One Step Closer to the Far East
Flying the Airbus A321-231 with Turkish Airlines
27 dez 2025
On December 27th, 2025, this flight was the next leg of a long journey from Terceira, Azores to Osaka, Japan, and my second time flying the Lisbon-Istanbul route with Turkish Airlines.
Nearly six hours aboard an Airbus A321, carrying not just passengers, but a whole lot of happiness!
From the terminal window at Lisbon Airport, I could see TC-JTG, an Airbus A321-231, still surrounded by activity. Ground personnel finishing loading, catering and fuelling, like a quiet choreography that happens before every flight, often unnoticed.
Moments like these always slow me down. Watching an aircraft being prepared feels like witnessing the final breaths before the big moment.
Stepping closer, the scale of the aircraft takes over. Seeing the fuselage stretch towards the tail, knowing this maching would soon carry me across Europe, over the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, brought back a familiar feeling.
I had flown this exact same route before and would do it every month, if I could.
Once seated, the first details started to show. The safety leaflet written in Turkish, immediately placed me somewhere else. I was not quite home anymore, but not far enough yet.
Despite the aircraft being a narrow-body, legroom was more than adequate. I stand at 1,84m tall and It didn’t took long for me to know that I would be travelling comfortably.
And I came prepared too! At least, while the meal wasn’t served and honestly, I was a bit hungry already, so I picked up a simple meal right before boarding: A ham and cheese croissant, a banana and what would turn out to be my last local bottled water for a while. Funny how something as ordinary as water becomes noticeable when you’re far from home. It may be tasteless, but it was familiar and something I would miss later on.
Turkish Airlines has one cabin detail I’ve always loved: the red seatbelts.
One thing Turkish Airlines does particularly well is the inflight entertainment, with plenty to choose from music, movies and even games. Believe me when I say you won’t get bored, no matter how long your flight might take.
The remote control, which doubles as a keyboard and a gaming controller, is a feature that feels and works great. So great, in fact, that I found myself winning a game of pool before the aircraft had even begun taxiing.
Once airborne, the inflight information screen became a quiet companion.
With a long flight ahead, I opted for a Wi-Fi package which, of course, led me to track my own flight on FlightRadar24. It is weird, because this is a tool I use while on the ground, either waiting for someone’s flight or while planespotting, but never even thought about using it while I’m on the very same plane I see moving on the map.
Meal service followed. A chicken breast with rice and salad, accompanied by bread and butter. Simple, but tastefully and comforting for the rest of the flight.
As night fell, the lights of Thessaloniki appeared below. Its always beautiful to see a city revealing itself in patterns and clusters from above. Almost like looking to a map, but a real life-size one!
I wasn’t seated by the window, but I had the opportunity to move closer and capture the moment the best way I could.
Soon after, it was time to descend and it didn’t took long to touchdown smoothly in Istanbul. Now from my seat, the video below:
Flight Log
Operator: Turkish Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A321-231
Registration: TC-JTG
Callsign: THY5LH
Flight Number: TK1760
Route: LPPT → LTFM
Runways: 02 → 35R
Date: 27 December 2026
Time: 16:09 – 21:19 UTC
Flight Time: 04:35