Originally Posted by
hfly
Will BA/QR be? In recent weeks BA has been flying 1x or 0x to IST, often cancelling its lone flight and just FIM'ing people. They are now down to one full time employee at the airport, and speaking of lounges, they closed theirs years ago, so although I would hope that they will have a lounge or that there is some sort of 1World lounge, I am not holding my breath. QR may increase services, but what will they possibly ever do, 4x to Doha, one day? I am happy to hear taht Skyteam is giving it another go at the new airport since they abandoned their current IST lounge last year, and I can dream that this might mean a comeback for Skyteam carriers in Istanbul, because currently, you are looking at 1xAF (Joon, but will be AF again in 6 weeks), 1x KL, 1x Tarom, .5x Korean, 1-2x MEA, and 3-5 each SV to various destinations and 2 x Aeroflot. Five years ago, it was up to as many as 5xAF (4x to CDG and 1x to Toulouse), 3xKLM, 1x DL, 2x Tarom, 1x KE, 1x CZ, 2x MEA, 5x SV, 3x Aeroflot. So Currently 9-10 flights per day, when before it was above 22 flights per day.
The rumor is that as some point after the new airport really opens AF/KL will raise frequencies to 2 and 2, but we'll see.
It's true that SkyTeam members had decreased their operations to IST but Tarom is still 2x, Aeroflot would be 5x after 31MAR and ME would be 2x wide-body during summer; I've heard the rumor that KLM would reintroduce their night-stopper flight and AF would reschedule their operations as this route would be served by AF instead of JN. On the other hand, like Vancouver and Heathrow, they could also accept Priority Pass customers to make extra money.
When it's come to BA, yes they have closed their lounge in Istanbul alongside with some destinations in Europe. Last, they have closed their lounge in Munich which they operate 5-6 times a day. After cancelling the flight which was departing around 13:30 from Istanbul, BA had lost most of their customers to the US or Canada as this flight had the best connection times. Now instead of 08:45, 13:30 and 17:00 they operate at 10:00 and 17:40 which are not healthy times for connections. BA scheduling has to reconsider their schedule for the IST route. I also agree that BA could save money while cancelling individually their IST flights as most of the time the aircraft is half empty during the winter season. However, in the summer season it's rare to see an empty seat on BA. Also QR would increase their flights while new slots would be available. And the other oneworld airline that flies to Istanbul, Royal Jordanian, wouldn't have impact on a lounge. I've also heard the rumor MH and IB could return to Istanbul. And let's don't forget AT or ( possibly CZ ) joining the alliance that both flies to IST. Maybe we won't see an OW lounge at the first point but later on, I wouldn't be surprised to see one.