Turkish Airlines postpones $5bn financing to 2024

An agreement between Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul New) and Airbus to delay the delivery of new aircraft will see the airline postpone raising TRY42 billion lira (USD5.2 billion) of financing until after 2024, according to Chief Financial Officer Murat Şeker. He said the airline was close to a similar delivery deal with Boeing, reported Daily Sabah, the Turkish pro-government daily. Overall, Turkish Airlines had postponed USD5 billion of financing needs for aircraft purchases until after 2024, he said. The airline has fifty-four B737-8s and twenty B737-9s on order from Boeing, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. The agreement with Airbus, which was announced last month, would extend the aircraft delivery timeline as far as 2028, Şeker said. Annual deliveries would be reduced to “reasonable levels” and some might be cancelled if the need arose, he said in a call with investors after the airline published its 3Q20 results. The airline in a stock market announcement on October 23, 2020, announced it had reached an agreement with Airbus in which certain undelivered orders were rescheduled in line with the airline’s operational and financial capabilities. The airline had seventy-one A321-200Ns and twenty-five A350-900s on order, the first A350-900s having already been delivered on October 22. The carrier posted a net loss of TRY946 million (USD119.1 million) in 3Q20, compared to a profit of TRY3.71 billion (USD467.1 million) for the same period a year ago. Leading Turkish investment firm Iş Yatırım had predicted a higher net loss of TRY1.42 billion (USD178.7 million) for the period in question, but said deferred tax revenues and grant loan revenues related to increased aircraft and engine purchases were effective in reducing losses. Iş Yatırım said in a report that one of the main factors that helped reduce the net loss was the deferred tax income, which was TRY793 million (USD99.8 million) for 3Q20. Meanwhile, Şeker denied that Turkish Airlines was discussing selling a stake in the airline, or a capital injection, with the Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF). Reuters last month reported the parties were in talks to provide emergency funding to the flag carrier. He said Turkish Airlines would operate flights to 200 destinations, out of a total 324, in November 2020.