-PARIS
On Friday, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) signed an agreement to purchase 25 twin-engine, long-range Airbus A350-900 planes.
The agreement was signed at the Élysée Palace, Paris, during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s official visit to France with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Turkish Airlines board chairman İlker Aycı said the order will “play a key role in our growing business in the years to come. The increased business volume for the local Turkish supplier industry by Airbus will be a great gain for the sector.”
Turkey, which has been a partner in all Airbus aircraft programs, has been an integral part of the Airbus supply chain for nearly 20 years. Turkish Airlines operates a mixed Airbus and Boeing fleet of 331 (passenger and cargo) aircraft, operating to 251 international and 49 domestic destinations.
In September 2017, Turkish Airlines announced an order for 40 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. When finalized, the order would be worth nearly $11 billion at list prices. It would be Turkish Airlines’ first order for the 787.
Airbus has 900 and 1000 model A350 aircrafts that use Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines, the report said. The only difference between the two planes is capacity, as the 900 series can carry 300 passengers while the 1000 series can carry 340. The A350’s 900 and 1000 models received 858 orders from 45 airlines and leasing companies with 133 of them delivered to 17 airlines. The aircraft flew around 490,000 hours to more than 150 points. They have also carried around 19 million passengers to date.
