Turkish Airlines took delivery of their first Boeing 787-9 in 2019, and this is also the first type of plane to feature their new business class seats. Turkish doesn’t plan on installing their new business class seats on 777s and A330s, so if you like the new seats, the 787 is worth seeking out (or the A350, which is expected to enter service for the airline in 2020).
Turkish Airlines 787-9
Turkish Airlines 787-9 business class
As of now Turkish’s North American 787 destinations include Atlanta, Washington Dulles, Mexico City, and Cancun (they operate a triangle flight from Istanbul to Mexico City to Cancun to Istanbul).
Well, the airline will now be adding an additional North American 787 route.
In this post:
Turkish will fly 787-9 to Montreal
Turkish Airlines will begin flying the 787-9 between Istanbul and Montreal as of March 29, 2020. This flight operates three times weekly, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with the following schedule:
TK35 Istanbul to Montreal departing 2:05PM arriving 5:00PM
TK36 Montreal to Istanbul departing 10:45PM arriving 2:55PM (+1 day)
The airline currently uses an Airbus A330-300 for the route, so the upgrade to a 787-9 represents a capacity increase.
Turkish Airlines A330-300 business class
Turkish shows the 787-9 operating the route through the end of the schedule, so this doesn’t just seem to be a seasonal increase (though it’s always possible they change the aircraft on the route again).
Montreal has good award availability
Turkish can be really inconsistent with award availability, though the good news is that Turkish has plenty of award availability on this route in the spring. I see four business class award seats available on many dates.
Turkish might be considering a new business class
I flew Turkish’s 787-9 business class from Atlanta to Istanbul a few months ago, and had a great experience. The seat is a significant improvement if traveling alone, and Turkish’s soft product is top notch.
Turkish Airlines business class catering
However, apparently the airline has been having issues with the new seats, and rumor has it that Turkish is considering installing a different business class product on their upcoming 787s, as well as the A350s they’ll start to take delivery soon.
It’ll be interesting to see if that does in fact happen (given that usually seats are ordered years in advance), and if so, which product they go with.
Bottom line
Montreal will become the fifth North American city to feature Turkish’s new 787-9. If you’re looking to cross the Atlantic on Turkish, it might be worth routing through Montreal to fly this plane, especially given the good award availability.
(Tip of the hat to Running with Miles)
Bummer! Booked TK36 from YUL to IST in Biz for this December, selecting that route due to the 787. Just got an alert that they swapped it out for the A330. Have some alerts set in ExpertFlyer for TK's other 787 routes, but hopefully TK36 reverts back to the 787 soon.
My flight in March from jfk shows 787 too
Some of the summer season LHR-IST services are already showing operated by the A350.
U also forgot another triangle route which is bogota+panama city
@Aaron yes, the 787s first destination was Denpasar, Bali in Indonesia. SIN, KUL, NRT and more will be added this year. Other than that TK flies the 787 on domestic flights and shorter flights to e.g. AMS, CDG, DXB
"As of now Turkish’s North American 787 destinations include"
Are they flying this plane/these seats to destinations outside of North America?
AND Montreal is an amazing city! YUL
TK will only fly the B789 to YUL for next summer. After that, they will be flying in the A359.
I don’t know if you have written about this yet, but they are going to start flying the 787 to Cape Town soon. I saw an ad for the airline at CPT saying so.
Ben,
I know Turkish Airlines flies the 787 out of ATL. What are the other 3 North American cities, in addition to Montreal?