Turkish Airlines is the world’s largest carrier by destinations served, flying to a stunning 325 airports globally before the pandemic. Fly to so many cities requires a fleet to match, and Turkish flies a diverse set of over 300 aircraft. Here’s a look at Turkish Airlines’ fleet in 2021.
At glance
Turkish Airlines is a loyal customer to both Airbus and Boeing, flying hundreds of aircraft from each manufacturer. Flying to so many destinations means range and capacity are critical to the fleet, and Turkish has invested heavily in keeping its fleet young and agile. The 300+ fleet only has an average age of 7 years.
Here’s an overview of the fleet,
- 66 Airbus A321-200s
- 38 A330-300s
- 40 Boeing 737-800s
- 33 777-300ERs
- 31 A320neos
- 23 A330-200s
- 15 787-9s
- 15 737-900ERs
- 15 737 MAX 8s
- 11 A320-200s
- Eight 777Fs
- Six A319-100s
- Three 737 MAX 9s
In total, Turkish Airlines operates a fleet of 309 aircraft today, only 10% of which are currently in storage.
Indeed, Turkish Airlines stands out in its fleet diversity. While rival Qatar Airways also flies a relatively diverse operation, Turkish has not shied away from ordering different variants to make a business case to fly to more destinations. So how does Turkish use these aircraft? Let’s find out.
Everywhere
The standouts of the Turkish fleet are the A321 (97) and 737 families (73). These planes are in charge of domestic operations, short-haul to the Middle East, medium-haul into Europe and Africa. Considering the impressive range of the A321neo, these aircraft can be deployed on routes up to seven to eight hours away that may not justify larger jets.
However, while the narrowbodies take care of short or low-demand flights, there’s a huge widebody fleet to handle the rest. The A330 is the most popular aircraft here (61) and can be found on routes to the US, Western Europe, Middle East, South, and East Asia. Nowadays, the 787-9 and A350-900 have also been added to flagship routes to replace retiring A330-200s.
The 777-300ER is reserved for the longest and heaviest routes in the network. This includes flights to New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing (pre-pandemic), Tokyo, Singapore, Amsterdam, and many more. The 77Ws are also fairly young, averaging under eight years, but feature the old business class product.
More coming
While Turkish already boasts the biggest fleet in the Middle East (ahead of Emirates and Qatar), the airline is not done yet. The carrier currently has 18 A350s and 10 787s in order to continue growing the fleet. Narrowbody orders are much larger, with 57 more A321neo family jets in tow and seven more 737 MAX. However, Turkish could also exercise options for 50 more MAX jets if the demand is right.
For now, the pandemic has done little to knock Turkish off its throne as the most connected airline. Even today, the airline serves well over 200 destinations globally and has a fleet to match.
What do you think about Turkish Airlines’ fleet makeup? Let us know in the comments!
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