Turkish Airlines looks to defer A350s, mulls freighters

Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul New) will take delivery of its first A350-900s which are already under construction but is in talks with Airbus about the deferral of later, still-unbuilt units, Chairman İlker Aycı told Turkish daily Hürriyet. Aycı underlined that the airline will not postpone the deliveries of its forthcoming narrowbody jets but is also in talks with Boeing regarding the delivery schedule for its B787-9s. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Turkish Airlines has twenty-five A350-900s on firm order from Airbus, of which one – TC-LPA (msn 403) – is nearing completion and was originally due to debut on the carrier’s scheduled flights this month. A further six units have already been assigned but are not yet fully built. In turn, the airline has a further fourteen B787-9s on firm order on top of the 11 it already operates. Turkish Airlines’ order book also includes seventy-five A321-200neo, fifty-four B737-8s, and nine B737-9s.