On Friday, Turkish Airlines signed a tentative agreement
with Airbus for 25 A350-900 aircraft. The agreement, the terms of which are
under negotiation, was signed during a visit by Turkish president Recep Tayyip
Erdogan to Paris, according to Reuters. It follows a September agreement for 40
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, set for delivery between 2019 and 2023.
Turkish Airlines is replacing older widebody aircraft and adding widebody
capacity in advance of the opening of a new Istanbul airport this year,
according to CAPA Centre for Aviation.
Turkish Airlines will move its hub to that new
airport this year, and the carrier projects it will increase capacity between 5 percent and 6 percent
year over year.