Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has ordered six A350-900s from Airbus with delivery slots in 2022 and 2023.
The carrier did not disclose any further information in its one-line investor update. The imminent delivery timings have sparked widespread speculation that six units are those not taken up by Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) due to European sanctions banning the export of aircraft to Russia. Turkish Airlines did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment.
The Turkish carrier's widebody fleet comprises thirteen A330-200s, thirty-seven A330-300s, six A350-900s (with twenty more - including the newly added six - on firm order), thirty-three B777-300(ER)s, and fifteen B787-9s.
Aeroflot has firm orders for thirteen A350-900s (on top of nine already delivered). Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) has openly admitted that it was in talks about taking over at least some of these orders as Airbus is unable to deliver them.
