Summary
- Turkish Airlines frequently uses widebody aircraft on short-haul routes in Europe
- Some airports see them irregularly in September, including Cologne, Edinburgh, and Warsaw
- Moscow Vnukovo, Amsterdam, and London Heathrow are the top three for flights
Given Turkish Airlines’ huge network, widebodies are commonplace at Istanbul Airport – even on short-haul routes. They are used domestically, to the Caucasus, North Africa, and the near Middle East from Europe’s busiest airport. More than one in five of Turkish Airlines’ international Istanbul Airport-European flights is by a twin-aisle in September. Note: this article ignores the carrier’s vacation-based widebody flights from Antalya, Bodrum, and Dalaman to Russia in this article.
Turkish’s widebodies across Europe
The following table summarizes the carrier’s international widebody flights across Europe in September. Some 26 airports see them, whether once or twice or multi-daily. Amsterdam, for example, has four daily Turkish flights, all by widebodies (except a one-off by the A321ceo on September 11th).
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In order of flights, the A330-300, A330-200, 787-9, 777-300ER, and A350-900 are all used, mostly in-between long-haul services. It is a way of further increasing utilization and providing much capacity to feed peak banks of flights. I previously showed that Istanbul’s other airport, Sabiha Gökçen, has the lowest proportion of widebody flights of the world’s busiest 100 airports.
Photo: Unaccompanied Media I Shutterstock.
Given how important Germany is to Turkish Airlines, it is unsurprising that twin aisles are especially well-used there, with the most flights and the greatest network. Yet it is Istanbul Airport-Moscow Vnukovo that sees them the most. Note: services sometimes vary somewhat by week. Where this happens, I have chosen the most common frequency.
|
Widebody flights* |
Istanbul to… ** |
|---|---|
|
Five daily |
Moscow Vnukovo |
|
Four daily |
Amsterdam |
|
Up to 25 weekly |
London Heathrow |
|
Triple daily |
Frankfurt, Paris CDG |
|
Double daily |
Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Düsseldorf |
|
Up to 11 weekly |
Athens |
|
10 weekly |
Madrid, Munich, Vienna |
|
Up to eight weekly |
Milan Malpensa |
|
Daily |
Hamburg, Rome Fiumicino, Zurich |
|
Four weekly |
Dublin, Manchester |
|
Three weekly |
Brussels |
|
Weekly |
Prague, Zagreb |
|
Infrequently (see below) |
Cologne, Edinburgh, Hannover, Warsaw |
|
* September |
** International only |
Photo: Fasttailwind I Shutterstock.
Where see them infrequently?
Such services are always exciting and are detailed below. All four airports have previously seen Turkish’s larger equipment, mainly irregularly.
- Cologne is set to see two twin aisles on September 30th. The 07:15 departure to Germany will be by the A330-300, the 16:00 service by the 787-9
- Edinburgh: September 13th (A330-200) and 15th (A330-300); 14.8-year-old TC-JIT was used on the 13th, replacing the usual A321neo
- Hannover: September 23rd and 30th, both on the 16:05 departure from Istanbul and both using the 787-9
- Warsaw: September 22nd (A330-200)
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
Where else will see them this year?
Examining Cirium data for October-March shows that Ljubljana and Geneva will each see large aircraft. In Geneva’s case, A330-200s and A330-300s will be used four to five weekly from October 30th, shortly after Turkish Airlines switches to winter schedules.
The Slovenian capital is perhaps more interesting. The A330-200/A330-300 will be used on October 25th (one flight), 26th (one), 27th (two), and 28th (two). As EX-YU Aviation News shows, this is due to higher demand from school holidays.
I’m looking forward to my upcoming Heathrow-Istanbul-Heathrow trip to attend World Routes and will fly the 777-300ER and 787-9. Which of the carrier’s widebodies have you flown short-haul? Let us know in the comments.
Sources of information: Cirium, OAG, FlightRadar24.com, Google Flights, EX-YU Aviation News.