While the ”big three” Gulf carriers often get attacked over the rate at which they’re growing, Turkish Airlines has undergone an equally impressive growth rate, and they now fly to more countries than any other airline in the world.
Continue reading: Turkish Airlines Starting Atlanta To Istanbul Flight In May 2016
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
FCQ and I were just discussing last night which gulf carrier would add ATL next. We assumed Emirates, but Turkish (albeit not a 'gulf' carrier) never crossed my mind. That should pair nicely with UAs recent (tepid) growth at ATL.
"Turkish Airlines has undergone an equally impressive growth rate, and they now fly to more countries than any other airline in the world."
TK has had that title for several years now and they still have quite a lead over the 2nd airline in the ranking (Lufthansa I believe.)
Unlike the three gulf carriers. Turkish airlines is not run by a douche (Al-Baker), a complete maverick (Hogan) nor a well spoken man who wants domination (Clark). It actually cooperates well with United, their first U.S. expansion beyond JFK was Washington, Chicago and Houston. And Temel Kotil actually doesn't just spew remarks that are rootless (Al-Baker and Anderson).
Can't wait to hear Anderson lump Turkish in as a "Gulf Carrier". Cue his head exploding.
CEO of Turkish Airlines is probably one of the most reputable CEO in industry. He really likes aerospace industry, and it is one of the most overlooked trait. U.S. used to have great leaders in aerospace like Howard Hughes. Now, CEOs of most U.S. Airlines are idiots whose only goal is to pleased their investors instead of helping the advancement of industry. Most of them do not even understand how does aerospace engineering works. However, CEO of Turkish Airlines, has a PhD from UMichigan and was a professor at UIllinois in aerospace engineering. He is truly passionated in this industry.
CEO of United,for example, was a lawyer, and only cares about merge and monopolize market instead of improving industry. It is said they only care about the financial side of company.
2 class? So does that mean there's no comfort class all of this particular 777?
@Mattias agree. He even helped founded a aviation lab in a University at Istanbul, where his company supported many advanced researches in aerospace engineering.
It is good news for Atlantans! But we need Emirates & Etihad to Atlanta. Turkish connects only to Mumbai & may be N.Delhi. But Emirates & Etihad connects a lot to S.India. Who knows what Delta will do in the interim to BLOCK Turkish & Qatar from Atlanta??
2-3-2 Business sounds better than Coach but not liking it as much as some alternatives if Star Alliance business awards all cost the same.
I also wish they would operate the ATL-IST schedule at like 8pm or 9pm to put you into IST earlier in the day. That would be a quick turn even on schedule at 7:10pm arrival though.
This will make it easier for A3 elites based in/near ATL (like myself) to re-qualify, so I'm all for it. Plus with the inexpensive flights TK tends to run it should make getting to Europe on paid tickets easier for those of us stuck in Fortress Delta.
This is great news! I live in Atlanta and have had to connect through ORD, NYC etc. on my way to BOM. Qatar and Turkish coming to Atlanta is awesome news!
@Turgutbey - No Comfort Class (TK's premium economy), as the airline is phasing out this product across the board (if it hasn't already).
Hurray! We in the ATL are thrilled to get access to any carrier other than DL and IST is on my bucket list.
What TK needs a CEO who understands service. Coz their service sucks. No two ways about it.
More good news for Atlanta. I hope Emirates will soon announce flights there too. Hopefully an Asian airline will also add Atlanta. It's nice that Korean Air flies there, but it would be great to have more Asian and Middle Eastern carriers operating at Atlanta.
@Kelvin the Asian carrier most likely to fly to ATL would be China Eastern due to their growing Delta relationship
My Short-List of International Carriers that ought to start routes to ATL:
1.SAS or Norwegian Air Shuttle.: Delta has no current service to Sweden, Denmark, or Norway.
2. Xiamen Air or China Southern: both are SkyTeam partners.
3. Icelandair: rapidly growing airlines, and again, no Delta service from Atlanta to Keflavik.
4. More Air Canada flights on mainline aircraft: still don't know why all the AC flights are on tiny regionals that you can barely stand up in.
5. El Al: again, no service to Israel and would alleviate masses of full and oversold flights out of Newark and JFK.
Look what DHS announced on 29 May 2015... CBP Pre-Clearance expansion to include Istanbul, Turkey (conditionally approved). Seems the timing worked out well.
http://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/05/29/dhs-announces-intent-expand-preclearance-10-new-airports
Looks like space on this flight was recently opened to partners. I was just able to book 4 in J for June using Aeroplan miles.
Can Turkish airlines operate to 3rd big International Airport Kochi (COK) in India? That is a BIG niche market still unexplored by Turkish Airline which is a gold mine.
Good news that Tk are starting to fly to ATL
I saw a TK 330 taking off from ATL today ?
Friday 9th October 2015 ?????? Though the route had started.
This is awesome. It has a good connecting flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. Only 3 hours transit. This would be a shortest time to Kathmandu from Atlanta in 21 hours. TK Atlanta to Istanbul will be full on every flight. They need to bring in more nicer plane not 777.
It is very good news to hear Turkish Air line starts flight to Atlanta .I can go to Isfahan from Atlanta Istanbul very good news
CANT WAIT TILL NEXT MONTH ON MAY 16. TURKISH AIRLINES WILL BE ARRIVING IN ATLANTA WITH A 777-300ER. CANT WAIT TO SEE IT IN ATLANTA. TURKISH AIRLINES IS MY ASSITANT #1 FAVORITE AIRLINE ALONG WITH DELTA AS MY MAIN # 1 FAVORITE AIRLINE.
I have recently flown from Atlanta to Turkey on this route and the plane I was on was the Boeing 777-300ER Version 1, which had 3 classes: business, comfort economy, and standard economy. I am still abroad so am not sure the configuration for IST to ATL, but assume it will be the same. When I booked my ticket I did not need to pay a fee for the comfort economy and it is coded the same on the website.