Turkish Airlines has revealed that its fourth brand new A350 will be flying from Istanbul, Turkey to Seoul in Korea, replacing the A330 currently operating that route. This follows three other A350 routes announced by the carrier; London, Dubai, and Los Angeles.

Turkish Airlines A350
Turkish Airlines will fly the A350 to Korea. Photo: Airbus

What is the route update?

Turkish Airlines is expecting to take ownership of a new Airbus A350-900 later next year and plans to operate it on their popular Turkey to South Korea route, departing Istanbul's new International Aiport and arriving at Seoul's Incheon International Airport respectively.

Turkish
The new route crosses over much of central Asia. Photo: GC Maps

As the route flies 11 times a week, some of the frequencies are currently operated by an older A330-300 which Turkish Airlines hopes to phase out over the next coming years. The other frequencies are operated by a Boeing 777-300ER.

Specifically, the route will have the following new planning (via Routes Online):

Outbound Flights

Flight Number: TK090

Departs Istanbul (IST) at 0140 AM  – Lands at 1740 PM in Incheon (ICN). This frequency is operated daily by a Boeing 777-300ER.

Flight Number: TK088 - The replacement Airbus A350 service.

Departs Istanbul (IST) at 2045 PM – Lands at 1255 PM in Incheon (ICN) the following day. Only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Inbound Flights

Flight Number: TK089 - The replacement A350 service return trip.

Departing Incheon (ICN) at 2235 PM – Lands back in Istanbul at 0440 AM the following day. This service operates every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Flight Number: TK091

Departing Incheon (ICN) at 2345 PM - Arriving back in Instanbul (IST) at 0515 AM the following day. This is the return trip of the daily Boeing 777-300ER service.

This new routing will take effect on the 11th of August, 2020.

What will the Turkish Airways A350 be like?

Turkish Airways currently has 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft on order with the first to be delivered later this year.

"This significant order will continue to enable our flag carrier to further compete, expand and reach new short and long-range destinations nonstop from our hubs in Istanbul, and Ankara.” said M. İlker Aycı, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee in an Airbus Press Release.

“As Turkish Airlines, we are committed to offering our passengers on every route the best flying experience possible and we order on that promise as the Airbus’ A350 XWB provides comfort and convenience in spacious cabins, all matched with seamless reliability.”

This will be groundbreaking for the airline that has an older fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and A330 aircraft that are starting to show their age. For example, their 777-300ER aircraft have business class in a 2-3-2 configuration, with an awkward middle seat with no direct aisle access.

Turkish Airlines
The oddly placed middle seat in the Turkish Airlines 777-300ER business class. Photo: Simple Flying

As nothing has been revealed yet of how Turkish Airlines will fit out their aircraft, we can only speculate that it will be similar to the Boeing 787-9 fleet that they recently deployed on the London - Istanbul - Bali route.

Turkish A350
The business class onboard the 787. Photo: Turkish Airlines

The first A350 flights for Turkish Airways will be on the London to Istanbul route and have been rumored to start in April 2020.

The schedule information in this article was originally published by Routes Online.

What do you think? Will you be flying on the A350 or would you prefer the 787? Let us know in the comments.