With Turkish Airlines delaying its 600 strong aircraft order due to delays & issues with engine production, it is beginning to highlight a big problem on its way to the industry.
We will take a look into what is going on in the Istanbul camp, as well as how this could become a wider issue for prospective customers buying aircraft moving forward.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
The Delay in Ordering from Turkish Airlines…
Initially, part of the order was going to be partially announced at the IATA AGM in Istanbul back in June, as well as the Paris Air Show.
This didn’t end up happening, and now Turkish Airlines has spoken out about this delay.
As per Simple Flying, the Head of Investor Relations for the carrier Mehmet Faith Korkmaz had this to say on the delay:
“While we are trying to decide on which aircraft type to place, we are also very close to investigating which engine types to get and which kind of a maintenance contract to get in addition to it.”
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“That’s the reason why we have not announced any decision yet.”
Such reasoning for investigation in engine choice has come around following the issues with Pratt & Whitney’s engines on the Airbus A320 Family.
Back in June, it was revealed that the airline had grounded four A321neo aircraft due to issues with the PW1100G-JM engines.
The carrier has signed a leasing deal with CDB Aviation for six 737 MAX 8 aircraft this year, but of course, it doesn’t scratch the surface in terms of the overall long term plans for fleet growth going into the future.
How This Will Become A Wider Issue…
Engine quality issues, which we have seen affecting the likes of Go First & IndiGo as well as Turkish Airlines, a wider issue is beginning to form as a result.
There are already tens of thousands of engines currently in the backlog across all manufacturers, and having issues like this is not going to help in terms of delivery timetables.
If this continues to be an issue, then it could change the mindset of airlines in making orders in the future, which will then hinder aircraft manufacturers as well.
At the moment, the likes of Boeing & Airbus have nothing to worry about, as their backlogs in orders are healthy.
However, if the issue continues to spiral out of control, could we enter a scenario where orders are cancelled because of delays?
We will ultimately need to see how the continued issues pan out in the short-term, but at the moment, it is not looking good.
Engine Suppliers Will Need to Get A Grip On This…
With this in mind, engine suppliers have got to get a grip on these issues, as delays to deliveries with existing orders will continue to put off the likes of Turkish Airlines in this space.
Looking ahead, it’s going to be interesting to see how much longer it will take the airline to order its behemoth 600-strong aircraft.
Suppliers will need to add a level of security and reassurance in order to get things over the line in the manufacturer space.
And that will be something the likes of Boeing & Airbus will continue to apply pressure on such engine suppliers going into the short and medium-term.
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