Turkish Airlines says studying more jet purchases

ISTANBUL - Reuters

Turkey’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines is considering purchasing new aircrafts as part of plans to extend its flight network and fleet number.

Turkish Airlines is studying options for further additions to its fleet of Airbus and Boeing passenger aircraft, but has made no decisions, airline executives told a finance industry conference.

“Most probably we will need large aircraft but cargo capacity is important for us. It is under discussion at high levels in the board now at Turkish Airlines,” Levent Konukçu, senior vice-president of investment management at Turkish Airlines, told the Istat Europe event in Istanbul Sept. 23.

He said the airline was looking at the Boeing 787, the Airbus A350, up to A380, or the Boeing 777X.
Airbus and Boeing have been trying to sell their largest aircraft, the 525-seat A380 and 467-seat 747-8, to Turkish Airlines as it seeks to use its geographical position and popularity as a final destination to capture traffic from both European rivals and the mainly transit-based Gulf carriers.

The airline aims to increase annual passenger numbers from 111 million in 2014 to 390 million in 2035, according to slides presented to the conference of about 1,000 aircraft financiers.

Turkish Airline’s Chief Executive Temel Kotil did not rule out orders for the very large jets at the same conference, but placed greater emphasis on smaller twin-engined, long-haul jets, which have outsold the four-engined jumbos in recent years.

“We are not against any type of aircraft but recently we have [ordered] the 777 for long-haul and Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies for medium-haul,” he said, while the airline has also ordered the Airbus A330 long-haul jet.