Turkish Airlines wants to order 600 aircraft

Turkish Airlines will announce next month an order for 400 single-aisle and 200 wide-body aircraft to bring its fleet to 813 by 2033. This would break the latest record set by Air India.

There was no mention of Airbus or Boeing during the announcement made by the chairman of the board of directors of the Turkish national airline Ahmet Bolat at a press conference in Istanbul on 11 May 2023, nor was there any precision as to the date of the forthcoming mega-order, but there was a timetable: deliveries during the next decade, so that Turkish Airlines will have 813 aircraft in 2033, compared with 332 at present, excluding subsidiaries (Anadolu Jet operates 79 aircraft).

Ahmet Bolat said that Turkish Airlines, after an average growth of 12% over the last twenty years, "is aiming for a growth of 7.6% over the next ten years. We have almost finalised discussions with one of the major aircraft manufacturers", which could be announced "at an IATA event". With the other, the announcement would have to wait until "the show" in June at Le Bourget.

The Star Alliance airline currently operates 122 Airbus single-aisle aircraft (A319, A320, A321neo - 39 of the 92 ordered for it and Anadolu Jet), and 80 Boeing aircraft (including 20 737 MAX 8s and five 737 MAX 9s, with no orders pending). On the long-haul side, it has 50 Airbus A330-200s and -300s and twelve A350-900s (with another 14 expected), as well as 33 Boeing 777-300ERs and 16 of the 25 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft expected.

When confirmed, this Turkish Airlines order will surpass the previous record of 470 aircraft acquired on a firm basis (letters of intent at this stage) by Air India in February, including 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing aircraft for around $68 billion. An order that had beaten the previous record of American Airlines (460 single-aisle aircraft from both manufacturers in 2011), the third place for the moment going to Indigo Partners (430 Airbus single-aisle aircraft for its low-cost subsidiaries including Wizz Air and Frontier Airlines among others). And we are still waiting for confirmation of the rumour that the low-cost airline IndiGO intends to order 500 aircraft.

Source : https://www.air-journal.fr/2023-05-12-turkish-airlines-veut-commander-600-avions-5248608.html?utm_source=Follow&utm_medium=email