I wrote this morning about how Turkish Airlines is officially moving to the new Istanbul Airport on April 6. With arriving and departing flights restricted to just 35 per hour (each), Turkish is going to be doing their best to make up for the shake-up in the schedule and that means big jets.
Flying Turkish Airlines Short-Haul Next Month? You May Get a Big Jet with More Business Class Seats!
Turkish Airlines currently flies their Boeing 777-300 and Airbus A330-300 jets on their long-haul routes (they also fly a few A340 jets). These planes have their best business class cabins (for now – new cabins coming) and, while some people find them to not be as great as other European carriers, I really do like flying them. In fact, Turkish Airlines is one of my favorite European airlines for business class award travel!
If you wanted to see what the Turkish Airlines long-haul business class looks like, you may be in luck if you have a regional flight next month! I checked several random flights like
- Istanbul to Athens
- Istanbul to Tel Aviv
- Istanbul to Frankfurt
- Istanbul to Munich
- Istanbul to Milan
and they are all using either the A330-300 jets or B777-300 jets for flights during a lot of April from the 6th on. Of course, they still may substitute for a different aircraft at some point but check out what they are flying on your route as of now to get an idea.
Why Does it Matter?
If you are flying an award, for example, and there was only economy class when you booked it, this could be a good time to switch that regional segment to business given the increased seats.
Plus, it is kind of cool that Turkish Airlines’ big internationally-configured planes will be flying some very short routes! It is a nice opportunity to try out Turkish Airlines in business class to see what it is like. Plus, even on short flights, you will still be getting some good food! I have flown 35 minute Turkish flights in business and had a whole meal brought out that was better than anything I had gotten on a US domestic first class flight.
How to Check Your Aircraft?
Check out ExpertFlyer to get a look at your seat map for your flight or you can check on Google Flights to see what aircraft they are using. You could also compare that to SeatGuru to get a look at what the cabin and layout looks like.
Turkish often flies the 777 on shorthaul domestic segments (for example IST-ADB), but it sounds like they are expanding to regional shorthaul. I’ve flown in in biz and econ on that route. I’ve also noticed 777 and A330s on medium haul routes in europe like LHR and BCN.