Ukraine Crisis: Turkish Airlines Increases Airbus A350 Order: Snatches Slots from Aeroflot

LONDON – Turkish Airlines is snapping up A350-900s that are available at short notice.

The airline is taking delivery of a few aircraft built for Aeroflot – reports German portal aero.de.

Turkish Airlines is taking six more Airbus A350-900s.

The aircraft will join the fleet in 2022 and 2023, the airline announced in Istanbul on Wednesday but the carrier did not disclose officially any further information in its investor update.

According to Airbus circles, the deal covers aircraft from Aeroflot, which Airbus has recently already been unable to deliver to the actual customer due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Three of these aircraft are already completely finished – Turkish Airlines wants to take delivery of the A350-900s with the Aeroflot cabins installed.

Aeroflot has ordered 22 A350-900s from Airbus.

Before the EU sanctions over Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Airbus had delivered only seven aircraft, with the remaining 15 to follow by the end of 2023.

According to insiders, Turkish will take delivery of three A350-900s destined for Aeroflot. They have a two-class deck configuration for 316 passengers: 28 in business class in a 1-2-1 configuration and 288 in economy class in a 3-3-3 configuration.

In comparison, the A350s taken back by Turkish also have a two-class deck configuration for 329 passengers: 32 in business class in a 1-2-1 configuration and 297 in economy class in a 3-3-3 configuration.

Turkish Airlines selects A350 XWB in 2018. The airline has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire 25 A350-900 aircraft plus five options.

The A350 XWB is an all-new family of mid-size wide-body long-haul airliners shaping the future of air travel, featuring the latest aerodynamic design, carbon fiber fuselage, and wings, plus new fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Together, these latest technologies translate into unrivaled levels of operational efficiency, with a 25 percent reduction in fuel burn and emissions, and significantly lower maintenance costs.

Airbus has collected orders for 918 A350 aircraft: 743 A350-900, 153 A350-100, and 22 A350F. By the end of April Airbus delivered 480 A350s: 416 A350-900 and 64 A350-1000.

Turkish widebody fleet

Turkish Airlines has over 300 aircraft in its commercial fleet and services over 200 destinations worldwide. The airline operates a mixed fleet of both Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

Operating with one of the world’s youngest fleets, flag carrier airline aims to increase its fuel-saving by enhancing its fleet with new generation aircraft.

Turkish carrier’s widebody passenger fleet comprises 114 aircraft: 23 A330-200s, 37 A330-300s, six A350-900s, 33 B777-300(ER)s and 15 B787-9s. Turkish waiting for delivery of 30 widebody aircraft: 20 A350-900s and 10 B787-9 Dreamliners.