Note: This report is exclusive for Flight-Report. For photo usages at other websites please credit the link of this report or contact by direct message.
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 10 ticketed Business Class journeys from that airport to 4 different destinations in December and I expect to report all of these 10 flights exclusive for the Flight-Report community.
The third part of this series would contain the report of my first flight departing from Istanbul Airport. In this report, I would contain more information regarding the ISL terminal instead of the flight. The service and the meal of the flights were same as the previous two reports.
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.
Pax for this flight
Business Class: %100 Economy Class: %90-95
Istanbul Airport - ISL
After, having a tour in the arrivals level, I have headed upstairs to the departure level. The check-in hall looks like this.
Future TK sales office
FIDS for this afternoon
Then I went to the check-in counters to change my seat, but unfortunately there were no other window seats available in the aircraft. The agent offered me 12C which would be an emergency exit row but I decided to stay at the same seat. The reason that I want to change my seat could be find in the following texts in this report.
Kiosks were also available. For the moment passengers could check-in through employees; after the airport is completely opened, passengers would need to use self service machines.
Most of the stores aren't opened yet
International departures, the construction of the new lounge could be seen from this point. This area is closed at the moment and all international passengers pass through security at the domestic departures area and use the temporary passport booths to access the international departures area.
Also, I had a tour outside of the terminal
Havaist buses are the shuttles that would operate from/to the city to the airport
Also İETT ( municipality ) buses run from several locations to Istanbul Airport.
The carpark is free of charge for the moment
And we are heading back to the terminal
Again, TK check-in area
Boarding Pass
And it's time to head to the airside
There were enough lanes opened from passengers and the security process took less than 5 minutes.
After the security checkpoint, branches of major stores ( some of them are only popular in Turkey ) are available.
And then I went to the departures level using the escalator.
The international concourse
After heading downstairs to the departures area, the first thing visible was the TK corner sign. Until the lounge has been opened, TK has a temporary facility to handle lounge needs. This area is accessible only by an eligible boarding pass.
Bus gates
Children areas
The concourse
There were two art galleries at the moment, one is the Ara Güler exhibition and the other one is an exhibition about the construction of the airport
We're approaching the end of the concourse
The future domestic lounge would be accessible by these two elevators. Like IST, the lounge would also have a separate outside entrance for passengers starting their journeys at ISL. I would share a report of this lounge next month, if it is opened at that time.
Gloria Jean's Coffees had a store which was open at that time
FIDS, our flight is the only domestic flight left for the day
GATE AREA & BOARDING
A view of Gate G2
Our aircraft was visible from the gate
Information board at the gate
After a few minutes, pre-recorded boarding announcements were made and passengers were asked to use the correct lane for boarding. The left lane was used for priority boarding while the right lane was used for general boarding. By the way, the PA voice in the announcements are similar to the women in Google Translate ( both in English and Turkish )
Fuselage shot
TK 2030 ISTANBUL AIRPORT-ISL to IZMIR ADNAN MENDERES AIRPORT
After being welcomed by the crew. I headed to my seat.
Seat:
Compared to the previous two flights, the seats which are installed with the Thales IFE system have more legroom and they are much more comfortable than the ones which are installed with Panasonic IFE system. Pillows&blankets were available at overhead bins. Just for you who wonder why 7A was the wrong choice, it is missing a window.
This seat had USB ports installed to the screen.
But unfortunately, the IFE screen was closed again.
Overhead panel
Before pushing back videos including the safety videos were shown, unlike like the previous flight Star Alliance videos were also monitored.
IFE
The same magazines from the last flight were present at the seat pocket.
Meal:
As I hadn't got a window I slept during this flight so I didn't have a meal but it was the same kaşar cheese sandwich from the last two flights.
IZMIR ADNAN MENDERES AIRPORT - ADB
We had arrived to gate 236 on time.
Then I headed to the transfer desk but there were no Çelebi agents ( which handles AtlasGlobal ) there to check my documents so I needed to exit from the baggage claim area and go to the departures level.
Welcome to Izmir.
Arrival FIDS
And it's time to head to the departure level for my next and last flight of this serie.
Thanks for reading this exclusive report and hope to see you in another report.
See more
Verdict
Turkish Airlines
7.6/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering8.0
Istanbul - IST
10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0
İzmir - ADB
10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
As this was my first time departing from Istanbul Airport, I was impressed with the terminal and the facilities available and I felt like paradise after flying from the small and squeezed Atatürk Airport domestic terminal. By the way, the quietness of the airport is really enjoyable but it won't take long to transfer operations from Atatürk Airport. The flight was a regular domestic flight but I would suggest to not choose 7A for its magnificent view from the window :) ( I knew that 7A was had a missing window before but I was inattentive during OLCI ).
ISL (+) Wonderful airport but much more work is needed to complete the construction (+) Quiet and peaceful at the moment (+) Easy access and efficient (+) Priorities respected while boarding TK2030 (+) Meal OK for a domestic flight (+) Seats were comfortable compared to JHx series 737-800 aircraft (+) At least there were USB ports on this flight (-) IFE system closed during the flight ( - 3.0 from the entertainment section ) ADB (+) Efficient airport
2 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Hi Eryorulmaz, thanks for sharing this first report from Istanbul's new airport! Wow, the new terminal really is impressively huge, as I expected it would be. The design is beautiful and looks so much better than the old airport. I like how the design has a distinctively Turkish flare. It's too bad the TK lounge wasn't opened yet. Considering their lounge at old IST is known as one of the world's best lounges, I can only imagine how awesome the new ISL lounge will be.
I agree that the terminal is really huge and sometimes people would need to walk for 1-2 kilometers to reach to immigration area or transfer security. The design is obviously better than Atatürk Airport. Even though the TK lounges aren't opened yet, there are temporary lounges for eligible passengers. I've heard that the domestic lounge would open in December and I wish I could experience that lounge on my mileage runs in late December. For the international lounge, I've heard some news that it would be similar to the present IST lounge but would have two different sections. ( One for *G and M&S Elite, the other one for C pax and M&S Elite Plus ) Unfortunately, that is all I know about the international lounge.
Thanks again for your comment and have a great day.
"The checkin hall looks gorgeous." "It's empty, it should be a weird mood." - Yes it looks gorgeous, It would be mostly not crowded because most of ISL passengers would be transfer passengers, but who knows what would the situation be in a Turkish national holiday. "I hope you will be able to visit it" - I hope I will
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4 Comments
Thanks for this exclusive series!
I agree that the terminal is really huge and sometimes people would need to walk for 1-2 kilometers to reach to immigration area or transfer security. The design is obviously better than Atatürk Airport. Even though the TK lounges aren't opened yet, there are temporary lounges for eligible passengers. I've heard that the domestic lounge would open in December and I wish I could experience that lounge on my mileage runs in late December. For the international lounge, I've heard some news that it would be similar to the present IST lounge but would have two different sections. ( One for *G and M&S Elite, the other one for C pax and M&S Elite Plus ) Unfortunately, that is all I know about the international lounge.
Thanks again for your comment and have a great day.
The checkin hall looks gorgeous.
It's empty, it should be a weird mood.
"I would share a report of this lounge next month, if it is opened at that time."
I hope you will be able to visit it
See you soon
"The checkin hall looks gorgeous." "It's empty, it should be a weird mood."
- Yes it looks gorgeous, It would be mostly not crowded because most of ISL passengers would be transfer passengers, but who knows what would the situation be in a Turkish national holiday.
"I hope you will be able to visit it"
- I hope I will
Thanks again and hope to see you soon.
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