Turkish Airlines is celebrating its first-ever Boeing 787-9 flight between Istanbul and London Heathrow. The carrier has recently focused a lot of attention on its 787 fleet, and was delighted to complete its inaugural journey to the English capital, with an aircraft that will play a big role in its future.
Huge investment
During the latter half of 2019, Turkish Airlines has invested a huge amount in the Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with the carrier set to receive 30 Dreamliners over the next four years. Turkish Airlines’ London general manager, Celal Baykal, confirmed that the Dreamliner is now the flagship aircraft of the carrier, and was pleased to celebrate the new UK-Turkey route, saying to Business Traveller,
“The London to Istanbul route is amongst the busiest in our network and one we’ve been operating for almost 50 years, welcoming hundreds of thousands of holiday makers and business travellers during that time.”
While Turkish Airlines was pleased to complete its first flight to London Heathrow, the 787-9 Dreamliner will also be flying to many other routes in the foreseeable future. Destinations for the aircraft have already been noted to include New York, Washington, Atlanta, Dubai, Amsterdam, and Bali.
Big replacement
As Simple Flying reported last month, the Dreamliner is set to replace the A330-300 on the Turkish Airlines route from Istanbul to New York. This planned change in operation is due to go live almost exactly one year from now, with Turkish Airlines having already released the date as being August 10th, 2020.
And the carrier has already upgraded its Singapore to Istanbul route with its flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner too. The airline certainly seems determined to make the most of what it has already recognized as being its flagship.
This is a pretty rapid evolution in policy at the carrier, as the 787-9 only made its first flight in Turkish Airlines colors in July. The aircraft flew THY66 at this time, from Istanbul to Bali, arriving some 45 minutes ahead of schedule.
The decision to make the 787-9 Dreamliner a flagship of the airline was made way back in 2017. At this time, Turkish Airlines had already revealed that they had placed an order with Boeing for 40 of these aircraft.
A330s endure
While this figure is satisfactory to ensure that the 787 will be playing a major role in Turkish Airlines operations, it isn’t enough to replace all of the carrier’s aging fleet of A330s. The Dreamliner will instead operate on longer-haul routes across the world, with the intention of improving Turkish Airlines’ operations in these regions.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is a highly regarded aircraft, which places a particular emphasis on business class services. The Turkish airliner features a 76-inch fully-flat bed and an 18-inch HD screen for each passenger in its 30 business seats.
Will you fly Turkish Airlines’ new Dreamliner? Have you tried it out already? Let us know in the comments.
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