Thai Airways, in its latest schedule update, has revealed that it will resume flying to Istanbul for the first time in 25 years. The airline last operated flights to Türkiye’s biggest city in 1998.
Starting 1st December 2023, Thai Airways will operate a daily service between Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Istanbul Airport with the following timings:
- Bangkok-Istanbul
- Departure time: 23:45
- Arrival time: 06:05 (the next day)
- Flight time: 10 hours and 20 minutes
- Flight number: TG900
- Istanbul-Bangkok
- Departure time: 16:30
- Arrival time: 05:35 (the next day)
- Flight time: 9 hours and 5 minutes
- Flight number: TG901
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The Star Alliance carrier will deploy Airbus A350s on flights to Istanbul. The airline has two different layouts on its A350s. Some of them have 32 seats in Business Class and 289 in Economy Class while the recently delivered ones have 33 Business Class seats and 301 Economy seats.
Irrespective of the number of seats, Business Class is in a 1-2-1 configuration giving direct-aisle access to every passenger while Economy Class is in a 3-3-3 layout.
The Thai flag carrier will operate this route as a joint venture with fellow Star Alliance carrier Turkish Airlines. The flag carrier of Turkey flies three-times-a-day to Bangkok. All flights are operated by Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
Earlier this summer, THAI and Turkish Airlines signed a joint venture memorandum of understanding, which seeks to “to maximize the synergies that this strategic partnership offers to both airlines”.
The Airbus A350-900 is the latest and most modern aircraft in Thai Airways’ fleet. The aircraft complements Boeing B777-300ER aircraft on long-haul routes to Europe. These two aircraft will eventually be the backbone of Thai Airways’ long-haul fleet, with A330s not going to be a part of the fleet for much long and A380s having already retired.
Featured image by Wikimedia Commons
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