Review :Turkish Airlines Business Class, Istanbul-Izmir, Boeing 777-300ER

Last leg of my trip to Izmir. After a good Paris-Frankfurt flight and a very pleasant Frankfurt-Istanbul flight on Lufthansa, after the discovery of the Turkish Airline lounge in the new Istanbul airport here is the last step of the trip: an Istanbul-Izimir flight in business class on Turkish Airlines.

No check-in and pre-boarding experience at the airport since I was connecting.

Anyway I board for what looks like the nicest part of the trip even if it’s the shortest. Indeed, unlike European airlines and following the example of Asian airlines, Turkish Airlines does not hesitate to put large aircraft on domestic routes. This 360km flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with 349 seats (49 in business, 300 in economy).

I board relatively quickly and take place in the cabin.

A long-haul cabin on a medium-haul route

We are dealing here with a real long-haul business cabin with a totally flat bed seat.

TK2336 IST-ADB — A real long haul business cabin on this Istanbul Izmir operated in a B777

So of course, and this is the only reproach we can make, Turkish Airlines business is not full access and remains on a 2-3-2 layout which is now disappearing…and which will disappear from its future aircraft to be replaced by a 1-2-1 more in line with the standards of the moment.

As for the screen, it is large and of good quality even if on such a flight I did not take the time to test it too much or to explore the catalog of available films.

Anyway, it is very spacious, the feeling of space is real, we breathe, and if the layout remains “old” we are on a “full flat” experience at the level of current standards, unlike Air France’s “NEV4” cabin, which continues to haunt long-haul flights with its sliding seats and outdated screens.

The seat has a plethora of adjustments. I even find it too complicated. At Air France, on the last business cabins and especially in First, we have the same functionalities but without a complex interface so that even Mrs Smith can use it.

For such a short flight I would be happy with less.

There is of course Wifi and everything that comes with it.

As soon as I was seated, I was offered a drink (non-alcoholic) to wait for the take-off.

A second one will follow with some snacks and the distribution of the menu.

I will be called by my name and asked if I want the meal to be served to me (on such short distances some passengers abstain) and if I want alcoholic drinks or not (we are in the middle of Ramadan). It will be “yes” for both and I will venture on a Turkish red wine.

The engines are finally turned on and we taxi towards the runway. This allows me to take some pictures of this new and beautiful airport, a fantastic industrial tool for Turkish Airlines in the future.

The control tower is very nice and fits well with the setting sun.

The taxi is long. Very long. Obviously, by leaving the very congested Ataturk airport, there is a gain in capacity and comfort but at the cost of a much larger airport. Nothing could be more logical. A good 30 minutes of taxi to reach the runway.

We eventually take off on the runway, what allows me a beautiful video of takeoff of night with a superb view on the new airport.

Very quickly after takeoff the meal arrives. Logical: we are going to spend just over 40 minutes in the air (for the same amount of time taxiing) and we have to go fast.

Excellent (hot) service for a 40 min flight!

Here is the meal in question. Once again a cat among the pigeons for those who say that it is impossible to serve a hot meal on flights of less than 2 hours!

We start with the pastrami and cheese. Tasty and very good. I’ ll be brought some hot bread.

The Turkish meatballs are delicious and the rice cooked to perfection.

As for the rice cake, the kind of dessert I’m not usually fond of, it’s refreshing, light, and will slide right out.

The wine will accompany all this very well.

No sooner finished it’ s already time to prepare for landing.

The night approach to Izmir.

All the gates being taken we will be parked at a remote parking stand. A good habit that we would like to see generalized in Europe: a bus will be dedicated to business class passengers and will leave once they have disembarked. Only then can the economy passengers get off.

Less than 3 minutes later I am in the terminal (the advantage of human-sized airports) and 2 minutes later I am out. A beautiful and fluid experience.

Bottom line

An absolutely perfect flight with the airline that is undeniably the best European airline today (with all due respect to SkyTrax). Even if the Turkish Airlines Domestic lounge in Istanbul left me unsatisfied, the rest was of a very high standard.

I realize I barely mentioned the crew. And for good reason: when it does its work with professionalism and friendliness, it is not noticed.

At most, I can regret that the cabin is in “2-3-2”. And I will because for the rest the service and catering were perfect for such a short flight where serving hot food is a challenge…that finally only the Western European and American airlines do not know how to face.

For the record: routing and pricing