear to collapse sustaining substantial damage. Preserved Aviation Museum, Kathmandu (KTM) 2017

• TC–JPE Airbus A320–232, msn 2941 „GÜMÜŞHANE“
Damaged beyond repair 25/04/2015 at Istanbul Atatürk (ISL) when landed and right wing and engine contacted runway, aircraft went around. Landed on second attempt but veered off runway after right main gear collapsed. Broken up 11/2017 at Istanbul Atatürk (ISL).

• TC–JCV Airbus A310–304(F), msn 476 „ARAS“
Damaged beyond repair 31/10/2010 at Casablanca (CMN) when veered off runway on landing resulting in an economic write-off. Broken up 05/2012 at Casablanca (CMN)

• TC–JGE Boeing 737–8F2 wl, msn/ln 29789/1065 „TEKIRDAĞ“
Crashed 25/02/2009 at Amsterdam (AMS) on approach due to faulty altimeter

HB-IWC wrote:

Detroit flights have been loaded, starting 15NOV, 3 weekly with B787-9:

TK205 IST DTW 1545 1850 Mo/We/Fr
TK206 DTW IST 2135 1535 Mo/We/Fr

Thanks for sharing the schedule.
Despite the longish connecting times, I strongly believe that TK will capture a good amount of year-round BEY, AMM, SKP and TIA passengers.
Big communities live around Detroit and they pay a visit to "homeland" at least once per year.

Now with DTW announced could we see DEN next for this year ? I know Orlando was mentioned to.

According to planespotters.net, the following airlines will initially include the following aircraft in their fleets.
AIRANKA (TZ/TAH)
• TC–NYZ Airbus A319–133, msn 3069, ex D-AVWT, XA–VOE Volaris, lsd Aviator Capital, std ISL

MNG CARGO AIRLINES (MB/MNB)
• TC–MYA Airbus A321–231(P2F), msn 3369, ex D-AVZJ, A7–ADW Qatar Airways, B-HTJ Dragonair, Cathay Dragon, Cathay Pacific, D–AABA ST Aerospace (cvtd –SF), lsd Avolon, std XSP

Apologies for the thread drift, but are places in southern Turkey like Adana, Gaziantep or Hatay ready for foreign tourists again post-earthquake ? I've got my eye on a non-stop flight from London to Gaziantep in August and wondering if this is a good idea

With the TC-LTV, ANADOLUJET will receive its 12th and, for the time being, last A321neo. The all-white A321N will be transferred from Hamburg (XFW) to Istanbul (SAW) where it will receive livery.
• TC–LTV Airbus A321–271NX, msn 11312, ex D-AVYY, (VQ–... S7 Airlines) lsd SMBC
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/tc-ltv

Thus TURKISH AIRLINES Group operates 56 A320neo–Family aircraft:
4 Airbus A320–271N at ANADOLUJET
12 Airbus A321–271NX at ANADOLUJET
40 Airbus A321–271NX at TURKISH AIRLINES

I believe that there are early indications that TK is about to announce an Australia service. In its latest GDS updates, TK has all but zeroed out 3 out of 7 weekly TK208 IST SIN flights for Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from the middle of December. That would normally indicate that the airline is not planning to operate the service, were it not for the fact that the return services on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays have not been zeroed out. Instead the services TK209 SIN IST for Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays have been zeroed out.

My educated guess is that TK is at least tinkering with the idea of extending the TK208/209 secondary SIN service to an Australian city three times weekly. If TK were to keep the current schedule:

TK208 IST SIN 1710-0830+1
TK209 SIN IST 1010-1655

then the only city that would fit in is Melbourne because the above schedule would run into curfew restrictions in Sydney.

So my conjecture is that something along the following lines is currently under consideration:

IST SIN 1710 - 0830+1 Mo/We/Fr
SIN MEL 1010 - 2100 Tue/Thu/Sa
MEL SIN 0130 - 0620 We/Fr/Su
SIN IST 0800 - 1500 We/Fr/Su

I may very well be wrong about this, but the very peculiar zeroing out of selected services that are not connected to each other in roundtrips seems to at least point in the direction that something is up.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1483723#p23786427

TKflyer wrote:

We know some work has already been done on the second 77W for IndiGo. It should be about them
• TC–LKE? Boeing 777–31H(ER), msn/ln 32729/619, ex N5017V, A6-EBX Emirates, VQ–BZC Azur Air
currently being maintained in Istanbul (ISL).All white.
We'll see when it actually happens.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1481113#p23655001

After the TC-LKD, which is already flying in the colors of the IndiGo, the TC-LKE, which is currently being prepared, the 3rd 77W for IndiGo has now become known.
• TC–LKF? Boeing 777–31H(ER), msn/ln 32714/641, ex N5016R, N5017V, A6-ECB Emirates, VQ–BGP Royal Flight lsd AerCap, currently stored SAW

davidjohnson6 wrote:

Apologies for the thread drift, but are places in southern Turkey like Adana, Gaziantep or Hatay ready for foreign tourists again post-earthquake ? I've got my eye on a non-stop flight from London to Gaziantep in August and wondering if this is a good idea

Antep and Adana are fine to visit. They were the least harmed, but Hatay is unfortunately in very very bad shape.

TKflyer wrote:

Could it be these 3 other 773s slated for Southwind Airlines?
TC-GRU, TC-GRV, TC-GRY?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1483723&start=100#p23821913

Now confirmed, as I suspected.
As mafaky wrote last month about the 3 ex SQ 773's temporarily stored at Bodrum Milas (BJV), these are destined for Southwind Airlines. So my assumption was correct
• TC–GRU Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33376/515, ex 9V-SYL Singapore Airlines, N638BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKU Sky One FZE
• TC–GRY Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 32327/484, ex N5028Y, 9V-SYI Singapore Airlines, N792BC Boeing Capital, ER-77739 Fly Pro
• TC–GRV Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33374/503, ex N50217, 9V-SYJ Singapore Airlines, N623BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKV Sky One FZE

HB-IWC wrote:

I believe that there are early indications that TK is about to announce an Australia service. In its latest GDS updates, TK has all but zeroed out 3 out of 7 weekly TK208 IST SIN flights for Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from the middle of December. That would normally indicate that the airline is not planning to operate the service, were it not for the fact that the return services on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays have not been zeroed out. Instead the services TK209 SIN IST for Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays have been zeroed out.

My educated guess is that TK is at least tinkering with the idea of extending the TK208/209 secondary SIN service to an Australian city three times weekly. If TK were to keep the current schedule:

TK208 IST SIN 1710-0830+1
TK209 SIN IST 1010-1655

then the only city that would fit in is Melbourne because the above schedule would run into curfew restrictions in Sydney.

So my conjecture is that something along the following lines is currently under consideration:

IST SIN 1710 - 0830+1 Mo/We/Fr
SIN MEL 1010 - 2100 Tue/Thu/Sa
MEL SIN 0130 - 0620 We/Fr/Su
SIN IST 0800 - 1500 We/Fr/Su

I may very well be wrong about this, but the very peculiar zeroing out of selected services that are not connected to each other in roundtrips seems to at least point in the direction that something is up.

I think you may be onto something here ? Could it be the A350 flying Downunder.

First sign of the next TK A359, presumably to be registered TC-LGN:

https://aviation.flights/aib/A350/621

HB-IWC wrote:

I believe that there are early indications that TK is about to announce an Australia service. In its latest GDS updates, TK has all but zeroed out 3 out of 7 weekly TK208 IST SIN flights for Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from the middle of December. That would normally indicate that the airline is not planning to operate the service, were it not for the fact that the return services on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays have not been zeroed out. Instead the services TK209 SIN IST for Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays have been zeroed out.

My educated guess is that TK is at least tinkering with the idea of extending the TK208/209 secondary SIN service to an Australian city three times weekly. If TK were to keep the current schedule:

TK208 IST SIN 1710-0830+1
TK209 SIN IST 1010-1655

then the only city that would fit in is Melbourne because the above schedule would run into curfew restrictions in Sydney.

So my conjecture is that something along the following lines is currently under consideration:

IST SIN 1710 - 0830+1 Mo/We/Fr
SIN MEL 1010 - 2100 Tue/Thu/Sa
MEL SIN 0130 - 0620 We/Fr/Su
SIN IST 0800 - 1500 We/Fr/Su

I may very well be wrong about this, but the very peculiar zeroing out of selected services that are not connected to each other in roundtrips seems to at least point in the direction that something is up.

To be honest, these information you found would fit with the explanations of Ahmet Bolat who said they will start Australia flights before end of 2023. I guess they haven't announced until now due to lack of aircraft. But it's nice to see that they have started to work out the flight plan. Hope to see the official announcement very soon.

It seems to me that Ahmet Bolat is really doing what he is saying. I like that.

HB-IWC wrote:

First sign of the next TK A359, presumably to be registered TC-LGN:

https://aviation.flights/aib/A350/621

Finally some good news!

TKflyer wrote:

TKflyer wrote:

Could it be these 3 other 773s slated for Southwind Airlines?
TC-GRU, TC-GRV, TC-GRY?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1483723&start=100#p23821913

Now confirmed, as I suspected.
As mafaky wrote last month about the 3 ex SQ 773's temporarily stored at Bodrum Milas (BJV), these are destined for Southwind Airlines. So my assumption was correct
• TC–GRU Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33376/515, ex 9V-SYL Singapore Airlines, N638BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKU Sky One FZE
• TC–GRY Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 32327/484, ex N5028Y, 9V-SYI Singapore Airlines, N792BC Boeing Capital, ER-77739 Fly Pro
• TC–GRV Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33374/503, ex N50217, 9V-SYJ Singapore Airlines, N623BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKV Sky One FZE

I do not understand, why Turkish Airlines do not work together with Southwind on the russian market as they have some capacity here to be used.

TKflyer wrote:

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1483723#p23786427

TKflyer wrote:

We know some work has already been done on the second 77W for IndiGo. It should be about them
• TC–LKE? Boeing 777–31H(ER), msn/ln 32729/619, ex N5017V, A6-EBX Emirates, VQ–BZC Azur Air
currently being maintained in Istanbul (ISL).All white.
We'll see when it actually happens.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1481113#p23655001

After the TC-LKD, which is already flying in the colors of the IndiGo, the TC-LKE, which is currently being prepared, the 3rd 77W for IndiGo has now become known.
• TC–LKF? Boeing 777–31H(ER), msn/ln 32714/641, ex N5016R, N5017V, A6-ECB Emirates, VQ–BGP Royal Flight lsd AerCap, currently stored SAW

Correct me if I am wrong, but it will be in total 3 Boeing 777s for Indigo, right? TC-LKA will return to TK and LKD, LKE and now LKF will be flying for Indigo.
Do we know something about the duration of this deal?

MSN 621, MSN 644 and MSN 651 three more delivery's for this year ? Overall five delivery's for 2023 with LGH and LGM for a total of 16 350's by year end am I missing something ?

Regarding TC-LKD/LKE/LKF, I though the original wet lease deal was for two aircraft only, one for each of the DEL IST and BOM IST routes. These are just medium haul routes with relatively low daily utilization. A third aircraft would indicate that Indigo is planning to operate a third India - IST route.

I recently joined the club of people backtracking to connect through Istanbul and flew PRG-IST-MIA on Turkish.
The service was great, my baggage made it on time and the 12 year old 777 was in good shape from pax perspective.

Here's my video (sorry only in Turkish)

https://youtu.be/jI7aIv_DiSA

Looks like the experiment of SAW - Plovdiv, Rhodes, Mykonos by Pegasus was short lived. I guess the booking numbers were not there that the airline decided to cancel the routes before it started it. I am sure there are better ways to utilize those airframes.

By the way, it looks like that RWY 36 at IST doesn't handle arrivals anymore. Even domestic arrivals often taxi from 34L for around 25 minutes. IMO that was a big mistake to make 2 34 runways and only one 36. They'd better did vice versa.

HB-IWC wrote:

I believe that there are early indications that TK is about to announce an Australia service. In its latest GDS updates, TK has all but zeroed out 3 out of 7 weekly TK208 IST SIN flights for Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from the middle of December. That would normally indicate that the airline is not planning to operate the service, were it not for the fact that the return services on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays have not been zeroed out. Instead the services TK209 SIN IST for Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays have been zeroed out.

My educated guess is that TK is at least tinkering with the idea of extending the TK208/209 secondary SIN service to an Australian city three times weekly. If TK were to keep the current schedule:

TK208 IST SIN 1710-0830+1
TK209 SIN IST 1010-1655

then the only city that would fit in is Melbourne because the above schedule would run into curfew restrictions in Sydney.

So my conjecture is that something along the following lines is currently under consideration:

IST SIN 1710 - 0830+1 Mo/We/Fr
SIN MEL 1010 - 2100 Tue/Thu/Sa
MEL SIN 0130 - 0620 We/Fr/Su
SIN IST 0800 - 1500 We/Fr/Su

I may very well be wrong about this, but the very peculiar zeroing out of selected services that are not connected to each other in roundtrips seems to at least point in the direction that something is up.

I think you are onto something here and have connected the dots. Fingers crossed it does happen as I would love to try the route and fly IST-SIN-MEL.

Am I correct in assuming that with 3 77W to Indigo and 5 configured in high-density, there will be 25 77W frames available for the rest of the year for IST-based regular operation as opposed to 33 at the start of it?

Yakamoz wrote:

TKflyer wrote:

TKflyer wrote:

Could it be these 3 other 773s slated for Southwind Airlines?
TC-GRU, TC-GRV, TC-GRY?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1483723&start=100#p23821913

Now confirmed, as I suspected.
As mafaky wrote last month about the 3 ex SQ 773's temporarily stored at Bodrum Milas (BJV), these are destined for Southwind Airlines. So my assumption was correct
• TC–GRU Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33376/515, ex 9V-SYL Singapore Airlines, N638BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKU Sky One FZE
• TC–GRY Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 32327/484, ex N5028Y, 9V-SYI Singapore Airlines, N792BC Boeing Capital, ER-77739 Fly Pro
• TC–GRV Boeing 777–312, msn/ln 33374/503, ex N50217, 9V-SYJ Singapore Airlines, N623BC Boeing Capital, VP–BKV Sky One FZE

I do not understand, why Turkish Airlines do not work together with Southwind on the russian market as they have some capacity here to be used.

Southwind is currently struggling with major problems. Since all aircraft have been leased from the ALC so far, most of them are no longer allowed to fly to Russia due to the sanctions. Therefore, the 2 of the 4 MAX are currently mainly used to Germany. TC-GRM, which entered the Turkish reg. on 03/02/2023, is located in Woensdrecht (WOE) and the TC-GRK only made the delivery flight to Keflavík (KEF) (reason unknown to me) and has been there since 14/04/2023..

The TC-GRZ, the only Boeing 777-31H(ER) to date, is also not in service. She was first transferred to Cairo (CAI) on 04/04/22, where she was to undergo maintenance. But now she is said to be in Amman (AMM).

The TC-GRA of one of the 2 Airbus A330-223 has apparently been on the ground for a long time. I don't know anything else about the whereabouts and reason.

The second A330 TC-GRB, as well as the TC-GRD, the A321-231, and TC-GRE, the A321N are in service alongside the two mentioned 73M (TC–GRJ & TC–GRO)

A321Lufthansa wrote:

By the way, it looks like that RWY 36 at IST doesn't handle arrivals anymore. Even domestic arrivals often taxi from 34L for around 25 minutes. IMO that was a big mistake to make 2 34 runways and only one 36. They'd better did vice versa.

This airport is full of mistakes. You have a valid point there...

36 is not used in the night.

Turkish777X wrote:

A321Lufthansa wrote:

By the way, it looks like that RWY 36 at IST doesn't handle arrivals anymore. Even domestic arrivals often taxi from 34L for around 25 minutes. IMO that was a big mistake to make 2 34 runways and only one 36. They'd better did vice versa.

This airport is full of mistakes. You have a valid point there...

36 is not used in the night.

It's also a new update? I remember taking off from 36 on a night flight TK2428 to Antalya last summer (departure at 1:25 AM).
UPD. Right now I see it being used for both departures and arrivals.

TK to start MEL via SIN 3x starting December 2023 operated by 787-9.

https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... a-strategy

So the above analysis was spot on, well done! And congrats to TK on finally landing on the last inhabited continent and joining the 6 continents club.

Long awaited. Congratulations to TK and Turkish Aviation.

While Corendon Airlines caused negative headlines last year with the enormous delays with the numerous subleased A320/A321/A330 and 738, this year XC/CAI's flight operations are rather quiet. Instead of expanding the fleet, they send back planes. So also the TC-TJS, Boeing 737-81B wl, which was returned to DAE Capital as LZ-DCL (24/04/2023).

Thus, only 13 Boeing 737-800 wl and 6 Boeing 737-8 are in use. With the TC-MKG, another Boeing 737-8 is expected.

Could Corendon feel the entry of Southwind and MGA this year?

I wonder why the 787's will be in use to Australia when currently TK208/208 is flown by the A350's.
Both aircrafts carry similar in cargo volume whilst the 350 offers 29 additional seats each way.

TKflyer wrote:

While Corendon Airlines caused negative headlines last year with the enormous delays with the numerous subleased A320/A321/A330 and 738, this year XC/CAI's flight operations are rather quiet. Instead of expanding the fleet, they send back planes. So also the TC-TJS, Boeing 737-81B wl, which was returned to DAE Capital as LZ-DCL (24/04/2023).

Thus, only 13 Boeing 737-800 wl and 6 Boeing 737-8 are in use. With the TC-MKG, another Boeing 737-8 is expected.

Could Corendon feel the entry of Southwind and MGA this year?

very interesting that you mention this as I had the same gut feeling yesterday while scrolling through their network. some routes have been cut completely and frequencies reduced on others.
not sure if it's related to SoWi or MGA (or even the expansion of XQ, PC, ...), but it surely pays off to earn good money with a stable network, rather than squeezing in every bit of rotation ultimately risking delays, cancellations and bad publicity.

It just does not stop to suprise me how uncoordinated approach and ground control incl. gate allocation is at IST.

Right now no take offs from 36 only landings. Also landings on 34. Takeoffs from 35.
Many landings coming in on 34 and long taxi to domestic gates of 20+ minutes. Also international flights landing on 36 wirh taxi to A Pier of 15 minutes.

The lack of coordination is just incredible!