The Turkish national flagship carrier is queuing up for 50 aircraft from France-based Airbus and US-based Boeing with the two manufacturers to secure orders for 25 planes each.
The announcement confirmed by the airlines’s CEO Ilker Ayci notes that the airline has also signed up for optional 10 others from both suppliers – meaning a total of 60 aircraft split half and half between the two rivals, Airbus and Boeing.
The orders will concern Airbus’s wide body A350-900 aircraft and Dreamline B787-9 aircraft.
The deliveries will be made in batches: six in 2019, 14 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 11 in 2023 and 7 in the year 2024, AFP reports.
Ayci welcomed the move, which falls in the line with the ambition of the airline to strengthen its fleet and meet up passengers’ needs at Istanbul third airport to be unveiled in October this year.
Turkey hopes to make Istanbul third airport located by Black Sea coast a global hub that will enable the airline to increase its number of passengers.
In 2017, the airline flew 67 million passengers, up from 14 million in 2005.
With the new airport, the target is set at 74 million. The Turkish Airlines currently operates 329 aircraft. With the intention to rival Emirates Fly, airline officials envisage to ramp up the fleet to 424 planes by 2023.
