Hi everyone!
It's been a while since my last report, but I thought a feedback on a flight with MGA - Mavi Gök Airlines (Turkey) operated by Skyline Express (Ukraine) between Düsseldorf and Antalya would be interesting for the English-speaking community. Besides, the flight was operated by a Boeing 777-300 ER.
The flight was booked the day before the flight on an online travel agency for only 55 EUR, checked-in luggage (20 kg) included.
Although our electronic booking documents state that the OLCI was not available, we tried to do it online on the Mavi Gök Airlines website. We were assigned seats, but we were not happy about their location. Unfortunately, when checking-in online, the system only seems to automatically assign seats at the front of the wing and later on the wing. So we exited the OLCI without confirming it.
Still unhappy with the seats assigned, even after observing the progressive filling of the plane (possible up to 4 hours before departure), we decided to pay for a seat during online check-in but the process couldn't be processed on the airline's website (no confirmation page or email). Still the money was debited but credited back to our account when we woke up the next day.
In the end, we didn't validate the OLCI and wanted to try our luck for better seats at the airport.
By the way the seat map shows one row of business seats. But since all the windows there are already occupied, we decided not to select the seats in the middle. There is also the price for seats.
FYI it was not easy to find a seat map for Skyline Express B777-300 ER online. As a reference you can look for Azur Air B777-300 ER. Later, you will know why.
As usual, we travelled to DUS airport with the train and the Skytrain from the remote train station to the terminal.
DUS airport has a lot of light but not that many seats to wait landside.
We headed to the check-in area and were asked if we preferred aisle or window seat. Finally we got our window seat behind the wing area and free of charge. The waiting time at the check-in was decent. No mention of the flight operated by Skyline Express.
It took us a while to clear security, but then border control was fast due the use of eGates.
We headed to our gate and boarding had to started yet. Unfortunately our aircraft cannot be fully seen from the gate.
From the bus gates at the lower level, we can see a bit more.
Still not satisfied with the aircraft view? I have a picture of our aircraft that I took 2 weeks before our flight when the B777 took off from DUS.
Registered UR-AZR, the aircraft started flying at Emirates in 2007. Then the aircraft went to Azur Air (Russia) and was transferred to Azur Air Ukraine in 2021, which was renamed Skyline Express in 2023. After Emirates, the configuration became 7 seats in business and 524 in economy.
We boarded at the end.
Quite impressive engines GE90 for a bit more than a 3-hour-flight in Europe. We are boarding via door 2.
We made it to the last Ecconomy cabin. At my feet a big box, more about it later!
Loading below is still ongoing.
Even with the school holidays being nearly over, the flight was nearly full. Notice the side wall panels: decor from the time spent in the Emirates fleet.
The safety demo was done manually, in what sounded Ukrainian, than English and finally a recording in German.
We left our parking position not long after our scheduled departure time.
On that day the observation deck at the airport train station was opened and was full as you can see. It was opened the last 3 weekends of the local school holidays and bookings had to be made in advance.
Take-off and flying over the Rhine river.
As expected, buy on board is on the menu for this flight. The flight attendants came with some 'Mavi Café' magazines and waited until you had either bought ou read the menu to take it back and go to the next rows.
Prices for sandwiches are a bit expensive.
The literature pocket contained only the safety card.
Later I also found a sickness bag at seat 54H.
The headrest is adjustable.
Your remember the big box under the seat? Well there are IFE systems and they are working! USB plug also available. I didn't test it though.
There is music, movies and TV series on that IFE.
30 movies, not too bad for 3 hours.
Something for the kids too.
I found one movie with 4 languages.
However the airshow has limited information (GPS and basic flight data).
Otherwise, you can look outside: Gökçeada island.
Fire from above on continental Turkey.
Salda Lake.
Finally close to Antalya with lots of mountains.
Final approach and greenhouses everywhere!
A few minutes after landing we made it to our gate, where a jet bridge was waiting for us.
Since we are at the back we waited a while to leave the aircraft.
A few views of the cabin before exiting. Note the dual seats at the back, standard for that kind of aircraft.
Last view of the first Economy cabin and far away at the front, the small business cabin that we didn't see as we left via door 2.
Last view of our aircraft when leaving via the jet bridge.
Immigration was rather quick despite a long line, but it took us a while to get my luggage back. Then we were outside the terminal.
Since the airshow was not working on the flight, here is the flight path from Flightradar24.
Thank you for reading!
Very cool to catch a Skyline (formerly Azur Air) 777! It’s nice to see these Ukrainian aircraft flying about and not stuck in Kyiv (Skyline and other Ukrainian airlines have been smart to lease out their aircraft under the circumstances).
The interior is much nicer than I expected! When you first mentioned the IFE box I figured it was mostly a nuisance, assuming that the IFE was off or not working, so very nice to see!
Thanks very much for sharing this exotic report!
55 euro for a flight over three hours is a bargain and no-brainer to book though, despite a product that's not overly exciting. Never knew Skyline did have some triple 7 though, so was a surprise to read through your report!