Turkish Airlines is installing new business class seats on the Boeing B787 and Airbus A350 long haul planes they will be receiving starting in 2019, finally moving to a 1-2-1 layout with more privacy. They are also installing new business class seats on their single-aisle short-haul planes and are opening a new lounge at their new airport hub in Istanbul – that’s a lot of “new”s for Turkish Airlines and should enhance the travel experience for business class travelers quite a lot!
I have flown Turkish Airlines frequently between Asia and Europe due to the convenient flights and competitive business class fares. While I enjoyed the food and service, the business class seats were old and no longer competitive in their 2-3-2 layout (read my detailed Turkish Airlines Business Class Review)! Turkish Airlines announced that they will be installing fully-flat business class seats on both, the B787 and A350, in a 1-2-1 layout. They also said that “privacy is a high priority”, hinting at the possibility of a suite with doors, like Middle East competitor Qatar recently introduced. They didn’t announce a seat supplier or release any photos, so we’ll have to keep guessing for a little longer. Unfortunately, those seats won’t be retrofitted onto old planes, but there will be some kind of retrofit, hopefully eliminating the dreaded 2-3-2 layout!
We do have photos of the new business class seats that will be installed on new Airbus A321neo and Boeing B737max planes: Turkish Airlines has chosen the Rockwell Collins MiQ seat that will be installed in a 2-2 layout. It’s similar to existing business class seats on some of TK’s A321 or US first class seats (read my review of Turkish Airlines short-haul business class). So far, Turkish also flew some European-style business class seats in a 3-3 layout with the middle seat empty, so it’s great to see that they are moving to the much more comfortable 2-2 layout for new planes!
In October 2018, the new Istanbul International Airport is scheduled to open and with it, Turkish Airlines’ new flagship lounge. The existing Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul is pretty spectacular, so I’m excited to see this new iteration on an upcoming flight in December 2018!
Bottomline: The new business class seats and lounge will make a significant difference in the Business Class experience when flying Turkish Airlines and I’m looking forward to trying them out. It will take a while for these new planes to arrive, so check the planes scheduled for your flight carefully to see what seats you can expect!
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