Earlier this year, Turkish Airlines revealed that it was nearing an aircraft order for up to 600 jets, which could be one of the biggest aircraft orders in history. Even though Turkish Airlines is already huge, the airline has big growth plans, and wants to double in size in the next decade (by 2033).
Up until now we’ve only been able to speculate as to what aircraft Turkish Airlines will order to expand its fleet, since the airline currently has well over a dozen aircraft variants. However, now we’re getting some more concrete details…
In this post:
Turkish Airlines prepares to make big Airbus jet order
Turkish Airlines has confirmed on its investor relations webpage that the company is preparing to purchase up to 355 aircraft from Airbus, comprised of 240 firm orders and 115 options. The intent is that these planes will be delivered between 2026 and 2033, and the airline states that a public announcement will follow the official approval from the company’s board.
While the exact details of this order remain to be seen, a couple of days ago Turkish state media was reporting that Turkish Airlines’ Airbus jet order would include 250 A321neos, 85 A350-900s, 15 A350-1000s, and five A350Fs (freighters). Now, as you can tell, that includes both the firm orders and options that are planned, so we’ll have to wait and see how that shakes out.
Turkish Airlines’ current fleet consists of all kinds of planes. Narrow bodies include A319s, A320s, A320neos, A321s, A321neos, 737-800s, 737 MAX 8s, 737-900s, and 737 MAX 9s. Wide body aircraft include A330-200s, A330-300s, A350-900s, 777-300ERs, and 787-9s.
My take on Turkish Airlines’ fleet renewal
Turkish Airlines currently has a serious issue with fleet consistency. Not only does the airline have so many different types of aircraft, but there’s even passenger experience inconsistency within each fleet type. With that in mind, I’m really happy to see this potential order from Turkish Airlines.
Turkish Airlines going all-in on the A321neo for narrow body jets is a sensible decision. The airline already ordered 92 of these, so the fleet could eventually consist of nearly 350 of these planes. The A321neo has great economics, and given the size of Turkish Airlines’ network plus the company’s goal of doubling passenger count, it makes sense to focus on the larger variants of narrow body jets. Turkish’s A321neos are very comfortable planes to fly, and I imagine any future delivery jets will have similar interiors.
When it comes to the A350, the airline has already ordered 36 of these, so if the rumored numbers are mostly for firm orders, Turkish Airlines could have the world’s largest A350 fleet. The only thing that potentially surprises me is that Turkish Airlines is only planning on picking up 15 of the larger A350-1000 variant.
I suspect we’ll also see a Boeing order from Turkish Airlines soon. I think it’s a given that the airline will pick up more 787s, though I hope we also see some 777Xs ordered, as they would be the largest planes in Turkish Airlines’ fleet. Perhaps the airline didn’t go all-in on the A350-1000 because it’s banking on the 777X.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines has confirmed that it’s nearing an Airbus order for up to 355 jets, including 240 firm orders and 115 options. It’s believed that around two-thirds of those orders will be for the A321neo, while around one-third of the orders will be for A350s, with the bulk of the orders being for the -900 variant rather than the -1000 variant.
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ planned Airbus order?
No relevant comment on speculation. Silly question.
A few thoughts.
It's great that Turkish Airlines is placing another order to fulfill its goal of world domination.
I hope at least a good portion of the A321neos are given lie flat seats in business class. Turkish Airlines often flies narrow-bodies on longer flights to smaller cities in Europe, Africa, and Central Asia, some of which are red eyes, and they will likely fly more of those types of routes with this plane, so...
A few thoughts.
It's great that Turkish Airlines is placing another order to fulfill its goal of world domination.
I hope at least a good portion of the A321neos are given lie flat seats in business class. Turkish Airlines often flies narrow-bodies on longer flights to smaller cities in Europe, Africa, and Central Asia, some of which are red eyes, and they will likely fly more of those types of routes with this plane, so they need lie flat seats on them to be competitive.
I hope they take the opportunity of getting many new A350s to install a new business class seat that is comfortable and has direct aisle access. They should install them fleetwide. Their long haul hard product is too much of a letdown for what is otherwise a great airline. The 777s and A330s still have the old 2-3-2 and 2-2-2 configured business class respectively. The 787s and A350s (originally delivered to TK) have a seat that is intended for regional business class yet they use these aircraft on 11-14 hour long flights. It's a poorly designed seat with cramped legroom and privacy shields blocking the window. I heard the A330s alone have like three different business class seats or something. Not only are all the different seats not that great but there's a lack of consistency. The new business class seats needs to be considerably better than anything they currently have. There needs to be a door. I would be happy with them giving the entire widebody fleet the new suites they have on the ex-Aeroflot A350s.
I wonder if the A350s will be able to fly to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane nonstop. It would really benefit them to have all of them nonstop from Istanbul as it could turn them into a major player on the Kangaroo Route. Especially considering how big the rest of their network is. They fly to plenty of smaller European airports that the ME3 don't largely because they have their advantage of Istanbul being considerably closer to the rest of Europe than Dubai, Doha, or Abu Dhabi (LHR/CDG/AMS/FRA/ZRH/DUB-IST are all 3 hours shorter than the equivalent to DXB and can be comfortably flown by narrow-bodies) and a significantly larger and more diverse narrow-body fleet allowing for greater flexibility. People would be able to fly from Sydney (SYD) to Skopje (SKP) one-stop via IST for instance. Oceania is really the last remaining gap in their enormous global network.
I don't think the planned flights that will stop in Singapore are going to be nearly as appealing as nonstop flights would be. They need to seize the opportunity before Qantas launches their Project Sunrise flights.
Honestly, Turkish Airlines could be among the world's best airlines if they had a better hard product in premium classes, they had better customer service, and they weren't as corruptly run.
Turkish Airlines should carefully evaluate the potential downsides of expanding its fleet in the current economic and market conditions. Prudent financial planning, market analysis, and environmental sustainability considerations are crucial before making such a significant decision.
I'm sure the CEO is reading the OMAAT comments and is now carefully considering your sage advice.
(1) How many screen names do you have? Even if not a native English speaker, your odd and childlike syntax gives you away each time.
(2) Airlines don't make 30yr+ fleet plans on a whim.
Totally agree with Never in Doubt. Tom Rodgers advice is just stupid.
(1) what are you talking about?? Who do you think I am??
(2) That's why I encouraged a prudent financial analysis.
@Tom Rodgers, You're correct, other tom was in the wrong and looks like an uneducated fool saying things like that! Perhaps he doesn't understand financial planning.
AI (including IX) and TK will be operating most of the world’s major aircraft types: A319s (probably on the way out), A320(neo)s, A321(neo)s, A350s (-900s and -1000s), 737s (NGs/MAXes), 777s (-300ERs/777Xs), 787s (-8s/9s). My word, that’s some commitment to fleet diversity, something that Alaska, Southwest and Ryanair with their 100% 737 fleets will shudder at.
Sounds very much like Air India’s massive order in February, with one big difference: Indian airlines other than Jet and to some extent Kingfisher never really cared for the A330, which is also true for Japanese airlines.
Tried to say that Turkish operates more A330s than anyone else. Couldn’t.
Tried to say that Turkish operates more A330s than anyone else. Couldn’t.
That was the universe trying to save you. ;)
Turkish is the 2nd largest A330 operator. Delta has about 20 more units.
If TK does order the 777x, what destinations would they not be able to reach from IST?
A350-1000 has more range than 777-9.
777-8 has more range than A350-1000.
An extra 45 nautical miles. Turkish would love to do IST-SYD non-stop, but neither the 35K nor the 778 has the legs for it, particularly west-bound on the way home.
but neither the 35K nor the 778 has the legs for it, particularly west-bound on the way home.
So, the same aircraft that's being sold as able to do westbound Sydney-London nonstop yearround in 4 classes, somehow won't be able to operate a route 1,200mi shorter....?
Hmmm.
And yet they will magically fly SYD-LHR. 4 hours longer than SYD-IST. Magic!