Turkish to expand freighter fleet

In a statement released on the last day of 2014, Turkish Airlines announced it had received Board approval for its 2015 budget, which, among other things, appears to include the acquisition of at least three more freighters.

The brief statement included the following targets for the coming year:

• Fleet expansion from the current 255 aircraft to 293 by the end of 2015., bringing the number of narrowbodies to 214, widebodies to 68, and freighters to 11.

• 2015 revenue is targeted at “approximately 12 billion USD.”

• 2015 passenger numbers to reach 63 million, with a load factor of 80.3%

Since Turkish’s freighter fleet is currently made up of five A330-200Fs and three A310-300Fs, the announcement implies the carrier will acquire three more freighters during the year. Turkish has not announced freighter orders, so the additional units could come via lease or through the purchase of used freighters, or through the conversion of passenger units (although this latter possibility seems unlikely).

We note that Turkish currently ACMI leases an A330-200F from Malaysian Airlines, so it is possible that only two additions are planned. Likewise, it is also possible that the carrier may want to retire some of its aging A310-300Fs, and may acquire more than three new units.