ISTANBUL
Turkish Airlines is planning to order a total of 355 planes from Airbus, according to people familiar with the talks.
Those are in addition to 10 A350-900 model jets Turkish Airlines already ordered.
This time, the flag carrier is ordering 250 A321neo aircraft, 75 A350-900, 15 A350-1000 jets as well as five A350F cargo aircraft.
According to the sources, Turkish Airlines officials also held talks with Rolls Royce in Istanbul for engine maintenance services and spare engines for A350 aircraft.
Last week, the flag carrier announced in a filing with Borsa Istanbul that it is continuing negotiations with aircraft manufacturers and various international lessors to support its ongoing growth trajectory and fleet renewal.
In this context, its board of directors decided to lease a total of 20 narrow-body with a lease term of 144 months, of which six are to be delivered between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 from CDB Aviation Lease Finance, it said.
The statement added that four will be delivered in the first quarter of 2025 from Jackson Square Aviation, 10 will be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 from DAE Capital and one wide-body aircraft with a lease term of 72 months will be delivered in the second quarter of 2024 from CDB.
Turkish Airlines operated a fleet of 435 aircraft as of the end of September, up from 388 jets a year earlier.
The carrier increased the number of destinations it flies to from 335 to 339.
In the first 10 months of 2023, Turkish Airlines carried 71.3 million passengers, up 17.8 percent from a year ago, with international passengers rising nearly 16 percent year-on-year to 45.1 million.
The domestic passenger tally in the January-September period rose 21.6 percent to 26.2 million.