Turkish state fleet buys new plane

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet

Hürriyet Photo

A new plane is set to be added to Turkey’s state fleet, the Airbus A330-200, a long-range double corridor plane, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday.

There are currently seven jets in total in Turkey’s fleet, including one A319 jet, two G550 jets, two GIV jets and two Cessna Citation V type jets.

The 2000 model Airbus A319 Corporate Jet (CJ), titled TC-ANA, is the biggest one of the fleet. It was used by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for five years in the Italian Air Force inventory. Turkey bought the plane in 2005.

The A319’s seat capacity is 36, with a crew of three pilots and five cabin attendants participating in each flight. In longer flights, one extra pilot and one cabin attendant can join the flights. The plane can fly for nine hours without fuel transplant. With a range of around 8,000 kilometers, it can reach Canada from Istanbul, but it has to be refueled in order to reach the United States from Istanbul.

There are 22 captain pilots and 18 cabin crew members working in the Turkish Airlines’ General Aviation VIP Plane Department, and this crew does not work on Turkish Airlines flights. All education standards are in compliance with Turkish Airlines rules. In addition, the Turkish Airlines technical teams are responsible for the maintenance work on these jets.