Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In FR series "down the memory lane" I'd like to present reviews of Turkish Airlines flights from now-long-defunct Istanbul Ataturk airport (ISL) to Madrid (MAD) and back on one of the world's best A333s - with different economy cabins - taken in the late December 2017 and early January 2018 during my New Year trip to central and western Spain. Moreover, these FRs capture for the history how diverse was planespotting in MAD before the pandemic, which completely wiped away all the MAD's diversity and made it extremely dull and boring.
But before we start, it's important to make an overview of the TK A333 fleet.
Turkish Airlines A330-300 Fleet
TK, being one of the world's largest A333 operators, has 37 units in the fleet as of March 2026. Not only they have different engine types, but also different cabins. It would be useful to list them here.
TK's own A333s (29 units) have C28_Y261 layout with 2-2-2 lie-flat business class and 2-4-2 economy (important to note that rows numeration has changed: rows 8-25 in the front Y cabin and rows 28-44 in the rear Y cabin), but the engine models and the seat models depend on the production year.
TC-JNH to -JNR (10 2010-2014-built units): RR engines, Zodiac Aura Lite seats in business, Weber 5751 seats in economy.
TC-JNS, -JNT, -JNZ, TC-JOA, -JOB, -JOD, -JOE (7 2014-built units): GE engines, Zodiac Aura Lite seats in business, Weber 5751 seats in economy.
TC-JOF to -JOL (7 2015-built units): GE engines, Safran Aura Enhanced seats in business, Safran Z300 seats in economy.
TC-LNC to -LNG (5 2016-built units): GE engines, Safran Aura Enhanced seats in business, TCI Skysofa seats in economy.
Also TK has 7 A333s, inherited from Japanese airline Skymark, which dumped them due to the bankcruptcy restructurization. TK reconfigured these birds with C40_Y265 layout with 2-2-2 recliner business and 2-4-2 economy, featuring completely different (very inferior) seats compared to the TK's own A333s.
TC-LOA to -LOG (7 2013-2015-built units): RR engines, Recaro recliner business seats (similar to the ones in TK's own A321s, B739s and B738s), Recaro CL3710 seats in economy.
And, finally, in 2024 TK took one more A333 from Russian airline Nordwind:
TC-LON (2012-built): GE engines, Y367 layout. Stored since August 2025, presumably for the reconfiguration.
Boarding
I've covered the defunct ISL a little in some of my previous FRs, so here I have nothing to say about it. My morning flight to MAD was boarding from a bus gate, the flight was codeshared with Avianca (in my trip to Colombia, which followed next in 2018, I had an AV flight codeshared with TK). The irony is that in MAD TK operates from the (dull and ugly) south terminal complex and AV operates from the cool satellite of the north terminal complex.
My Christmas-themed BP. Let's note that according to the current row numeration the seat is 9K.
The Aircraft
The aircraft of today is 2014-built GE-powered TC-JOE - the last TK's own A333 with Zodiac Aura Lite business class and Weber 5751 economy.
Wing and engine view from the stair in the dawn.
The Economy Seat
My seat (back then) was 7K - now with the new row numeration it's 9K. The seat model is Weber 5751 - arguably the best economy seat model for the flights of any length, including ultra-long-hauls. It's the same seat model as 2010-2014-built TK B77Ws have (I flew one of them in 2016 on my very first transatlantic flight ISL-GRU, and the level of comfort was stellar), but narrower - 18.1", which is the maximum seatwidth for A330 cabin in 2-4-2 layout. In TK's B77Ws in 3-3-3 layout these seats have 18.5" seatwidth.
The seat has very generous padding, fabric upholstery, "leather" headrest, Panasonic eX2 IFE with large screen (TK has the best realization of this IFE model) and remote control, USB, Ethernet and S-Video ports, coat hanger, bi-fold tray table, seat pocket and legrest. The armrest has lumbar support button and headset socket. The row pitch is very good. Waiting on the seat were pillow and earphones.
Needless to say that this seatwidth (18.1") and this generous row pitch are applicable to the entire front economy cabin and to the front part of the rear economy cabin until the beginning of the fuselage tapering. In contrast, the rear part of the rear economy cabin of these A333s, located in the tapering zone, has rather tight seatwidth of 17.3" and quite subpar row pitch, so I'd recommend to avoid it if possible!
Initially the adjacent seat was occupied, but when the boarding was complete, my neighbour decided to change the seat and I became blessed with 2 spacious seats at my disposal. Very nice!
The seatpocket content: safety card, inflight magazine, duty-free magazine and waste bag.
The overhead panel has no airvents.
The Flight
Some planespotting before the start of pushback.
TK B77W taxiing by.
PW-powered A332 (TC-JIP) from TAM (now LATAM Brasil). In 2023 I flew its sibling TC-JIO on a short flight from OTP to IST.
Fellow RR-powered A333 (TC-JNI) - the second-oldest A333 in the TK fleet.
Turkish Technic hangar with numerous TK tails.
Safety video with Zach King is played.
Continuing planespotting during pushback and taxiing.
B77F (TC-LJM) of TK Cargo (the second of then-2 B77Fs in TK fleet) and a TK A321 in Star Alliance livery.
TK A321 and A333.
B77W (TC-LJF) similar to the one I flew on ISL-HKG back in 2016.
B738 of the Kyrgyz airline Air Manas (now it's de-facto defunct) and ex-Skymark A333 (TC-LOC) - BTW, I flew this A333 on OTP-IST in early January 2024.
An A321 of Onur Air (this airline went bust in 2021), a whitetail A320 and an A332 of TK.
TK A321 (TC-JRC) and A300F (TC-MCE) of MNG Airlines. In 2023 TC-MCE was preserved in Agadir, Morocco as a restaurant.
One may guess whether it's a bacon light or the first rays of the morning sun on the starboard engine.
Lining up with the runway 17/35R.
Views of TK aircrafts, including 2 of 4 A343s (in a bit more than a year they were gone), some A330s and a B77W, as we're thundering down the runway.
Climbing out of ISL with the reflection of the sunrise on the wing.
Overflying Istanbul - Kirklareli highway near Basaksehir.
The historical view - the construction site of the new Istanbul Airport (IST). The terminal had already taken its signature shape back then. Little did I know back then that in just 2+ years the pandemic will hit the world and the new IST will become my primary hub for the trips from Russia (where I lived until 19.02.2022)…
Crossing the Black Sea coastline.
Beautiful light of the morning sun on the engine with a shadow of the flaps fairing.
Cruising over a beautiful veil of clouds.
And here comes the breakfast (as the flight is a morning one). For an experiment I ordered diabetic meal (even though it has nothing to do with my health). It consists of omelette with vegs and mushrooms, cheese plate with vegs, fruit salad and youghurt with muesli. The cutlery is metallic. For the drinking I chose TK signature lemonade, Efes beer and lemon tea.
Meanwhile beautiful clouds outside continue.
Let's dive a bit into IFE. The main menu and movies menu.
Inflight views of the front and rear economy cabins. As I said earlier, the rearmost part of economy of TK's own A333s is not the place where you should seat if you value your space.
The TK logo near 2L/R doors.
The lavatories are clean and stocked with cosmetics.
Meanwhile we're cruising over the Adriatic Sea and the sky is overcast.
After a while the clouds give way to the clear sky over Maritime Alps near the Italian-French border.
A beautiful mountain crest not far from the French Mediterranean coast.
Overflying Marseille. I visited this city exactly 2 years after in the eve of the pandemic 2020.
Almost 3/4 way to MAD is over.
As the flight is not full, there's a good chance for an additional meal, and the crew gives me an option from the standard meal with a pie. For the drinking I choose the lemonade again.
Meanwhile we make landfall into Iberian peninsula near Parque Natural Cap de Creus.
Overflying L'Escala town.
Girona.
Overflying mountains of Parc Natural de Montseny.
Granollers town.
Now we're oveflying outskirts of Barcelona. Sabadell, Terrassa and Castellar del Valles.
The famous Montserrat mountain.
Leaving Barcelona behind. I visited this city 2 years after along with the French south and Andorra.
Cruising with snow-capped Pyrenees in sight.
A mountaineous plateau with numerous wind generators somewhere in Aragon.
The sky over Castilla becomes overcast again.
Then we make double orbit as a holding pattern near Cuenca - probably due to the weather in MAD.
The views of the clouds as we're rotating over them are magnificent.
This Ryanair B738 is also making holding pattern over fluffy clouds at a lower FL.
Views of the arid lands of Castilla through the breaks in the clouds.
As we finally continue our descent, the most memorable part of the flight begins. A rainbow appears in the clouds and then descents right down the ground!
Engine view with the rainbow.
One of the most stunning moments of the flight - the rainbow over a water reservoir (probably it's Embalse de Entrepenas).
Then the rainbow moves away to the mountains.
Descending over the mountaineous plauteau of Castilla La Mancha while getting closer to MAD with dramatic clouds and far away rainbow in signt.
Downtown of Madrid in sight.
Landing in MAD.
IB A332 near the northern end of T4S and Madrid downtown in sight.
And now begin the iconic sights of pre-pandemic MAD.
MAD's famous T4S with another IB A332 and IB A346. The rows of these A346 during the midday- and late evening departure banks of IB were the thing that was making MAD special and that went forever since 2020, making MAD dull and boring. In February 2019 I flew an IB A346 (in the old livery) on IB's then-longest flight MAD-SCL, but sadly the experience was ruined by hostile agressive crews, which were the norm for the pre-pandemic IB. Post-pandemic IB has reportedly improved the crew's attitude to the passengers, but too late - when IB's fleet became extremely boring…
An Air Nostrum CRX, this A346 again plus 2 more IB A332s.
A333 (CS-TRH) in a very tight Y388 (3-3-3) layout of Portuguese leisure airline Orbest, which was rebranded to Iberojet in May 2021. In 2024 this A333 joined World2Fly - a Spanish leisure airline.
Another IB A332 (EC-MMG).
Two more IB A346 and a BA B763 from LHR. It was the last time I saw a British B763. BA completely retired them in less than a year - in November 2018.
An A333 of Evelop - a Spanish leisure airline. In May 2021 Evelop merged into Iberojet (ex-Orbest).
The south end of T4S with BA B763 and A321, and AA B77E and A332 (AA retired its A332s during the pandemic).
A view of the remote stand of T4S as we're turning right. Along with already seen IB A332, Orbest and Evelop A333s, there's a Wamos Air A332.
An iconic pre-pandemic sight of T4S during the midday departure bank with multiple IB widebodies (with A346 domination) plus BA tails - the IAG reign. One can guess how bustling is T4S inside during these banks.
AA A332 near the south end of T4S.
T4S' ATC tower, CX B77W from HKG and another row of IB widebody tails…
… with 3 more iconic A346s.
A dramatic cloud over the northern end of MAD and UX B788 plus Air Nostrum CRX.
A view of almost equally beautiful T4, which serves IB narrowbody domestic flights, in contrast to T4S.
And then we continue taxiing to the ugly and dated southern terminal complex, where Skyteam and most Star Alliance carriers (except AV), serving MAD, are concentrated.
UX B738 (EC-IDA) with a sticker, promoting the city of Cordoba in Argentina.
KL B737 (PH-BGK) and an A320 of the old Alitalia. The old AZ was discontinued in 2021 and replaced by ITA Airways, which inherited a number of A320s and A319s from the old AZ.
Norwegian B738 (EI-FHP) with the portait of Soren Kierkegaard on the tail.
UX B738 (EC-LPQ) in Skyteam livery and the ATC tower of the south terminal complex.
SU A321 from SVO (a thing, unimaginable in the today's world) and EI A320 from DUB. Back then EI, even being an IAG member, was not allowed into T4S, but eventually moved to T4S since.
UX B788 (EC-MOM).
Another iconic sight of MAD, which went into history since pandemic - Wamos Air B744s. Back in 2018 EB had 6 Jumbos. One was retired in late 2018 and the rest 5 were retired in 2020. Since then EB is a boring A332-only airline.
EC-KQC (the left one) was retired in December 2018, EC-KSM (the right one) was retired in January 2020 - even before the pandemic.
B748F of SilkWay - an Azerbaijani cargo airline - in its beautiful livery, UX B788 (EC-MMY) and Privilege Style B752.
SilkWay B748F, another Wamos B744 and smaller freighters in the distance, including FedEx MD11F. After the tragic crash of one of this type in 2025, FX grounded all its remaining MD11Fs indefinitely.
B752 of Privilege Style and an IB A321 taking off.
The Economy Cabin After The Flight
Views of the super comfortable front economy cabin upon disembarkment.
The Aircraft After The Flight
Some views of TC-JOE from the terminal. It was not possible to find a decent angle of view.
A Bit Of Planespotting After The Flight
Continuing planespotting from the terminal.
UX B788 and A332. UX retired its A330ceos in 2020, becoming all-Boeing airline.
A similar pair of UX widebodies, but this time the A332 is in the old livery.
UX B788 (EC-MPE) at the adjacent gate.
A couple of already seen EB B744s and some private jets on the backdrop.
MAD T2
The entire south terminal complex of MAD (T1/2/3) is extremely ugly - these are the ugliest terminals of any major airport in EU and can be compared only to ugly and dated MEX T1. The only advantage of T1/2/3 MAD over T1 MEX is the good possibility for planespotting, as I'll show in the next FR. Here I'll show only a photo of FIDs for arrivals.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
