Turkish Airlines expects to make fleet decision ‘soon’

Turkish Airlines expects to be ready to announce a decision on its large fleet order “soon.” The carrier is still in the decision process for the aircraft and engines, which is more complicated due to delivery delays and technical issues. For that reason, Turkish will likely source aircraft through operating leases to cover capacity demands through 2028, Chief Financial Officer Murat Seker said during the Q2/HY1 earnings call on Thursday.

The airline said in April that it would place an order for 600 aircraft as part of its growth strategy to double the airline in size and grow the fleet to 818 aircraft. On the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Istanbul in June, CEO Ahmet Bolat said that more time was needed to finalize the order. He attributed this in part to the presidential elections in Turkey and to the preference to secure agreements will all airframers and engine makers at the same time.