Turkish Airlines has a fairly eclectic fleet of aircraft from around the world. From ex-Jet Airways to ex-Aeroflot, the flag carrier of Turkey not only has many different aircraft types, but many different configurations within that type. Its latest acquisition, however, puts a whole new emphasis on economy class. Turkish Airlines now has high-density Boeing 777 aircraft in its fleet with a whopping 524 seats in economy class…and only seven in business class.
New Turkish Airlines 777 High-Density Aircraft Will Feature 524 Economy Class Seats, Only Seven In Business Class
I just reviewed Turkish Airlines 777 Business Class earlier this week. My aircraft had 49 seats in business class. But now Turkish Airlines has a 777-300ER that has 1/7 the amount of business class seats: a total of seven seats in a single row, arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration.
Where does these aircraft come from? Mother Russia. Azur Air.
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One Mile At A Time has written about Azur Air and its unique 777, which was used for its charter services.
In 2021, Azur Air acquired three ex-Cathay Pacific 777-300s, with only 275 seats, including:
- six first class seats
- 53 business class seats
- 34 premium economy seats
- 182 economy class seats
Some of the high-density planes were subsequently sold. Quite a difference from 524 economy class seats and seven business class seats…
How IndiGo Fits In
These ex-Azur Air jets will be utilized by Indian budget carrier IndiGo, which is wet leasing the planes from Turkish Airlines as it launches its first international widebody service between Istanbul (IST) and both New Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM). Turkish Airlines and IndiGo are codeshare partners. A wet lease is an agreement between air carriers in which the aircraft is operated under the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of the Lessor. In this case, Turkish Airlines will operate the service for IndiGo with Turkish Airlines crews.
CONCLUSION
Your upgrades odds won’t be great on this one…
Turkish Airlines has taken delivery of a very high density 777-300ER that it will utilize for wet lease service on behalf of IndiGo.
Interesting, but to a flyer it’s really an IndiGo 777. Nothing to read into for Turkish Airlines’ broader fleet. Wonder how biz class will price given it’s IndiGo.
I would guess that single row is just in case a Turkish government official needs to fly. Can’t be rubbing up against the masses.
The last row of that J really sucks. Avoid it all costs.
Counterpoint, the first row also sucks
How many lavatories are there for the 524 Y pax to fight over?
I can’t wait to see cabin photos of this high density low cost airline. I’m sure JAL has had similar layouts with various models of aircraft. I think it’s great if Indigo can pull it off.
Air france wet lease A320 from DAT on several short european routes with only economy configuration. Saying that this is due to shortages of aircrafts.
So this is basically configured for a LCC. Not sure that I care about this — as long as TK does not dilute their excellent business class product and make it more expensive.
Flying to Taipei. Used to be a 787 or A350 with new business class. Now they changed to 777 with old business class
Bummer!!!
It’s a commuter service. Best way to get Indian labor to Turkey is to promise affordable fares to return home
for frequent family visits. Turkey needs the labor, India needs the jobs. Turkey provides the mechanism, but the
service in Indian so Turkey won’t get the bad rap if there are problems – like the massive labor scams in Dubai.