Turkish Airlines is one of my favorite airline brands, and also offers one of the best business class experiences in the world. That’s despite the fact that Turkish doesn’t have a particularly good business class hard product, at least not with any consistency. Fortunately that’s expected to change next year, when we’ll see the first plane flying with new business class cabins.
The airline has just unveiled its new business class at the Farnborough International Airshow, and I’m sure passengers will be very happy to see what’s headed our way.
In this post:
Turkish Airlines unveils new Crystal business class
Turkish Airlines is introducing a new business class, branded as “Crystal.” The airline has put out a promotional video about the new product, which I must say is very well done.
Turkish Airlines’ new business class features direct aisle access and privacy doors at all seats. The cabin is in a 1-2-1 configuration, and is in a staggered layout. In the center section, every other row of seats has “honeymoon” suites, for those who want to sit close to one another.
There’s great attention to detail with the cabin finishes, like 22″ high definitional entertainment monitors, wireless charging, and the use of real marble (which… seems a bit excessive?).
It’s not yet known which seat manufacturer Turkish Airlines selected for this project. While this looks very similar to the Safran Unity seat, I’m not sure that’s actually what was chosen, due to some key design differences. Admittedly a high level of customization is possible with many products, but the tray table setup makes me think that it isn’t this product.
The Safran Unity seat is proving to be a popular “next generation” business class seat. You’ll find this staggered product on Japan Airlines’ new Airbus A350-1000s. This is also the seat that Qantas will offer on its Airbus A350-1000s, and that Air India will use as its new business class.
Currently the product that’s most similar to this at Turkish Airlines is the carrier’s A350-900 business class, for jets that were initially intended for Aeroflot. These feature business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration with doors and good tech. That’s the Collins Aerospace Horizon seat, which is also an excellent product.
Turkish Airlines plans new business class for 777s & A350s
So, when should we expect Turkish Airlines’ new business class to debut? We can expect it to be retrofitted on existing planes as of 2025, and delivered on new planes as of 2026.
The airline plans to initially retrofit all existing Boeing 777-300ERs with these seats, starting in 2025. The airline has 33 of these aircraft in its fleet, and they’re an average of around nine years old, so they still have quite a bit of life left in them.
This new product is long overdue for Boeing 777s, which currently have a 2-3-2 layout in business class. When the 777s are reconfigured, the expectation is that the business class cabin will be reduced in size from 49 seats to 44 seats. So it’ll still be a good size, but not quite as big.
Then the plan is also to install the new business class product on Airbus A350-1000s that are delivered as of 2026, as part of Turkish’s recent Airbus aircraft order. However, there are no firm plans to retrofit this product on existing Boeing 787-9s or Airbus A350-900s, as those planes already feature direct aisle access from all business class seats.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines has finally revealed its new Crystal business class product. This is expected to be retrofitted on Boeing 777s as of 2025, and to be installed on newly delivered Airbus A350s as of 2026.
The new product will be in a 1-2-1 configuration, with direct aisle access and privacy doors at each seat. This should really take the Turkish business class experience to the next level.
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ new business class seats?
It is a nicely done promo video for sure.
Old 777 seats are excellent because they provide large open space unlike new casket style seats THY has been using for last few years.
Also, current A350 ex-Aeroflot seats are super low quality, prone to break down. During my last flight, 4 of them were inoperable. Sliding doors are challenging to close and open.
I would love to see current 777 seats to be modernized but not replaced. Casket seats are claustrophobic.
Suites are designed by Turkish Airlines seat company TSI.
Nice change, still wish they had overhead gaspers ( ventilation ).
Looks fabulous - can’t wait to hop across the pond in this new configuration!
The seat looks fine, but I’m certainly not alone in loving the current TK 777/330 seats. They feel so roomy and are very comfy. (Take a look at A.net and Flyertalk and you’ll find loads and loads of TK frequent flyers who love the old seats and hate partioned-off footwells etc.)
I agree with the other comment that the current seats on the 777 are wider and more comfortable. They are especially better if you are traveling with someone who needs support throughout the flight; that is very hard to do in the updated suites which are narrow and do not provide a lot of legroom nor width space
You know what I find more comfortable? Not being inches away from someone else for 10+ hours and having to climb over them every time I want to use the bathroom.
There's a reason why airlines are doing away with this kind of seat because your opinion is in the minority. Overwhelming majority of passengers prefer direct aisle access and privacy. The stated complains about "narrowness" are largely overblown.
Call me old fashioned, but I lol'd at the pregnant woman in the 'honeymoon suite' and the change-up in the narration.
And there goes one of the last remaining seats in which a taller person can actually sleep comfortably. Argh.
Let's see how long they take to retrofit the planes. It looks like a really competitive product.
But if anything TK should think about doing something regarding fleet consistency with their A330s...
TK is not reducing the J revenue per plane for charity, Expect the prices to go up to recover the 5 seats lost.
I love TK Business and flying from the West Coast of the USA, I avoid the 777's 2-3-2 aircraft. This is a game changed for me as all their wide body aircraft will finally have 1-2-1 all aisle access. Still can't beat TK for price and service.
It used to be very good airline. I am affraid I can't say that for them anymore. Since Covid their service and food is in decline. IMHO: They need to reimagine themselves to stay on the top.
About time. I have been avoiding TK and EK like the plague because of their 777s. This new seat takes a weakness of TK's 777s and makes it a strength. This looks like a top tier product for sure.
Turkish routinely overheats its cabins and refuses polite customer requests to make it cooler. I will never fly TK ever again.
They've never refused me when I've requested it.
As an eastern asian, I usually feel the cabin for TK is at the cooler side for me. I always had to have my jackets on or blanket covered. However I still stick with TK since it's the only sub-5k business class I can find.
In general I find JL/BR/CI often have even warmer cabin which, in my opinion, is my preference :P I believe for most Western European or Americans those are definitely...
As an eastern asian, I usually feel the cabin for TK is at the cooler side for me. I always had to have my jackets on or blanket covered. However I still stick with TK since it's the only sub-5k business class I can find.
In general I find JL/BR/CI often have even warmer cabin which, in my opinion, is my preference :P I believe for most Western European or Americans those are definitely too warm indeed (Yes, I'm still wearing jackets in PNW while all other whites are with shorts!)
No. They're very comfortable. I avoid US airlines because they overcool the cabins and refuse polite customer requests to make it warmer.
You see the problem that occurs if they try to optimize for each customer individually, right?
No, they're not. If you're cold, you can add clothes request a blanket, etc. But when the cabin is overheated, those who suffer cannot do anything about it.
Having said that, there's no good reason why an airline would not adjust the cabin temp either way.
So I just watched a short video presentation on X and tbh, it just looks like every other new suite out there. It certainly looks better than their current business class (Stelia Symphony), but other than that, nothing special. I actually prefer CXs finishes that are more subtle and muted.
https://x.com/TurkishAirlines/status/1815404557037650387
TK video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXYQXwhwk0