Turkey’s AnadoluJet eyes 737 MAX or A320neo

AnadoluJet (TK, Ankara Esenboga) is planning to order new-generation narrowbodies and could add the first B737 MAX or A320neo Family aircraft during the summer 2022 season, the senior vice-president (regional flights) at Turkish Airlines responsible for Anadolujet, Samil Karakaş, told Aviation Week.

“We will both renew our fleet with new aircraft and increase our total number of aircraft. Both aircraft are used by our parent company, Turkish Airlines. There are all kinds of infrastructure from maintenance to flight training,” he underlined.

Anadolujet currently operates forty in-house B737-800s, all of them sourced from the parent company. SunExpress (XQ, Antalya) operates a further thirteen of the type under a long-term wet-lease deal. The aircraft are 16.1 years old on average, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.

Karakaş highlighted that studies on fleet renewal are underway. And as AnadoluJet would like to increase its fleet to 64 units by the end of 2022, the first new-generation narrowbodies could start delivering later this year.

AnadoluJet was established as a domestic and short-haul international division of Turkish Airlines, operating out of Ankara Esenboga and Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen. It does not have its own AOC and operates under the code and certificate of its parent. However, a year ago, Turkish Airlines announced plans to spin off AnadoluJet into a certificated stand-alone airline. So far, these plans have not materialised.

Turkish Airlines did not respond to ch-aviation’s query about the status of Anadolujet’s certification.