CF EMEA: Striving for freighter-to-belly balance

FRANKFURT — Turkish Airlines, which has a freighter fleet of ten A330-200Fs and seven 777Fs, took its seventh 777F in January and has one more unit on firm order for delivery in a month or so. The carrier also has an overall fleet of around 300 aircraft, including more than 100 widebody aircraft with cargo-friendly bellies.

Like all combination carriers, Turkish must find a way to make its freighters fit into its operations. This is a challenge for the airline, which flies to more than 300 destinations around the world.

In line with Boeing’s World Air Cargo Forecast, Turkish expects its freighters to continue carrying between 50% and 60% of its cargo traffic, with the bellies feeding the freighters and vice versa. The key is to ensure that both freighter and belly capacity are at optimum levels.

Turkish does not plan to add any more freighters in 2020.

In the clip below, Turhan Ozen, chief cargo officer of Turkish Airlines, discusses during the first session at Cargo Facts EMEA earlier this month how the carrier tries to balance its main-deck capacity with an ever-growing passenger fleet.