Turkish Cargo adds Porto to freighter network

This week, Turkish Cargo added a Porto (OPO) stop to a weekly flight previously operating as a round-trip service between Istanbul (IST) and Madrid (MAD) on Sundays.

Recent refinements to Turkish Cargo’s medium-widebody network, like the Porto stop, which is served with an A330-200F, shed some light on the interplay between passenger bellies and the carrier’s large widebody network. Turkish Cargo currently operates ten A330-200Fs, and took delivery of the last of the airframe type it had on order with Airbus last September, according to Cargo Facts’ FAT Database. The carrier uses the aircraft to connect smaller cargo markets, such as Amman (AMM), Belgrade (BEG), Casablanca (CMN) and many others as either direct flights or via intermediate stops.

Looking ahead to future fleet developments, based on outstanding orders, most growth is modeled on the 777F. Last year Turkish added three 777Fs to the two it already had in its fleet, bringing the total number of 777Fs operating in its fleet to five. Turkish Cargo also has three 777Fs on order with Boeing, slated for delivery in September 2019, January 2020, and February 2020. As would be expected, the large widebodies have opened up additional long-haul destinations in Asia, the Americas and Europe, such as such as Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), Sao Paulo’s Campinas Airport (VCP) and Maastricht (MST).

Apart from Turkish Cargo’s own-operated fleet, the carrier also ACMI-leases lift from two other carriers based in Turkey, including a 747-400ERF from ACT Airlines, and three A310-300Fs from ULS Airlines Cargo.

Turkish Cargo’s growing freighter fleet, together with bellyhold capacity on Turkish Airlines’ far-reaching passenger fleet drove cargo tonnage up 21.7%, year-over-year to 1.4 million tonnes in 2018.