Turkish flag carrier, Turkish Airlines has placed an order with Airbus for a total of 220 passenger and freighter aircraft.
The order consists of 150 Airbus A321neo, 50 A350-900 and 15 A350-1000. Additionally, an order of five A350F freighters has also been included. According to Airbus, this will take the carrier’s fleet of Airbus aircraft to a staggering 504 jets.
Rumours of this order surfaced back in early November, with many expecting a confirmation announcement at the Dubai Airshow, however the deal was clearly yet to be finalised.
Turkish Airlines already operates a mix of Airbus A320 family aircraft (of both CEO and NEO generations), along with both variants of the A330ceo and the A350-900. It also operates a slightly smaller number of Boeing jets, including the 737NG and Max family, 777-300ER and 787-9 Dreamliner. The five A350F freighters will join a fleet of two Airbus A310-300F, 12 A330-200F, two Boeing 747-400BCF and eight 777F freighters.
At this stage it is unknown as to how many, if any of the order of the A321neo are the extended range LR and XLR variants.
Matt is a Berlin-based writer and reporter for International Flight Network. Originally from London, he has been involved in aviation from a very young age and has a particular focus on aircraft safety, accidents and technical details.