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It goes without saying that these are turbulent times in aviation. Although Europe now seems to be slowly restarting air traffic with the necessary precautions, other parts of the world are still facing a very different situation. Due to the Corona virus crisis, we see a lot of negative developments, such as iconic aircraft like the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 being retired faster than previously planned.

However, some airlines have been restarting their schedules more quickly than others – as a result, Turkish Airlines is currently the largest airline in Europe.

Like every other airline, Turkish Airlines has had introduce new safety and hygiene precautions. For example, the airline distributes hygiene kits to passengers including a face mask and disinfectant wipes. Additional advice is provided from the crew about how the spread of the virus can be limited as much as possible. Aircraft are disinfected prior to each flight and high-risk contact points such as doors, toilets and armrests are frequently cleaned.

Turkish Airlines

Earlier this month, Turkish operated 400 weekly flights for the first time since March 24, 2020. Turkish Airlines was therefore the largest carrier in Europe, due to a relatively rapid restart of its European and intercontinental network.

Destinations

Turkish claims to fly to more countries than any other airline – serving no fewer than 122 destinations.

It is not always clear yet which aircraft types will be deployed on particular routes (although TK was hardly a stranger to last minute equipment swaps even pre-covid!). For example, on the Istanbul – Tel Aviv route you can encounter the Airbus A321 or A330, but also the Boeing 777 or 787.

You can check out the latest schedule changes of Turkish Airlines on the Routesonline website here. It will be interesting to see how long it takes major European airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, and BA to compete with Turkish.