Turkish Airlines fleet

Fokker F27 Friendships were delivered in 1960

Turkish Airlines started its operations on 20 May 1933 with a total of five aircraft: two Curtiss Kingbird, two Junkers F 13 and one Tupolev ANT-9.[1] The Tupolev ANT-9, the largest plane, was gifted to the Turkey by the Soviet Union. The first flight of the airline was operated by one of the Curtiss Kingbirds.[2] These aircraft were removed from the fleet in 1936 and were replaced by four de Havilland Dragon Rapide and four de Havilland Expresses.[3] The fleet development was low in the early-1940s,[4] and its size had remained the same until 1943, when the carrier added six de Havilland Dominies, the military version of the Dragon Rapide, to its fleet.[5] Five Junkers Ju 52 joined a year later in 1944.[6]

In late-1945, the airline bought 30 Douglas DC-3 and three Douglas C-47 aircraft.[7] These aircraft were used during the Second World War by the United States of America and were located in Cairo, Egypt. Many had faults, which led to their price being very low. The aircraft entered service in 1946 after each went through maintenance.[8] The purchase increased the fleet size of the carrier to 52 aircraft,[1] thereby making it the largest airline in the Middle East.[9] The interior of these aircraft, which were configured to the needs of the war when bought, were refurbished between 1946 and 1950 at the Turkish Aeronautical Association maintenance centre in Etimesgut Air Base.[10] fleet size dropped to 33 in 1947, as only the Douglas DC-3 and Douglas C-47s were kept.[11] Only one C-47 was left by 1954, which was removed in 1955.[12] Two C-47s were added back in 1957.[13]

In 1950, only 14 of the 33 aircraft were in operation; spare parts including engines were ordered from the United States to repair the rest.[14] In the mid-1950s, the number of Douglas DC-3s of the airline dropped to 16, several of which were inoperational. Seven were considered to be hangar queens that required a lot of maintenance, while five were getting revised in the Netherlands by Fokker. Due to financial difficulties, four planes were stuck in the Netherlands, from which point the airline started revising the DC-3s on its own. This turned out to be faster and significantly cheaper.[15] In 1956, seven de Havilland Herons joined the fleet,[7] but were removed three years later in 1959.[16] In 1958, five Vickers Viscounts were added to the fleet,[17] followed by six Fokker F27 Friendships in 1960.[16] Douglas DC-3 and C-47s kept flying until 1967.[18]

McDonnell Douglas DC-9s were the first jet aircraft of the airline

From 1959 onwards, major airports in Turkey were overhauled to be able to accommodate jet-engined aircraft.[19] In 1965, Turkish Airlines started a search for a jet aircraft to expand its fleet. Four types were initially considered for evaluation: BAC One-Eleven, Hawker Siddeley Trident, McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Sud Aviation Caravelle VI.[20] The Caravelle was quickly ruled out as it had crashed in Ankara a few years prior. A Trident was wet leased from British European Airways for a brief period but was found to be insufficient. In later stages, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-134 was offered as well to the airline by its manufacturer. The management decided to order the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 in 1966.[21] The next year, the airline leased a Douglas DC-9-10 registered as TC-JAA, which became the first jet-engined aircraft of Turkish Airlines, and was due to stay until the newly bought Douglas DC-9-30s were delivered.[22] Initially, the idea was to have the plane registered as TC-NAZ, but this was later changed, with the "J" in the registration denoting that it was a jet-engined aircraft; this practice was used in later aircraft as well.[23] One Douglas DC-7 was also leased from Sweden for a single year to meet the increasing passenger demand.[21] The next year, the carrier received two Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft.[24] Two more Douglas DC-9s were added to the fleet in 1969, followed by an additional four in 1970.[25] In 1971, the Vickers Viscounts were removed from the fleet.[24] In the same year, three Boeing 707s were leased to meet the increasing demand.[7][26]

A commission of Turkish Airlines released a report to choose the first wide-body aircraft of the airline in December 1971. In the report, the Douglas DC-10-10 was ranked the highest, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was second, while the Airbus A300 came third.[26] A final report in July 1972 advised against the L-1011 TriStar due to its existing engine problems. Talks with McDonnell Douglas began in August.[27] In the same month, Lockheed Corporation sent Turkish Airlines an offer for the L-1011 TriStar.[28] A committee from the manufacturer arrived at Istanbul to discuss a potential order. The discussion on 25 August resulted in the price of the planes being lowered to 17 million dollars per unit. Its competitor, the Douglas DC-10-10, had an earlier delivery date, but was 900,000 dollars more expensive per unit.[29] On 25 September 1972, the general directorate placed an order for three Douglas DC-10-10s.[30]

Three of the five Fokker F28 Fellowships crashed (aircraft pictured as Flight 301)

Between 1972 and 1973, five Fokker F28 Fellowships were added to the fleet,[7] the latter of which replaced the Fokker F27s, making the fleet fully consist of jet-engined aircraft.[31] Another Fokker F28 was leased and returned to Fokker after 42 days of service. The type was bought due to some short runways not being able to accommodate larger jets. The Fokker F27s were sold back to the Netherlands to pay for the new aircraft.[32] The leased Douglas DC-9-10 stayed in the fleet until 1973.[23] Four Boeing 727 aircraft joined a year later in 1974.[7] Three of the Fokker F28 Fellowships were declared hull losses after accidents in 1974, 1975 and 1979,[33] while the two remaining aircraft later crashed as Air Ontario Flight 1363 and Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746.[34] Between 1969 and 1975, the number of aircraft of Turkish Airlines increased from 16 to 21.[35] The airline was hit significantly by the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.[36]

By 1984, the Turkish Airlines had three de Havilland Canada Dash 7, five Boeing 707, two Fokker F28 Fellowship, nine Douglas DC-9, nine Boeing 727, and two Douglas DC-10 aircraft.[37] The fleet was made up of unrelated planes which weren't able to meet the demand of the flight network Turkish Airlines had.[38] In the 1980s, the airline made planes to order the Airbus A310, Boeing 757 or Boeing 767, with the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Veysel Atasoy leading the negotiations. The Airbus A310 had more cargo capacity and Airbus provided a discount, which led to the type being chosen. Initially, the Board wanted to place a firm order for three and have two options, but this was later increases to seven of each.[39] Four Airbus A310s joined the fleet in 1985, followed by three more in 1988.[40] Within 7 years, a total of 14 Airbus A310s were added to the fleet.[33] The de Havilland Canada Dash 7s were returned to their lessors after their contracts ended in 1986, marking the end of propeller aircraft operations of the airline.[2] In 1987, the Douglas DC-10, Fokker F28, as well as two Boeing 707 aircraft were transferred to the newly formed subsidiary Boğaziçi Hava Taşımacılığı (BHT) to standardize the fleet of Turkish Airlines.[41][37] From 1988 to 1989, plans were made to make changes to the fleet in order increase the productivity of the aircraft.[42] The main idea was to decrease the amount of types operated.[43]

The carrier wanted to remove the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 from its fleet by the late 1980s before moving them to Boğaziçi Hava Taşımacılığı

The company wanted to remove the Douglas DC-10s, still operated by BHT, as soon as possible since they often had faults which were difficult to fix, and their large capacity made them difficult to fill during the winter. Additionally, if one was to have an extensive maintenance check, the flight network would become hampered as two aircraft were needed to fill in for one DC-10. The demand for the type as a passenger aircraft was falling, but cargo variants stillad customers. The first and only airline interested in the two planes was FedEx, which eventually bought the planes and a spare engine. As a replacement for the DC-10, the Board of Directors considered the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and Airbus A340, both of which were in the development phase.[33] Turgut Özal, the 8th President of Turkey, wanted the airline to have the Boeing 747, and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure sent an official letter asking for the type to evaluated. The board came to the conclusion that adding the 747 would hurt the company even more, as the seasonal traffic of the airline meant that the type wouldn't hit the 80–90% load factor needed to break-even during the low season.[44]

The Airbus A340 was chosen over the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and ordered in 1990

The result of the fleet plannings made during the previous decade showed its results in the 1990s.[45] In January 1990, an internal commission set up to decide for the replacement of the Douglas DC-10 did its final voting after several rounds, and the Airbus A340 was unanimously chosen instead of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 due to its technical advantages and cost benefits. A few days later, CEO Cem Kozlu explained the decision to Turgut Öcal, who only accepted it after Kozlu became a guarantor.[46] Öcal brought up the Boeing 747 again several months later, when the Gulf War started. Kuwait Airways had four aircraft of the type, which were stored in Egypt due to the conflict. He asked Kozlu to lease the type until the conflict was resolved. By the time the complicated loan and insurance related affairs had been arranged, the conflict had turned into a war, and plans were abandoned.[47]

Around the same time, the commission also had to decide between the Boeing 737 Classics and the Airbus A320, with the latter being favoured by a slim margin. In the end, the Boeing 737 was chosen because the Airbus A320 had later delivery dates and new technical features that were difficult to fix in case a plane broke down at airports in Anatolia without adequate technical infrastructure. The company also didn't want to drift completely away from Boeing, with the majority of the airline's orders going to Airbus around that time.[48] An additional two Airbus A310s were delivered to the airline in 1990 and 1992, bringing the number of aircraft in its fleet to 32.[49] The Boeing 737 Classics were first delivered in 1991.[45] A further six Boeing 737-400 and two smaller Boeing 737-500s joined the fleet a year later in 1992.[50] The first Airbus A340-300 aircraft was delivered in 1993, which enabled the airline to fly to destinations in East Asia, such as Tokyo.[45] The fourth A340, registered TC-JDM, would become famous in the country for its strange unreliability, and was nicknamed Deli Mike.[51]

Turkish Airlines received its first Avro RJ100 aircraft in July 1993, with Prince Charles in attendance. With its four engines, the aircraft was used to fly domestic flights to East and Southeast Anatolia, where most airports had short runways. After being satisfied with the aircraft, the airline ordered five more RJ100s and four RJ70s, the shorter variant, in 1995. RJ70 aircraft were bought because of their modified landing gear that allowed the type to land on unpaved runways, which made it possible for the airline to carry soldiers of the Turkish Army. The initial problems with the engines leaking oil were fixed with modifications made by Turkish Technic.[52] The Boeing 727s, all of which were converted to cargo aircraft, were retired from the fleet in 1996.[50] During Turkish president Süleyman Demirel's visit to France in February 1998, Turkish Airlines ordered two additional Airbus A340s, bringing the total to seven aircraft of the type.[53] In November 1998, the airline added six Boeing 737-800, a Next Generation variant, to its fleet.[50] The planes landed back to back at Atatürk Airport on 2 November, making it the first time in Turkish aviation history where six aircraft were delivered on the same day. The first plane on approach made a go-around, which is a tradition.[54] By 1999, the total number of aircraft in the fleet had risen to 75.[55]

Avro RJ's of Turkish Airlines were removed from the fleet in 2006 with a ceremony

Seven Airbus A310s and three Boeing 727s were put up for sale. One of each type was sold by 2001. In 2000, one option for the Airbus A340 was turned into a firm order. From 2000 to 2002, the airline received 11 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.[56] Turkish Airlines sold six Airbus A310s to Iran Air around 2002. Later that year in September, Mahan Air bought seven Airbus A310s from the carrier.[57] In 2004, Turkish Airlines announced an order for five Airbus A330, 19 Airbus A320 and 12 Airbus A321 aircraft. Throughout 2004 and 2005, the airline ordered 23 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The deliveries were completed in late-2008. Many older aircraft like 11 Avro RJs, five Boeing 737-400 and two Boeing 737-500 aircraft were removed from the fleet. Three passenger Airbus A310 aircraft were converted into freighters.[58] The Avro RJs were planned to be removed in late 2003 specifically due to their low capacity and high operating costs.[59] The ten year leasing deal ended in May 2004 for several aircraft. During a regular maintenance check on the second aircraft before being sent back, signs of corrosion were found inside the fuel tanks, which led to the seven other Avro RJ aircraft still operating in the fleet being grounded.[52] The final Avro RJ left the fleet in December 2006. A camel was slaughtered at the Turkish Technic maintenance hangar in Atatürk Airport during the farewell ceremony to celebrate the removal of the type.[60]

Founded in 2008, AnadoluJet is a trademark of Turkish Airlines

Having almost doubled its fleet size from 65 to 120 in five years and not ordered any aircraft since 2005, Hürriyet reported in October 2008 that the airline was planning to order up to 25 wide-body and 50 narrow-body aircraft. The Airbus A330 aircraft ordered four years prior only replaced older Airbus A310 aircraft, meaning that Turkish Airlines didn't have a significant growth in its long-haul fleet. The carrier also leased four Boeing 737-700 aircraft to replace the older 737-400 variant which didn't have their leasing agreement renewed.[61][62] In addition, a total of 21 leased aircraft joined the fleet in 2008, with the majority being the Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, but also four wide-bodies.[58] In April 2008, the airline founded AnadoluJet as a trademark and transferred five of its Boeing 737-400s to it. AnadoluJet is not a separate company and operates under Turkish Airlines.[63]

By November 2008, the airline had converted three of its Airbus A310s into freighters.[64] Two planes of the type were sold to Ariana Afghan Airlines in April 2009.[65] Turkish Airlines leased three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from Jet Airways in December 2008.[66] In April 2009, Turkish Airlines announced that it had ordered five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. In July the same year, additional seven aircraft were ordered, bringing the total to 12.[67][68] In November 2009, the airline ordered three Airbus A330-300 aircraft, bringing the total number ordered to ten. Turkish Airlines also signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for two Airbus A330-200F freighters.[69]

The first neo aircraft were ordered in 2013

In October 2010, Turkish Airlines announced an order for 14 Airbus A321-200 and six Airbus A319-100 aircraft.[70] A month later, the airline announced an order for ten Boeing 737-800 and ten Boeing 737-900ER planes, with an option for 15 more aircraft.[71] In March 2011, the airline ordered an additional ten Airbus A321-200 and three Airbus A330-200F aircraft.[72] In March 2013, the airline announced an order for 117 Airbus aircraft, which became the largest order placed by a Turkish airline. The order included 25 Airbus A321-200, four Airbus A320neo and 53 Airbus A321neo aircraft as well as an option for 35 further A321neos.[73] The next month, Turkish Airlines placed a firm order for 20 Boeing 737-800, 50 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and ten Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. The order also included an option 25 more 737 MAX 8s.[74] Of the options, 15 were turned into firm orders in June 2014.[75] In December 2014, the A320neo orders were converted into A321neos, and eight A321neo options were turned into firm orders.[76] In December 2015, the carrier ordered an additional 20 Airbus A321neo aircraft, bringing the total amount ordered to 92.[77]

Boeing 777F flying from Toronto

During the winter period following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, the airline saw a heavy downfall in passenger numbers, which caused it to ground 30 aircraft.[78] On 14 February 2017, Turkish Airlines announced that it had reached an agreement with Boeing to convert its order for two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to Boeing 777-200F, the freighter variant.[79] In September 2017, Turkish Airlines signed a letter of intent to purchase 25 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which included an option for further five.[80] Both 777 freighters were delivered to the airline in December 2017.[81] At the end of the same month, three more 777Fs were ordered.[82] In January 2018, the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to acquire 25 Airbus A350-900 aircraft and five options.[83] The Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 deal was finalized two months later and the airline officially ordered the two types in March 2018.[84] On 25 November 2018, the airline ordered three more Boeing 777 freighter aircraft.[85] As of December 2018, the airline owned 37 of the 330 aircraft it operated, with the rest being leased. Of the leased aircraft, 207 were on long-term and 87 were on short-term contracts.[86] Throughout 2018, 11 aircraft of the Airbus A320 family had extensive cabin renewals, while 12 Boeing 737-800s were transferred to subsidiary AnadoluJet.[87]

Turkish Airlines had its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft grounded

On 12 March 2019, following the request of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Turkish Airlines grounded all of its 12 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Some aircraft that departed a few hours before the decision had to return to Istanbul Atatürk Airport.[88] Turkish Airlines also did not take delivery of a further 12 737 MAX aircraft due to the global grounding, causing the planes to be stored at the Boeing Field.[89] The final Airbus A340-300 left the fleet in April 2019.[90] On 26 June 2019, the airline received its first Boeing 787-9 registered TC-LLA. The aircraft was welcomed at Istanbul Airport with a ceremony attended by Turkish media.[91] The first commercial flight with the type was flown on 8 July to Trabzon Airport.[92] In August 2019, Turkish Airlines chairman İlker Aycı stated that the carrier was looking into receiving its orders of long-haul aircraft, such as the Airbus A350-900, earlier than planned. In addition, he said that the airline was interested in the Airbus A220 and Embraer E190/E195 in order to serve new destinations.[93] On 31 December 2019, it was reported that Turkish Airlines received a compensation of around $225 million from Boeing due to the 737 MAX groundings.[94]

Due to the reduction in air traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, chairman İlker Aycı told Hürriyet on 27 May 2020 that the airline might delay the deliveries of new wide-body aircraft.[95] The airline received its first Airbus A350-900 on 23 October 2020,[96] while the aircraft was completed almost a year before delivery.[97] At the end of 2020, the airline grounded 25 wide-body and 55 narrow-body aircraft due to the start of the winter, but later grounded a further 21 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which increased the total number of grounded Turkish Airlines aircraft to over 100.[98] As of November 2020, Turkish Airlines is the largest operator of the Airbus A330.[99]

Newer generation aircraft such as the Airbus A350 are replacing older Airbus A330s

Turkish Airlines started using its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft again on 12 April 2021, with a domestic flight from Istanbul Airport to Ankara Esenboğa Airport.[100] Three days after the re-introduction however, Turkish Airlines cancelled an order for 10 737 MAX 8 aircraft and turned 40 firm orders into options which had to be activated before 21 December 2021, leaving a total of 25 firm orders.[101] The airline is also continuing to return Airbus A330-200 aircraft to lessors to simplify its fleet.[102] On 12 January 2022, the airline received its 20th and final Boeing 737 MAX 8 it had directly ordered from Boeing.[103] In April 2022, the carrier announced that it was going to lease seven Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to join the fleet for the summer period.[104] In May 2022, the carrier took delivery of an Airbus A350 that was originally destined for Aeroflot, which did not go through due to sanctions placed on the airline as the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[105] Turkish Airlines will take a total of six aircraft from Aeroflot.[106] Similarly, AnadoluJet took delivery of Airbus A320neo, A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft initially destined for S7 Airlines.[107][108]

The airline showed interest in the Airbus A220 and Embraer E190/E195 again before the 2022 Istanbul Airshow in October, where both manufacturers presented their planes.[109] However, the carrier is hesitant to place an order for the types due their engines. Both aircraft use engines from the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G family. The Airbus A321neos of the airline already use the PW1100G, a member of the family, which have had reliability problems.[110] Turkish Airlines received its 400th aircraft, an Airbus A350-900, in late February.[111] In May, chairman Ahmet Bolat revealed that the airline was closing in on ordering 600 new aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus, which would be the largest ever if confirmed. 400 of these aircraft would be narrow-body while the other 200 would be wide. Bolat additionally said that the airline would operate over 800 airplanes by 2033.[112] The order was supposed to be confirmed during the International Air Transport Association annual meeting held in Istanbul in June, but was delayed by two months due to the 2023 Turkish general election.[113] The order was delayed once again in August, this time due to issues with engine options and the evaluation of maintenance contracts.[114]

Sivrihisar is one of the symbolic names in the fleet

An Airbus A330 with registration TC-LNC was renamed in November 2015 after the Japanese city of Kushimoto, whose residents helped the survivors of the sinking Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul.[158] In August 2016, Turkish Airlines announced that it would name eight of its aircraft after neighbourhoods of Turkey which weren't featured yet, in response to the resistance of the citizens of those neighbourhoods in the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.[159][lower-alpha 3] The airline started an online survey to name its first Boeing 787 on 26 June 2019, with the options being Perga, Assos, Göbeklitepe and Zeugma.[160] Following widespread reactions on social media requesting the plane to be named after Eren Bülbül, the aircraft was named Maçka, his hometown, instead of the initial four options given.[161]

In September 2019, an Airbus A321neo registered as TC-LSH was named Sivrihisar, a reference to the Sivrihisar Airplane, which was bought by the citizens of the town and gifted to the Turkish Air Force during the Turkish War of Independence.[162] Following the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, the 400th aircraft of the airline was named Tek Yürek, which comes from the Türkiye Tek Yürek campaign to raise money following the disaster. The Airbus A350-900 made its first passenger flight in March 2023 by carrying 275 survivors of the earthquake.[163]

Turkish Airlines operates the following aircraft with a special livery:

Special liveries

Registration	Aircraft	Name	Description	Photo	Refs
TC-JIZ	Airbus A330-223	Alacahöyük	Invest in Turkey livery		[177]
TC-JNB	Airbus A330-203	Konya	Turkish Olympic team livery		[178]
TC-JNC	Airbus A330-203	Kushimoto	Retro livery		[158][179]
TC-JNM	Airbus A330-303	Samsun	UEFA Champions League livery		[180]
TC-JRG	Airbus A321-231	Finike	Discover the Potential livery		[181]
TC-JRO	Airbus A321-231	Uludağ	EuroLeague livery		[182][183]
TC-JSU	Airbus A321-231	Kalecik	Biofuel livery, applied on the aircraft that made the first biofuel flight of the airline in February 2022		[184][185]
TC-JVZ	Boeing 737-8F2	Beştepe	6000th Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft sticker		[186]
TC-LGH	Airbus A350-900	Tek Yürek	400th aircraft of Turkish Airlines		[187]
TC-LJJ	Boeing 777-3F2ER	—	UEFA Champions League livery		[188]
TC-LNC	Airbus A330-303	Refahiye	300th aircraft of Turkish Airlines		[189]