Yesterday it was announced that Turkish Airlines is in the process of finalizing an order for 40 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which is a deal that’s valued at over 10 billion USD. This is a huge order, though as of now we don’t know all the details yet, including how many of the orders are “firm” rather than “options,” what the delivery timeline looks like, etc.
The timing of the announcement coincides with Turkey’s president visiting the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, so I think it’s safe to assume that the move was at least partly political. If state-sponsored airlines are going to spend billions of dollars on planes, they might as well try to get some political goodwill out of it. At the same time, the 787-9 is a great plane, and long term seems like it would be a great fit for the Turkish fleet.
Well, it looks like the 787 isn’t the only plane that Turkish plans on buying.
Reuters is reporting that Turkish is allegedly also talking to Airbus over an order of up to 40 Airbus A350-900 jets:
Turkish Airlines has begun talks with Airbus to buy up to 40 A350 jetliners worth $12.4 billion at list prices, hours after striking a similar deal with its U.S. rival Boeing, people familiar with the airline said on Friday.
Hours later, Turkish Airlines also sought prices for up to 40 wide-body A350-900 jets, the people said. The airline is one of the world’s fastest-growing carriers and traditionally maintains a balanced fleet.
It’s normal for airlines to buy planes from both Airbus and Boeing, in hopes of getting as good of a deal as possible. I tend to think that nothing is a sure bet until it’s actually finalized, so:
- I wonder if Turkish’s order with Boeing is actually a sure thing; the two companies seem to be in agreement about the order, though until the order is finalized, I tend to think it’s subject to change
- Could all of this just be a negotiating tactic to get Airbus and Boeing to give them the best deal possible, and they’ll end up only going with one aircraft manufacturer?
- While Turkish’s order with Boeing is supposedly for 40 planes, I wouldn’t be surprised if 20 of those are options, and then Turkish strikes a similar deal with Airbus, with a similar number of options, meaning that in the end they’re really only committing to 40 longhaul aircraft
I’ll be very curious to see how this unfolds over the coming days. Turkish still has a young fleet, so it’s not like they need to replace planes overnight. I also can’t imagine that they want to almost double their longhaul fleet over the next several years, given that just several months ago they were parking longhaul planes.
Something tells me this situation isn’t quite as straightforward as it’s being made out to me.
I am curious about the new upcoming flight on THY. Ben, could you comment on what can they do with those planes. On which flights they may want to increase the frequency? Or any options for new long haul non stop flights to South America or Australia? I think those planes cannot do that from IST but still curious?
Also ordered S-400 missiles to Russia gave deposit and then cancelled. All politics. Turkish Airlines balance sheet in Red and has very big losses. I do not think can manage to buy 80 planes.
Makes sense. Airbus is way more comfortable to fly than Boeing.
Garuda signed an LOI for 30 787s and 30 A350s like 2 years ago, and to the best of my understanding, neither order has been finalized, and they only plan on selecting one too.
They have a lot of charters, look for example at VKO-AYT, it's up to six widebodies daily on that route alone! They need planes.
New ist airport*
The new Idy airport will be finished in 2019, so they need a lot of plane to compete with me3
The queue for both planes are long enough such that Turkish will have obtained them by the time the new mega airport is finished - that is unless they go the way of AUH.
I agree with previous commenters. Whatever they're buying, I hope they install new business class seats. Might be the Apex Suites if they want a dense layout in business class like they have now. Should be interesting
I hope they do. They're so much more comfortable than the 787s!
Can you explain how airplane ordering works - like firm order vs option vs MoM etc?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-airlines-begins-talks-for-40-boeing-787-dreamliner-jets.aspx?pageID=238&nID=118265&NewsCatID=345
According to a local Turkish news outlet, it's a 20+20 order on the 787's with deliveries to start in 2019. Not being reported anywhere else though, so take it with a grain of salt.
Lucky, seems like bullet point 3 could be a real possibility if the article is accurate.
They would be better off investing in there rapidly deteriorating Business Class soft product.
With all those new planes, if they don't park them, IST is going to be even a bigger mess than it is now. Hopefully the new airport is finished in the near as opposed to the ever more distant future...