United Airlines announced Tuesday that it would launch flights linking its Newark hub to Istanbul.
The airline said daily eastbound service will commence July 1st, pending government approval. Westbound service back to the states would begin the following day.
Flights will initially be operated by three-class Boeing 767-300 jets with 183 seats: six in United Global First, 26 in United BusinessFirst, 67 Economy Plus seats and 84 regular Economy seats. On August 28th, equipment will be swapped to United’s two-class 767-300s containing 214 seats: 30 in BusinessFirst, 46 in Economy Plus and 142 in regular Economy.
Schedule
Flight 904
Departs Newark: 7:27 pm
Arrives Istanbul: 12:20 pm (+1)
Flight 905
Departs Istanbul: 1:55 pm
Arrives Newark: 6:02 pm
“We are excited to add Istanbul to our global route network,” said Jim Compton, United’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer in a statement. “This new service will provide customers throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America direct access to one of the most important cities in the region.”
United will become the third airline flying between New York and Turkey’s capital. Turkish Airlines currently operates twice-daily service to and from JFK, while Delta Air Lines flies the same route once daily.