Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Antalya in Economy

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Flight-Report members and readers,

It's an honor to present this exclusive series to the community as this series would include 2 regular domestic flights within Turkey but the other two flights would be a beginning for me as a new airport is opened in my city of origin. Due to the first two months of opening, discounted fares were offered from that airport to some destinations starting from 9€ in Economy Class and 39€ in Business Class. Unfortunately, this series would only contain Economy class flights but I have 8 ticketed Business Class journeys from that airport to 3 different destinations in December and I expect to report all of these 8 flights exclusive for the Flight-Report community.

The first part of this series would be a short domestic flight on a mid-aged Turkish Airlines 737-800 to Antalya. Due that I will report 4 flights in 24 hours, this report could be shortened than its usual draft. 

The routing for this exclusive series would look like this 

Apologizes for the delays publishing these series. Ce série des FR's va être traduire en français dans quelques jours.

Route Overview ( IST-AYT )

Three carriers operate the specific route Istanbul Atatürk to Antalya. TK is the major carrier on this route operating more than 10 daily flights. Aircraft types varies by flight. AtlasGlobal also operates this route with 3 flights a day on their A320 series aircraft. In addition, the Turkish budget carrier, Onur Air operates two daily flights between this two airports.

ONLINE CHECK-IN

I have completed the online check-in process for my first three flights for this trip at the same time. I have chosen window seats for all of the three flights. Seat maps and screenshots of the online check-in process are shared below.

IST-AYT

AYT-ISL

ISL-ADB - Worst mistake ever choosing 7A

And the conclusion page

Also TK had sent me an email notifying that I could check-in for my flight online. This email was sent before I completed online check-in

Boarding pass for this flight

Our journey would start at Atatürk Airport. The journey begins with the metro ride.

ISTANBUL ATATÜRK AIRPORT - IST

It's a long walk from the metro station to the domestic terminal

The entrance and the security checkpoint both took 5 minutes, there weren't many domestic flights at that time.

Today's gate would be gate 405, which is a bus gate. Boarding had started 40 minutes before departure.

After a bus ride at the apron, we had arrived to our bird named after the city of Bingöl.

TK 2064 ISTANBUL ATATÜRK AIRPORT to ANTALYA AIRPORT

After boarding the aircraft from the front door, I was welcomed by the cabin crew. Blankets were available at the overhead bins, so I grabbed one for myself.

Seat:

This aircraft was one of the oldest TK's 737-800NG aircraft in the new cabin configuration. The seat was OK for a domestic flight and each seat had a personal entertainment screen. Due to Turkish Airlines protocol, the IFE is closed on domestic flights. Also, mobile entertainment wasn't offered on this flight.

When opening the IFE screen, there is a photo of the Maiden Tower

Overhead panel

We had started our pushback on time and the safety video was shown from the personal screens.

After the safety video, a video about Istanbul Airport and the TK ad featuring Dr. Oz was monitored.

TC-JTF was parked next door, getting prepared for its flight to Geneva

Another A321, TC-JSJ was parked at the domestic terminal, it would shortly operate TK2316 to Izmir

And another A321, this time heading to Gaziantep

This A320 would head to Kahramanmaraş this morning

And this one to Sinop but ended diverting to Samsun

TC-JJN had arrived from Singapore this morning

TC-LNA was under maintenance

Views of the Turkish Technic Hangar

TC-JJZ, which had an accident in the last few months was visible, probably it would start flying after a short while

This 737-800 was going to head to Naples this morning

TC-JJO was under maintenance for few days but it would head to Houston that afternoon

Onurair Hangar

The runway

TC-LJD, one of the B77W of the TK fleet, taking off for a short flight for Izmir

TC-LOG was just behind us, an A330 which would depart for a flight to Kiev

And, a Turkish Cargo A330 which will go to Johannesburg was also in front of us

Now, it was our turn

Views from the runway

And, we're in the air

Hangars

Yenibosna area

Güneşli district

Mahmutbey district

The Coach station is visible

And a gallery of beautiful views from the clouds

IFE

As I mentioned before, the IFE system was shut down for the flight. No USB ports or power sources were available on this aircraft, the seat pocket featured the safety card, the Skylife Magazine and the Shop & Miles catalogue. 

The theme of the Skylife Magazine issued this month was Istanbul Airport

An article about the opening of this brand new airport

TK domestic route map

Technical information about our aircraft

Another view over the clouds

Meal

In all domestic flights operated by TK, a kaşar cheese sandwich is provided with a choice of drink 

More views from over the clouds

Lake Burdur

Kestel Mountain

Kovanlık, Antalya

Döşemealtı district

Konyaaltı district

After a maneuver over the Mediterranean Sea, we were continuing our descend

Lara district

The airport was visible

And we had landed on time

As it is off season at that time, Terminal 2 is closed for the winter

Terminals 1&3

The apron

First aircraft to spot was TC-SNO

And its sibling flying in the same airline, TC-SOH

TC-SEY had arrived from Izmir just after us

Tailwind 737-400, another AYT based airline

TC-SEI, another XQ 738 which would head to Hannover

TC-AEP & TC-SEO siblings in one photo

And we had parked to remote stand 92, next to this Anadolujet 737-800 which would head to Ankara as TK7023

At that time, this Thomas Cook A320 had arrived from London Gatwick

ANTALYA AIRPORT - AYT

After saying goodbye to the crew, I had a chance to take a photo of our 737-800

On the ground, the ground staff directed passengers which arrived from an International flight at IST to separate buses as they need to clear customs. Some passengers were in the wrong bus so the ground staff needed time to check if everyone is on the correct bus.

The transfer desk at AYT was closed so I needed to exit from the baggage claim and head back to departures.

So, the first part of this exclusive series has came to an end. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next parts.