Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
This is the Part 2 of the retro-FR of Turkish Airlines flight TK800 ISL-BOG-PTY on a A330-200. In the Part 1 I reviewed the long-haul leg ISL-BOG and the layover in BOG (inside the aircraft). Here we're flying the next short leg BOG-PTY. Let's remind that TK doesn't have 5th freedom rights between Colombia and Panama.
The Flight
The pre-departure cabin lighting is turned on.
Safety video with Zach King is played.
Pushback begins. To the left from us is N764AV - the oldest AV A20N, built in November 2017. The sky is still "low" and impressive.
UA B737 and AV A320 (N980AV) in the old "juicy" livery (since then it was repainted into the new livery).
LATAM Brasil A320SL (PR-TYG) from GRU. It was repainted into the new livery since, and in 2021 it was re-registered as CC-BLE.
The last glance on our gate 44-45-46 (in this international pier of T1 some gates are triple) and on the oldest AV A20N.
CM E190 (HP-1563CMP) from PTY. During the pandemic Copa shed off its E190s and became narrowbody-Boeing-only airline, operating B7M9s, B7M8s, B738s and B737s. Now this E190 is in QantasLink fleet in Australia.
LATAM A320 (CC-BAS).
The central part of the international pier of T1 and our sunlit wing.
AV B788 (N791AV).
LATAM B788 (CC-BBB) from SCL in the old LAN livery (repainted into the new LATAM livery since). I flew on its sistership CC-BBA (the first Dreamliner of the Americas) from SCL to GRU in 2016. Now all but one (CC-BBD) LATAM B788s have C20_Y251 layout.
The firefighting depot of BOG.
AV A320 and the sleek ATC tower of BOG.
A couple of SATENA's ATRs and military aircrafts of Fuerza Aerea Colombiana, including a B722. SATENA is a regional Colombian airline, serving quite an extensive domestic network from Bogota, Barranquilla (BAQ) and Medellin (EOH). As of January 2026 its fleet consists of 5 AT76, 6 AT46, 4 AT45s, 2 E145s (which will be retired) and 2 DHC-6 Twin Otters.
A view of the international pier of T1, from where we've departed. These clouds over Bogota never fails to amaze.
AV A320 (N416AV).
US Air Force Dornier C-146A Wolfhound (95-3058).
Domestic pier with AV B788 and A21N. Probably, this B788 was MDE-bound, from where it would operate a transatlantic flight to MAD. In 2018 AV was flying between Medellin and Madrid on B788s 3 times per week.
2000-built A320 (HK-5125) of now-defunct ULCC Viva Air Colombia. The airline was rebranded to Viva and later ceased operations in February 2023 (in 2024 the Mexican ULCC Viva Aerobus rebranded into Viva, taking over the vacant name). At that moment it had 12 A20Ns, which were taken by Avianca, and 11 A320s (most of them were taken by LATAM, a few - by Avianca, and one - by Cebu Pacific). HK-5125 was scrapped in 2021.
B737 of another Colombian/Panamian ULCC Wingo near the domestic pier of T1. Back then Wingo had 4 B737s. From late 2019 Wingo transferred these B737s to Copa Airlines and got 10 B738s from CM instead - all but one are aged with old interiors. I flew Wingo in 2024 from BLB to SJO and from DAV to BLB.
2015-built AV A321SL (N746AV) - the second-youngest AV A321ceo at that moment. I flew on this aircraft in the end of my Colombian trip from CTG to BOG. During pandemic AV phased out all its largest narrowbodies - A21Ns and A321s. N764AV, which has been re-registered to D-AIAB is now in the Condor (DE) fleet with all-economy layout and featuring the "Red Passion" livery.
AV A320 (N454AV) in the Star Alliance livery.
AV A320 in the new livery and A319 (or A318) in the old "juicy" livery near the outer part of the domestic pier of T1.
N744AV - the youngest AV A321SL at that moment (later in 2018 AV got also a bit younger N747AV from AV El Salvador). Now N744AV is also in Condor fleet with D-AIAA reg and in the "Red Passion" livery.
Taxiing to the runway.
AV AT76 (HK-4999). In 2023 AV got rid of its AT76s. This one now is in Loganair fleet as G-LMTJ.
The sun is sometimes shining through the clouds while we're taxiing to the runway.
Approaching the treshold. Quite a number of narrowbodies in the line behind us.
N744AV taxiing past us.
A couple more of AV B788 - one airworthy and one engineless (apparently, due to the "first round" of infamous RR Trent 1000 issues, which started in 2018 and got quite a long time to resolve).
A military B707, a cargo B727, a DC3 and an AV AT76. Back in 2018 it was still possible to fly a legendary DC3 in Colombia. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to visit regions which were then served by DC3s. Safety of these flights was already deteriorating: later in 2018 one DC3 suffered MLG collapse at landing, and then in 2019 one DC3 crashed with no survivors, which spelled the end on the DC3 passenger operations in Colombia.
Starting our takeoff roll with the ATC tower in sight.
Takeoff from BOG.
Views of the h-shaped main Terminal 1, small "Puente Aereo" Terminal 2 and the parking of AV A330s during climbout. AV completely got rid of them in 2023, and since its widebody fleet is B788s-only.
We took off towards the Bogota city centre and have to make an U-turn over the city, climbing out through some beautiful fluffy clouds.
Flaps off; we're leaving Bogota behind. I'll visit the city a week later.
Passing extensive convective activity over the Cordillera Oriental. What a beautiful sky!
Overflying Magdalena - the main river of Columbia, originating in southern Colombia and flowing in a deep valley between Cordillera Oriental and Cordillera Central towards the Caribbean Sea. Its mouth is located in Barranquilla city.
The sky over Cordillera Central is also cloudy, but with some breaks.
Camera view down. The resolution of the picture is far from crispy.
The crew hand out immigration cards for Panama.
More than half-way from BOG to PTY is already behind.
This short leg also features some service. The crew hand out a sanwich an a cake. I choose tomato and orange juices and coffee for the drinking. The taste of the sandwich is mediocre; probably it's BOG's catering, not ISL's. Even though Colombia has one of the best foods in the western hemisphere, the quality of airplane food may not correlate with it.
Meanwhile we're flying over the Pacific coast somewhere near the Colombia-Panama border. This area is the natural divider between Central and South Americas as there are no roads between the countries (BTW, this fact also explains why there are so much old ex-school buses from US, used as "chicken buses" in Central American countries, but almost zero in South American countries).
Pacific coast in southern Panama and meandres of Jaque river, joining the ocean near the eponymous town.
An inflight view of the front economy cabin.
Starting out descent to PTY.
Flying over Isla del Rey.
A tiny Isla de Coco.
Isla Pedro Gonzalez.
Getting closer to Panama city.
Spoilers deployed.
Flying near Taboga island with numerous ships that have passed or are about to enter the Panama channel.
A beautiful view of Perico island and Amador Causeway which marks the Pacific gate of Panama channel. Later that day I visited Miraflores locks on the channel.
Beautiful views of the Panama Old City (Casco Viejo, not to be mixed with Casco Antigua - the very first settlement of the city, located in the different place), surrounded by Cinta Costera road, Panama channel with the Bridge of the Americas - the symbolic border between South and North America, and the Malecon with some skyscrapers.
A ship in Panama Bay.
View of Panama bay with Casco Viejo and the downtown in sight.
Magnificent view of the Panama city downtown - the Hong Kong of Latin America.
More views of the downtown as we're approaching PTY.
Moments before landing.
Landing in PTY.
In 2018 the new Terminal 2 was under construction. It was inaugurated in April 2019, but started operations only after pandemic, in July 2022.
The ATC tower and the old Terminal 1 with multiple Copa narrowbodies.
Parking near CM E190.
My seat 21A after this very long 1-stop flight. Worth noting that on this short leg 21C also remained empty. It's my longest flight by the time, spent in a single aircraft continuously (BTW, my longest nonstop flight by flight time was ICN-CDG on KE B748 in late November 2023). Thanks to very comfortable seats and very good service - I didn't feel exhausted! Now it's time to leave the aircraft. The ISL-bound passengers, who boarded in BOG, stay onboard during the layover (while the aircraft is refueled for the long flight back to Istanbul).
The Aircraft After The Flight
A couple of views of our TC-JNB after the flight.
Panama Tocumen International Airport (PTY)
Terminal 1 from the jetbridge.
Passengers from all the international arrivals disembark right into the international airside of the terminal. It's very convenient for short connection, but I have a long layover in PTY with the next flight (CM to CTG) in the morning, so I have half-day to explore the city.
On the way to immigration. For today's standard T1 definitely looks obsolete. But despite the new T2 now being in operation, TK still operates from T1.
As most Latin American countries, Panama's team and fans were preparing for Mundial-2018, which took place in Russia from mid-June to mid-July 2018. The motto means "Panama is the red tide". This Mundial was de-facto the swan song of Russia before the pandemic and everything that followed…
FID for arrivals.
The landside of T1.
In 2018 the only option to go from PTY to the city centre was the bus. Thankfully, in late 2023 the Panama city subway network has eventually reached the airport. Though, the station is located in some distance from the terminal (like in GRU) and one has to take a free shuttle to reach it.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs
