The Seattle Times is reporting that Turkish Airlines has indicated its interest in both the Boeing 747-8i and Airbus A380.  CEO Hamdi Topçu apparently has said they’ll decide before the year end on this order. 

Such an order strikes me as hubris for this airline.  Yes, they’ve done pretty well for the past few years and they aren’t a tiny airline but they aren’t so big that their network could possibly justify such a large aircraft in its fleet.   Despite their entrance into the Star Alliance, they’re still a 2nd tier player at best.  Even additional 777-300ER aircraft would cause me to raise my eyebrows questioning this. 

Much of their success has been witnessed over the past 3 years and, on the outside, that would appear to make them attractive going forward.  The truth is, as competition with European and Middle East carriers heats up, I think this erodes their growth.  Furthermore, Turkey’s current political climate makes it somewhat less certain as a place to do business for the near future. 

Bottom line:  I don’t think they’ll actually order the aircraft and, if they do order such large aircraft, I don’t think they’ll actually take delivery.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax