Review of Turkish Airlines flight Ankara İzmir in Economy

Airline Turkish Airlines
Flight TK7004
Class Economy
Seat 04A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:20
Take-off 01 Jun 20, 12:40
Arrival at 01 Jun 20, 14:00
TK   #13 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 776 reviews
ISTFlyer
By SILVER 513
Published on 5th June 2020

Report No: 2020-602E


Ladies and Gentlemen,

After not flying for 2.5 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic; on Saturday, 30 May 2020, I've read the news that domestic flights in Turkey would resume on Monday, 1 June 2020. With this occasion, I decided to take the special flight to Ankara which would be the first scheduled flight in Turkey after the flight restrictions have lifted. That day, I was going to take 3 different flights in order to be back in the air. 


The second report of the series was originally scheduled to be an AnadoluJet flight from Ankara to Izmir. Although, the current service standards of Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet are the same, I also wanted to experience flying with AnadoluJet, however, what a chance, the flight ended up with a Turkish Airlines 737-800 configured for domestic flights.


Here is the routing



Loads for this flight

Economy Class: %25-30 


Ankara Esenboğa AIRPORT - ESB


After passing the transfer boarding pass control, I was in the departures level of Ankara Esenboğa Airport


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-52-17

Here are today's FIDS. Some military charters and 5 scheduled flights, that's it.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-52-40

While touring the terminal, I've realized that Minister Mr. Adil Karaismailoğlu was getting briefing from the authorities here in Ankara. He was the honor guest of my previous IST-ESB flight.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-53-01photo kare-04-06-2020-12-53-17

At that time, most airport merchants were closed but some stores and cafés were open.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-53-33

Same situation for the landside food court, some cafés were open and some were closed.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-53-50

The international departures area was deserted with no flights


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-54-38photo kare-04-06-2020-12-54-51

Here is an example gate setup at Ankara Esenboğa Airport


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-55-05

At that time, this AnadoluJet 737-800 was pushing back for his flight to Trabzon


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-56-03

Also, a note that both the Turkish Airlines Lounge and the Primeclass Lounge were closed.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-56-20

GATE AREA & BOARDING


Here is the boarding pass for this flight


photo img_2140

And today's aircraft, TC-JVN.
This bird is one of the 737-800's leased from Norwegian in order to replace the grounded 737-MAX-8 aircraft. 


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-54-05

Here is the seating area of the gate, it's not crowded.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-56-36-31404photo kare-04-06-2020-12-56-57

Boarding started on time with the respect of seat numbers and social distancing.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-57-20-64731

At the jetbridge the hygiene expert crew of the flight was distributing hygiene kits for this flight.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-58-04photo kare-04-06-2020-12-58-45

TK 7004 Ankara Esenboğa AIRPORT TO IZMIR ADNAN MENDERES AIRPORT


Here is a view of the cabin from my seat.


photo kare-04-06-2020-12-58-57-15256

These ex-Norwegian birds have the Recaro seats which many airlines use. It's nice to see these seats on TK as I find them very comfortable.


photo img_2213

Also, the legroom was decent


photo img_2214-33530

This time, boarding has finished earlier than scheduled and we have started our push back on time. Later on, the safety demo was conducted by the crew. Also, announcements were made that changing seats ( even on empty rows ) were forbidden on today's flights


photo img_2219

At that time, my neighbor at seat 4C asked to move to row 1, which was completely empty. The cabin crew members and the purser told him that it's not possible because of the new rules that are placed because of COVID-19. It was strange. 


photo img_2220

TC-LNG which was the aircraft taking me from Istanbul to Ankara


photo img_2221

The governmental terminal which was empty at that time. President Erdoğan was at Istanbul when this flight happened.


photo img_2222

And here we go


photo img_2224

And we're in the air


photo img_2225photo img_2226

Shortly after the seat belt signs have been switched off, the water service has started. Previously, on AnadoluJet flights, a pastry or a cake with water & tea was served. For a while on all Turkish Airlines & AnadoluJet flights under 2 hours, only a small water would be served.


photo img_2227

A photo above the clouds. Later on, I slept until our descent until Izmir. As you might notice in the photos above, no literature and no IFE was available on this flight. Passengers could still use the Pressreader app if they loaded it to their personal devices in advance, but no reminder announcements were made before takeoff.


photo img_2228

And we've started to descend for Izmir from the south


photo img_2229

Cumaovası


photo img_2230

And we've safely landed to Izmir


photo img_2231

It was raining heavily in Izmir. The worst thing about Izmir is that sometimes you have a perfect weather, but sometimes you could also have a closed weather with rain.


photo img_2232

And we were going to park at gate 240.


photo img_2233

IZMIR ADNAN MENDERES AIRPORT - ADB


The disembarkation process was made according to seat numbers, first passengers seated in rows 1-4 were allowed to leave the aircraft so I was one of the first ones to leave the aircraft. 


photo img_2237

And the terminal in Izmir.


photo kare-04-06-2020-13-02-08

And surprise, the lounge in Izmir is also closed. This means no lounge for the next flight


photo kare-04-06-2020-13-02-49photo kare-04-06-2020-13-03-12

And a last photo of TC-JVN


photo img_2240

Arrival FIDS for today, a few military charters and some scheduled flight from Antalya, Ankara, Trabzon and Istanbul


photo kare-04-06-2020-13-03-44

Also, here is a view of an unused carousel at ADB. Social distancing stickers, where to step was clearly indicated.


photo kare-04-06-2020-13-04-06

And, the rent a car companies has started to work.


photo kare-04-06-2020-13-04-19

More from Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport would come at the next report.


Now, this report has came to an end.


Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.

See more

Verdict

Turkish Airlines

5.9/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Meal/catering4.0

Ankara - ESB

8.9/10
Efficiency10.0
Access9.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

İzmir - ADB

9.2/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

This flight was a usual domestic flight that I could not complain about. It's obvious that the measures in ESB weren't that good as IST but it was enough. It's also sad to see ESB this empty. For the flight, I was lucky to try the ex-Norwegian 737-800's for the first time and realize that they had a good comfortable product. For the flight, it was strange that the cabin crew did not let my neighbour move to an empty row which the row forward and behind was also empty. Otherwise, it was an ordinary TK/AJet flight with the post-COVID measures.

ESB
(+) Social distancing and seat rows respected throughout the boarding process
TK7004
(+) Comfortable seats
(+) Decent legroom
(+) On time departure and arrival
(+) The offering of the hygiene kit
(-) Weird policy of TK not allowing passengers to move to an empty row
ADB
(+) Stickers were placed at the baggage claim hall

Related

0 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !

Login to post a comment.