Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this nostalgic FR (consisting of 2 parts) I'd like to review a long-haul Turkish Airlines flight from now-long-defunct Istanbul Ataturk airport (ISL) to Panama Tocumen (PTY) via Bogota El Dorado (BOG) which I took almost 8 years ago on 18 February 2018.
Back then TK had just started these flights, which were operated 3 times a week with their smallest long-haul widebodies - A332s (which served as the "openers" of the new long-haul routes until TK started to receive B789s in mid-2019). When the passengers flow on these flights built up, TK started to operate them daily with the larger widebodies - from B789s up to (sometimes) B77Ws. Currently these flights are operated by A359s.
The "triangular" routing IST-BOG-PTY-IST is conditioned both by the high elevation of BOG and the commercial viability of BOG+PTY combo. A longhaul twinjet generally cannot make a flight of this length from a high-elevation airport nonstop with full payload without special tweaking, thus it needs a substantial reduction of payload or refueling stop at some low altitude. TK managed to make BOG+PTY combination be sustainable (TK doesn't have 5th freedom rights on the short BOG-PTY leg). For example, KL and WK use CTG as a refueling stop on their way back from BOG to AMS and ZRH respectively (and don't have cabotage rights on the BOG-CTG leg).
Later TK launched flights to Mexico (which is located at quite similar altitude as Bogota) using the similar approach: IST-MEX-CUN-IST (without cabotage rights on MEX-CUN) - in the beginning on B77Ws, but later switched to B789s.
Worth noting that in early 2018 TK also launched with A332s a triangular route of another type - IST-HAV-CCS-IST, which was later upgauged to B789s (but currently is temporarily cut to the IST-HAV-IST terminator due to the current situation in Venezuela) - which has nothing to do with the elevation, as both HAV and CCS are almost at the sea level. In this case 2 destinations in one triangle flight make it commercially viable. A number of European airlines - like KL and BA - also operate triangle flights to "their" Caribbean states using the same model.
In September 2017, when TK started to promote these then-new flights with attractive fares from Moscow (I lived in Russia back then), I decided that it was a good reason to visit Colombia (and Panama city as well, as the routing and codeshare with Copa Airlines was allowing this). I paid 520 pre-Covid EUR for the next complex TK-issued single ticket:
2018.02.17 TK416 VKO-ISL B737-800
2018.02.18 TK800 ISL-BOG-PTY A330-200
2018.02.19 CM161 PTY-CTG B737-800 (CM codeshares with TK)
2018.03.10 AV9818 CTG-BOG A321SL (AV codeshares with TK)
2018.03.11-12 TK800 BOG-PTY-ISL A330-200
2018.03.12 TK417 ISL-VKO A321SL.
Turkish Airlines Widebody Fleet In Pre-IST Period And Their Long-Haul A330-200s
Until the transition from ISL to IST (which happened in April 2019) TK's widebody fleet consisted only of previous-gen jets. Only in mid-2019 TK, already being in its new house, received its first new-gen widebody - B787-9. TK was late to the "new-gen party", but once it started to receive new-gens, it has quickly built up its current very prominent fleet of A359s and B789s and recently even launched its own flights to Australia (currently 1-stop, until the arrival of the newest A35Ks), expanding the footprint of its network to all the 6 inhabited continents.
As of early 2018, TK had the following widebody fleet:
B77W - 33 units. All but 3 (ex-Kenya Airways ones) joined TK from the factory in 2010-2016. In the FR of ISL-HKG flight I reviewed the current state (which is also applicable for 2018) of TK's B77W fleet.
A343 - 4 units. Were phased out in September 2018 - January 2019 and ended in Iran, which took them using well-known smuggling scheme.
A333 - 37 units. 29 units (RR- and GE-powered) joined TK from the factory in 2010-2016, 7 units (RR-powered) are ex-Skymark Airlines one and 1 unit (GE-powered) was from Afriqiyah Airways.
A332 - 16 units. Here TK was the most opportunistic when acquiring these planes. The first (and the oldest) 5 GE-powered units joined TK from the factory. Then TK took several PW-powered units from TAM (LATAM Brasil), several GE-powered units from (now long-defunct) Jet Airways and a couple of PW-powered units from (now long-defunct) Kingfisher.
The 5 oldest TK's A332s - 2005-2006-built GE-powered TC-JNA/B/C/D/E - were the ones that TK used to launch its triangle ISL-BOG-PTY-ISL and ISL-HAV-CCS-ISL flights back in early 2018. A few months before - In late 2017 - these birds underwent the complete overhaul of the cabins and got the updated business and economy cabins instead of the old dated ones.
It's amazing how capable can be GE-powered A332s - even the ones built in 2005-2006-built before Airbus rolled out most of the latest tweaks for A330ceo family: TK's ISL-BOG was the world's 3rd-longest A332 flight (after QF's LAX-BNE and AR's FCO-EZE) with the flight time of 13+ hours against strong west headwinds - the same as of ISL-GRU, which was operated by mighty B77Ws back then! Technically, PTY-ISL had even a bit longer distance than ISL-BOG, but due to tailwinds the flight time was "just" 11+ hours. Now with QF operating BNE-LAX-BNE with B789s and TK operating IST-BOG-PTY-IST with A359s, the world's longest A332 flight is ARs FCO-EZE, operated with 2015-2016-built 242-tonne GE-powered A332s (in light of the AR's A339 order this flight will probably become the longest A330neo route as well).
When TK received B789s and A359s in sufficient numbers, TC-JNA/B/C/D/E were withdrawn from long-haul flights and now operate flights not exceeding 8 hours - the lower end of TK's spectrum of long-haul flights.
The Current State Of TK A330-200 Fleet
As of January 2026, TK operates 11 passenger A332s:
5 GE-powered A332s (TC-JNA/B/C/D/E - TK's own birds, used as long-haul ones from 2018) in C18_Y232 layout (after the 2017 refurbishment) with 2-2-2 lie-flat Safran Aura Enhanced business class seats (also installed in the most TK's B77Ws: TC-JJL to -JJP, TC-JJV/Y/Z and TC-LJA to -LJK, and in the younger TK's A333s: TC-JOF to -JOL and TC-LNC to -LNG) and TCI Skysofa economy class seats (also installed in one TK B77W TC-LJK and in the 5 last TK's own A333s: TC-LNC to -LNG). Operate flights up to 8 hours.
5 PW-powered A332s (TC-JIO/P/S/T, TC-LOH - former LATAM Brasil birds) in C24_Y255 layout with obsolete 2-2-2 cradle-type angled Sicma Majesty business class seats and Weber 5751 economy class seats (quite similar to the seats in TK's older B77W TC-JJE to -JJU and in TK's own older A333s TC-JNH to -JNZ and TC-JOA/B/D/E, but featuring an old obsolete IFE). Operate flights up to 8 hours.
1 RR-powered A332 (TC-LOM - former Avianca bird) in C30_Y222 layout with obsolete 2-2-2 cradle-type angled Sogerma business class seats and Weber 5751 economy class seats. Operates flights up to 8 hours.
Now-Defunct Istanbul Ataturk Airport (ISL)
For today's standards, ISL, which was closed for passenger flights from April 2019, was very cramped (especially in the international airside) and quite dull (except the famous TK lounge, which I never visited): only its latest extension pier, built in 2016, was quite modern. So, the opening of the new incredibly spacious (and incredibly long-spanned as well) IST in 2019 was a HUGE step up. My TK800 flight on 18 February 2018 was departing from the older part of ISL terminal. My flight from VKO arrived a bit late and I had to run, but I made to my gate perfectly on time. The boarding was via bus.
The Aircraft
The aircraft, operating my flight to PTY via BOG, was 2005-built TC-JNB. From 2021 it features the "Turkiye" livery. I was not able to make its photo from a decent angle, so I put here its photo made 10 days later in BOG, when TC-JNB was operating TK800 once again.
A view of the portside GE CF6-80E1A3 engine from the stair. These engines, that make A332 the most capable, will propel us nonstop to BOG across Europe and Atlantics.
The Economy Cabin
The economy class consists of 232 seats in the standard 2-4-2 layout, distributed between 2 cabins - the front one between 2L/R and 3L/R doors, and the rear one between 3L/R and 4L/R doors.
Some views of the front economy cabin:
The Economy Seat
My seat was 21A in the second row of the rear economy cabin. The seat model is TCI Skysofa. TCI is a Turkish seat-manufacturer, and if you're familiar with production of Zodiac/Safran, you can easily notice that TCI Skysofa looks like a hybrid of Weber 5751 and Safran Z300 - on of the world's best economy seats that TK uses in its B77Ws and A333s. Definitely, TCI engineers applied some reverse engineering to develop the Skysofa model.
The seatwidth between armrests is generous 18.1" (the maximum possible seatwidth for this fuselage in 2-4-2 layout) - on par with Safran Z300 width in TK's younger B77Ws. The seat has generous padding and is very comfortable - on par with its prototypes (for comparison, the next seat model from TCI - Epianka, which is installed in TK's standard A359s, B789s, A21Ns, B7M9s and B7M8s - is very mediocre in terms of comfort for long-haul flying).
The seat has fabric upholstery, adjustable "leather" headrest, modern IFE with adjustable angle of the screen, USB port and remote control, bi-fold tray table, coat hanger, seat pocket and legrest. The row pitch is very good. Though, the IFE has a noticeable drawback - two rather bothersome underseat power boxes. For comparison, TK's B77Ws and A333s with Weber 5751 seats (with older IFEs) and Safran Z300 seats (with modern IFEs) don't have such boxes. Thankfully, the seat next to me was empty (one of the benefits of flying new destinations shortly after their launch, when the passenger flow hasn't built up yet) and I was able to stretch away from these boxes.
Waiting on the seat were pillow, blanket and headset. Later on the crew handed out amenity kits stocked with socks, slippers, eyemask, earplugs, lip balm, toothbrush and toothpaste.
Some screenshots of the IFE: the welcoming screen and the main menu.
The seatpocket content: safety card, printed food and beverages menu (could you imagine this in today's TK?!), inflight magazine (including the TK international network page with the new flights to BOG+PTY and HAV+CCS, plus page with Cartagena vibes), duty-free magazine and waste bag.
The overhead panel is standard for post-2004 A330s and has airvents, which is nice.
The Flight
The TK's safety video 2017-2018, featuring Zach King, is played, and pushback begins.
One of then-4 TK's A343s. In less than a year the history of TK's quadjets was over.
The nostalgic ATC tower of ISL.
One of the newer B77Ws (with TC-LJ* reg). TK is one of very few major airlines that retains 3-3-3 in B777 (even thought the total number of 3-3-3 777 operators is 24, these are mostly carriers with small 777 fleets).
Taking off from ISL. It was my penultimate visit to ISL, the last was on the way back from Colombia.
An hour into the flight, when we're over Serbia with 13 more hours to go, the first meal service starts.
The meal - Cafe de Paris chicken, Bombay beans in tomato sause, Shepherd's salad, Wild berry mascarpone plus bun and butter - was tasty and filling. The cutlery was metallic. For the drinking I chose TK's signature lemonade and cherry juice.
Tour de lavatoiries. The lavatories are pretty standard, but clean, nicely decorated and stocked with cosmetics.
Then it was time to sleep. Even though the duo seat block is not enough for "poor man business class" and one cannot fully stretch, I slept well for almost 7 hours.
The galley…
… and the "station" with pide sandwiches and drinks.
My catch (with tomato juice).
Meanwhile we made more than 2/3 of the distance to BOG with 4 more hours to go.
IFE has videos about TK's destinations (I watched the video about Cartagena) and several news channels. Having chosen CNN channel, I got to know that a plane had just crashed in Iran. It was Iran Aseman flight 3704 on 1993-built AT72.
The night gives way to the new day. On the last photo in this gallery one can see how frozen one of my windows has became.
Flying over Guadeloupe and Dominica. Crossing the chain of these island states, we're entering the Caribbean Sea.
Sun is rising over the horizon with beautiful light on the wing and on the frozen window. One can also clearly see some imperfections of the aged windows.
A service cart with drinks waiting for the start of the 2nd service.
A couple more sandwiches.
The morning sky over Caribbean sea is beautiful.
Breakfast (scrambled eggs with "Turkish style spinach pastry", grilled tomato and white cheese, cheese plate with olive and vegs, youghurt with muesli) is served shortly before entering the airspace of Venezuela. For the drinking I chose Efes beer.
The first view of the Venezuelan coast. Given the current situation in Venezuela it's hard to believe that back then I flew right over this beautiful but ill-fated country.
We enter the Venezuelan airspace over Catia del Mar - right where CCS is located, but the town and the airport are hidden by the clouds.
Mountains west of Caracas, partially hid by the veil of clouds.
Lago de Valencia near the eponymous town.
The veil of high clouds over Venezuela in the morning light.
Embalse de Cumaripa near Chivacoa.
We're about to enter the Colombian airspace.
It's overcast over northern Colombia.
The beautiful mountains of El Cocuy NP break the cloud layer. It's one of the most beautiful national parks in Colombia, but I didn't have enough time to visit it.
The sunlit Laguna Grande de la Sierra - one of the top trekking routes in El Cocuy. One can clearly see the altitude difference with an also sunlit settlement at the foothills.
One of the proofs that TK's TC-JN* A332s are true ER-machines: the presence of the crew rest compartment. The entrance is located near 3L/R doors, as one can see on this photo. For comparison, AD A332s and ex-AZ A332s (which are about to join AD fleet) have just special seatblocks in the very rear of economy class.
Some inflight views of the front and rear economy cabins.
A couple of beautiful views of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia as we're getting closer to Bogota.
The sky is getting overcast again while we're already descending.
Spoilers are deployed and we're diving into the higher cloud level.
The air is so wet even at these quite high altitutes that the winglet generates condensation stream.
Passing some impressive convective formations. The Colombian sky is beautiful!
Final approach to BOG over green field and greenhouses.
Touchdown in BOG.
Avianca's A319 (IAE-powered) and A320 (CFM-powered), plus UA B738 with split-scimitar winglets.
The central part of the international pier C of T1 BOG with AV's IAE-powered A319 and CFM-powered A320SL plus A319 (HC-CLF) of AV Ecuador (in the AeroGal livery). The latter was scrapped in 2022.
CFM-powered AV A319 (N519AV) in the Star Alliance livery.
Parking at the gate 46 near the AV B788. One can easily note how "low" looks the sky with these impressive clouds. This is because the altitude of BOG - 2500 MASL.
CFM-powered AV A319 (N980AV) in the old "juicy" livery. It was later repainted into the new livery.
AV A318 (N592EL), AV A20N and a firefighting truck. N592EL was scrapped in 2020. Pre-pandemic Avianca was one of the last operators of "baby Airbus" and had very diverse Airbus narrowbody fleet with A318s, A319s (with and without sharklets), A320s (with and without sharklets), A20Ns, A321SLs and A21Ns (with the A321-like pre-ACF doors configuration). But during the pandemic AV had to undergo Chapter 11 restructurization to avoid bankcruptcy and streamlined its fleet to A20Ns plus A320s plus some A319s. Currently there are only 4 A318 left in the world in the passenger service - in the AF fleet, and soon they'll be fully retired and replaced by A223s. Thankfully, I flew an AF A318 in February 2017.
Finally I discover that IFE also has a camera with 2 angles of view, which is quite rare for A330ceo.
Now the passengers, whose destination is BOG, disembark the aircraft, and the passengers bound for PTY has to stay onboard 1.5 hours before the departure. During the waiting it's allowed to walk in the cabins.
My seat 21A after the 13+ hours flight.
Some views of the economy cabins during the layover.
An apron view from the opened 4L door. AV A20N (N764AV) is parked at the adjacent gate.
2015-built AV A319SL (N741AV), which in 2021 was transferred to AV Ecuador. AV is one of the few operators of sharklet-fitted A319s.
The starboard GE CF6-80 engine view from the first rows of the front economy cabin.
N765AV - the second-oldest AV A20N, built in late 2017.
AM B737 (N788XA) in the old "metallic" livery and the firefighting truck. This plane was phased out in 2020. AM completely got rid of B737s in 2023, streamlining its narrowbody fleet to B7M9s, B7M8s and B738s.
1990-built Avior B734 (YV3243) from CCS. Due to the sanctions airlines of Venezuela are forced to operate ancient jets, including classic B732s.
UA B737 (with split-scimitar winglets) and an AV A319 taking off.
Pushback of N519AV.
Pushback of AV B788 (N786AV). The current widebody fleet of AV consists of 13 B788s in 2-class C20_Y271 layout (before 2024 AV's B788 had C28_Y222 layout with larger business class), delivered in 2014-2018 from the factory, plus 3 ex-Norwegian B788s in W32_Y259 layout (currently stored), which AV got in 2024. In 2019 AV tried to introduce B789 into its fleet, but the only ordered unit ended being stored for 4 years and then was taken by Air Europa. One can find quite a lot of parallels between Avianca, Azul and Aerolineas Argentinas - all of them, being shadowed by LATAM, are definitely not very successful (and sometimes are struggling) carriers with somewhat similar proportions between narrowbodies and widebodies. Though, AV has 2 subsidiaries in Ecuador and in El Salvador and its international network is larger than the ones of AD or AR.
B722F (HK-4262) of LAS Cargo.
ISL-bound passengers are boarding.
My catch from the galley, which I'll use later as a lunch in Panama city.
The cleaning team has finished its work.
The catering truck departs, and our departure for PTY is imminent.
And now I'd like to invite you into the Part 2: BOG-PTY.
Comparison Of ISL-GRU And ISL-BOG Flights
It would be interesting to compare this ISL-BOG flight on A332 (TK's smallest widebody) with ISL-GRU flight on B77W (TK's flagship) taken 2 years before in February 2016. Both flights had block time of 14 hours and the actual flight time of 13+ hours.
ISL-GRU flight stands out by the super spacious 3-3-3 economy layout with maximum possible (for B777) seatwidth (18.5") and very comfortable generously padded seats with very good seat pitch. The IFE is older with slower touchscreen, but don't have bothersome underseat power boxes. Even if the cabin is full to the brim (which was the case) there's a lot of lateral space for an economy passenger. The meal service (2 dinners and mid-flight sandwiches) was excellent. The supermighty GE90-115B engines are considered noisy for today's standards, but at the cruise FL the level of noise is tolerable. After the 13+ hours flight I didn't feel exhausted at all.
ISL-BOG flight stands out by spacious 2-4-2 economy layout with maximum possible (for A330) seatwidth (18.1") and very comfortable well-padded seat with very good seat pitch. The IFE is modern, though, it's powered by 2 quite bothersome underseat power boxes. On the other side, the cabin was not full, I had an empty seat near me, which not only doubled the lateral space, but also helped to avoid discomfort from power boxes. The meal service (dinner, breakfast and mid-flight sandwiches) was very good, though, TK's breakfasts are weaker than dinners (honestly speaking, this is common for almost all the full-service airlines). The smaller cabin of A332 means less people around, and GE CF6-80 engines are quiter at the cruise FL than GE90-115Bs. Afther the 13+ hours flight I didn't feel exhausted.
