220-plane mega order: Turkish leaves Boeing high and dry and goes 'all-in' with Airbus

The announcement, which has been expected for several weeks, was made official in recent hours: Turkish Airlines ordered 220 new planes from Airbus, with an option to increase it to 355 at a later stage. Confirmed orders are to the tune of 150 Airbus A321neo and 70 Airbus A350s, including 50 from the -900 series, 15 from the -1000 series, and 5 freighters.

The equally long-awaited encore with Boeing was not there, at least for the time being. Traditionally, the Turkish airline has always split its orders between Airbus and Boeing (from which it ordered Boeing 737 and Boeing 787) in recent years. Instead, this time Has gone 'all in' with European manufacturer. A choice on which may have weighed The difficult relations running between Turkey and the United States in recent months. because of the crisis between Israel and Palestine, with Ankara siding 'without ifs and buts' with the Palestinians and the United States supporting the Israeli counterattack in the Gaza Strip since October 7.

Leaving politics and returning to aircraft, this latest order brings Turkish's number of orders with Airbus to 504, with 'only' 212 airplanes already delivered. Boeing for its part has built and for Turkish 192 airplanes of the airplanes in the fleet. and he is left with only six 737 MAX 8s and eight 787-9s yet to be delivered.

The Turkish company currently has in service 85 Boeing 737-800s and 15 737-900ERs which will have to be replaced in the short to medium term with new, higher-performance machines. We will see if he does this by choosing Boeing products, or by preferring aircraft of similar capability but built by Airbus.

Currently, the company's fleet serving the largest number of destinations in the world consists of 342 airplanes, including 6 Airbus A319s, 12 Airbus A320s, 106 Airbus A321s, 57 Airbus A330s, 16 Airbus A350s, 80 Boeing 737s, 43 Boeing 777s, and 22 Boeing 787-9s.

The average age is 8.5 years and the only long-haul aircraft 'of a certain age' (likely to be replaced by newer aircraft in the coming years) are 10 Airbus A330-200s, which are between 16 and 18 years old.

Therefore, the vast majority of A350s that are part of the very recent order will go to increase the size of the fleet, rather than renew it, according to a plan by Turkish itself that aims to have a fleet of about 800 airplanes in 10 years, that would make it one of the largest airlines in the world. Larger by far than its most direct competitors, which only the big two Gulf-based Emirates and Qatar Airways.

A giant that, again according to the company's own calculations, would be able to 'pumping' $140 billion into the economy of the country straddling the Bosphorus by 2033.

• Airbus
• Boeing