On December 15, 2023, Turkish Airlines ordered 220 Airbus jets. The order consisting of a mix of Airbus A321neo and A350 aircraft is a major step toward Turkish Airlines achieving the goals it set earlier this year in its...
On December 15, 2023, Turkish Airlines ordered 220 Airbus jets. The order consisting of a mix of Airbus A321neo and A350 aircraft is a major step toward Turkish Airlines achieving the goals it set earlier this year in its strategy for the next decade.
Continue reading to learn more.
Turkish Airlines’ latest order includes four different variants of Airbus aircraft. (Credit: Airbus)
Turkish Airlines Orders 220 Airbus Aircraft
Turkish Airlines’ fleet renewal started in 2018 when the airline ordered its first batch of Boeing 787-9s and Airbus A350-900s. The first airframes of the types were delivered to the airline in 2019 and 2020 respectively, and the two manufacturers are continuing to fulfill the orders to this day.
The airline then expanded its A350-900 backlog by ordering four more in July 2023 and 10 more in A350-900s.
None of those orders were even remotely close to the mega order placed by Turkish Airlines that Airbus announced on December 15, 2023, though. The order consists of 150 Airbus A321neos and 70 Airbus A350s. The latter includes 50 A350-900s, 15 A350-1000s, and 5 A350Fs (a variant stull under development that was recently also ordered by Cathay Pacific).
With this new order, Turkish Airlines has 292 unfulfilled firm orders for Airbus aircraft. In addition to the 220 airframes ordered earlier this week, the backlog mostly consists of previously ordered A321neos and some A350-900s.
One Step Toward Turkish Airlines’ 2033 Vision
The latest Turkish Airlines order which was only confirmed a couple of days ago but hinted at back in November 2023 brings the airline one step closer to achieving the targets it set out back in April 2023 in its strategy for the coming decade. The airline plans to achieve these targets by 2033 – i.e. the 100th anniversary of the airline’s founding.
The order will help Turkish Airlines with achieving its targets related to growing its fleet (800 aircraft by 2033), increasing revenues (50+ billion dollars by 2033), margins (20%-25% EBITDAR over the next decade), and so on.
More importantly for passengers, though, the new order will help with the following targets:
Growing passenger network to 400 destinations Completing cabin transformation to enhance in-flight experience
Currently, Boeing 777s and 737s can be seen on a good portion of Turkish Airlines flights.
With over 350 destinations in its network already, Turkish Airlines is well on its way to the target 400 destinations. That said, the remaining few dozen will undoubtedly be exponentially more harder than the first couple hundred given that the airline already operates all the “low hanging fruit” destinations.
Given the airline’s extensive footprint in Europe, Asia, and Africa, it will be interesting to see where the growth will be focused. Opening up more destinations in the Americas or expanding its network to include Australia would be two options.
I would, of course, welcome additional service to Japan – in that case, Nagoya would be the most likely given that the airline already serves both airports in Tokyo and also restarted service to Osaka Kansai recently.
As far as enhancing in-flight experience through cabin transformation, Turkish Airlines currently operates a diverse fleet not only in terms of types (not that much of an issue for passengers) but also in terms of seat types.
The difference in cabins is most notable in the airline’s widebody fleet. Its previous generation aircraft (777-300ERs and A330s) are equipped with outdated business class seats (the 777-300ERs even have middle seats in business class due to a 2-3-2 layout). Its 787s and A350s, on the other hand, are equipped with much more modern staggered business class seats.
Growing the share of routes operated by A350s (and 787s) will improve the average onboard experience considerably.
Turkish Airlines operates both the A321ceo and A321neo.
Summary
In April 2024, Turkish Airlines announced bold targets it aims to hit by the time of its 100th anniversary in 2033. Among others, the targets include roughly doubling its fleet to 800 aircraft, adding dozens of destinations for a total of 400, and improving its onboard experience.
On December 15, 2023, the airline took a major step toward hitting those targets by placing a major order for 220 Airbus aircraft. In addition to 150 A321neos, the airline also added 70 A350s to its backlog with the manufacturer.
The post Turkish Airlines Places a Mega Order for 220 Airbus Aircraft appeared first on KN Aviation.