Turkish Airlines, a Turkey-based airline company, has announced that it has ordered a new batch of aircraft from Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer.
The airline intends to acquire five new A330 passenger aircraft, in addition to the 104 Airbus aircraft that it already has in operation.
The new aircraft will be operated on medium and long haul routes from the airline’s hub in Istanbul, Turkey.
Temel Kotil, the chief executive of Turkish Airlines, said, ‘As one of the fastest growing airlines, our strategy of growth needs to be fully supported by efficient, reliable and profitable aircraft.
This new order for A330s reinforces our commitment to a family of aircraft which already helps us to achieve our ambitious expansion plans, in a profitable and sustainable manner.’
All Airbus aircraft have a unique cockpit and operationally similar characteristics, allowing airlines to utilise the same set of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers that have had previous experience on other Airbus aircraft, for the newest fleets.
John Leahy, the chief operating officer for customers, at Airbus, said, ‘We are very proud to win a repeat order from Turkish Airlines as it shows without doubt a strong endorsement for the A330 unique combination of unbeatable economics, versatility and fuel efficiency. In response to the continuing strong demand, we’re making the A330 better and better, with new higher weight variants to offer more payload-range capability while keeping reliability at top level.’
Currently the airline is offering a four times daily flight schedule from London Heathrow Airport to Istanbul, and once daily flight from London Stansted Airport to Istanbul.
