Turkish Airlines is one of my favorite airline brands, and also offers one of the best business class experiences in the world. That’s despite the fact that Turkish doesn’t have a particularly good business class hard product, at least not with any consistency. Fortunately that’s expected to change next year, and we now have some more details about what we can expect.
Turkish Airlines plans new 777 & A350 business class
Executive Traveller has some clues on a new business class product that Turkish intends to introduce, based on an interview with the company’s chairman. The new product will be branded as “Crystal,” and is expected to be unveiled on May 28, 2024, at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, and will then be introduced as of 2025:
- The new business class product will initially be retrofitted on all existing Boeing 777-300ERs; the airline has 33 of these aircraft in its fleet, and they’re an average of around nine years old, so they still have quite a bit of life left in them
- Then the plan is also to install the new business class product on Airbus A350-1000s that are delivered as of 2026, as part of Turkish’s recent Airbus aircraft order
- However, there are no firm plans to retrofit this product on existing Boeing 787-9s or Airbus A350-900s, as those planes already feature direct aisle access from all business class seats
The new seats are expected to be in a 1-2-1 configuration, with each seat featuring a sliding door, as well as modern tech. On the 777-300ERs, it’s expected that business class will have a total of 44 seats. Turkish won’t be using one of the popular “generic” seats from a major existing manufacturer, but rather the seat is being created in-house, by the Turkish Cabin Interior team, so it will be a product you won’t find on any other airline.
For context, Turkish’s existing Boeing 777 business class consists of a total of 49 fully flat seats, spread across seven rows, in a 2-3-2 configuration.
I can’t help but be curious how different this new product will be from Turkish’s A350 business class available on jets that were intended for Aeroflot. These feature business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration with doors and good tech. It obviously won’t be exactly the same product, since that’s the Collins Aerospace Horizon seat.
Turkish Airlines already had a change of heart
What’s interesting here is that last July, Executive Traveller also had the scoop about Turkish Airlines’ new business class product, also based on an interview with the company’s chairman. But at the time he was promising something completely different:
- He explained the new business class product would maintain a 2-3-2 configuration, while still offering direct aisle access and full privacy
- He explained that the reason for this was because he didn’t want to give up cabin density, and claimed that the airline could maintain 49 seats in the cabin while offering those extra amenities with a custom product
- He claimed the airline was in the process of getting that new seat certified, suggesting the airline had already designed the seat
I expressed skepticism about that at the time. There’s simply no way you can have a 2-3-2 configuration with direct aisle access while maintaining the density of Turkish’s current business class. The closest thing to that layout would be an Apex Suites business class product, and that’s one of the least dense business class products out there.
So at the time I questioned how that was possible, and I guess my skepticism was for good reason. Now the airline is going for a 1-2-1 configuration with reduced density, because of course that’s just what’s needed to make a competitive product work nowadays. I’m just confused by the confusion of Turkish Airlines’ chairman.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines plans to introduce a new Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 business class product. This will carry “Crystal” branding, and will be retrofitted on 777s as of 2025, and will be installed on newly delivered A350s as of 2026.
The new product should be in a 1-2-1 configuration, with direct aisle access and privacy at each seat. This should really take the Turkish business class experience to the next level, and I can’t wait to learn more details.
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ new business class plans?
