Turkish Airlines Gets Its 15th Airbus A350-900

Summary

Turkish Airlines has accepted its 15th Airbus A350-900, marking the airline’s 340th overall aircraft. The new jet arrived at Istanbul Airport after a three-hour flight from Toulouse.
The testing process for this aircraft was relatively fast, with the first test flight on October 23rd and the second on November 10th. It was then sent to Turkish Airlines without any further test flights logged.
Turkish Airlines is expecting another 25 A350-900s, and there is a highly anticipated ‘mega order’ in the works with Airbus for hundreds more airframes, including A350s and A321neos.

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The Turkish Airlines fleet continues to grow with the acceptance of its 15th Airbus A350-900. The widebody departed Toulouse on November 17th for the relatively short three-hour flight to its new home at Istanbul airport. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that the new jet marks the airline’s 340th aircraft overall.

Aircraft and flight details

Turkish Airlines’ 15th A350-900 is registered TC-LGO and bears the manufacturer’s serial number (MSN) 638. The aircraft is the carrier’s 3rd A350 delivered this year and was first spotted in July 2023 in primer without its engines installed.

If the data listed is accurate, then the testing process for this aircraft appears to have been relatively fast. The first test flight of TC-LGO took place on October 23rd, with a second test taking place on November 10th. A week later, with no subsequent test flights logged, the aircraft was sent to Turkish Airlines.

Photo: Flightradar24

As for the delivery flight, TC-LGO departed Toulouse (TLS) on November 17th at 18:24 local time and arrived at Istanbul Airport (IST) at 23:26 local time. The flight’s total duration, as per Flightradar24 data, was three hours and two minutes.

More Airbus A350s incoming

As per ch-aviation data, Turkish Airlines is still expecting another 25 A350-900s. This will see the airline’s A350-900 fleet eventually grow to 40 airframes. However, things don’t stop there. Turkish Airlines has a highly anticipated ‘mega order’ in the works with Airbus for hundreds more airframes. Over the past few months, details of this order have slowly emerged, with tentative numbers finally released at the Dubai Airshow.

Photo: ThaKlein | Shutterstock

On November 13th, Reuters noted that Airbus had reached an agreement in principle for a “significant commercial aircraft order.” The Dubai Airshow came and went without an official announcement from either Airbus or Turkish Airlines about the upcoming order, signaling that the deal is still being worked out by both parties.

Earlier, Turkish media reported that the deal would see the acquisition of 355 new jets. This will include the purchase of 75 A350-900s, as well as 15 A350-1000s. On the narrowbody side, the deal will see the addition of 250 A321neos. If details are accurate, the deal will also see Airbus gain a new customer for its upcoming A350F freighter, with Turkish Airlines eyeing five of the type.

The aircraft not mentioned

The airline’s move to modernize its fleet appears to be excluding newer versions of its older, existing collection of aircraft. Indeed, while the airline currently operates nearly 60 A330ceos, there appears to be no intention to order the A330neo.