Airbus in Türkiye

Airbus and Türkiye have a long history of partnership with successful projects in civil and military aviation for Türkiye.

For nearly 40 years, Airbus has been an important solution partner for Türkiye working closely with Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Ministry of Defence, Defence Industries Agency (Savunma Sanayii Başkanlığı), Turkish Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. Looking back into the past; Turkish National Flag carrier Turkish Airlines first began operating Airbus A310 in 1985 and Turkish Air Force received the former EADS CASA CN235 in 1991.Türkiye also became a partner of the Airbus A400M Atlas program in 2003. In addition to partnerships in aviation programs of Türkiye; two telecommunications satellites (TURKSAT-5A and 5B) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space were launched into orbit within the same year of 2021.

Commercial aircraft

Today, Türkiye is the 3rd largest Airbus market in Europe with more than 344 Airbus passenger and freighter aircraft in service with eight operators. In total, more than 100 aircraft remain in the order book to be delivered to airlines in Türkiye.

Airbus A320, A330 and A350 families share a unique cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings. Several airlines in Türkiye exploit this unique advantage by operating more than one Airbus aircraft type in their fleet.

In Türkiye, Airbus has 52% market share of the aircraft currently in service and 61% of the order book.

Turkish Airlines (THY) is the largest Airbus operator in the region with 202 Airbus aircraft in its fleet 127 single aisle, 41 last generation A321neos and 75 widebodies. Another important operator, Pegasus Airlines became a new Airbus customer in December 2012 when placing an order for 75 A320neos (57 A320neo & 18 A321neo), becoming the first Turkish airline to order the aircraft type and the launch customer for CFM powered version. The total order increased to 106 following a firm contract for 25 A321neo in December 2017 and later in 2021 Pegasus added 6 more A321neo aircraft to its previous order. Pegasus already operates an Airbus fleet of 79 A320 family aircraft.

A350-900 TURKISH AIRLINES MSN403 - FERRY FLIGHT

Defence & Space

Airbus Defence and Space has been positioned in Türkiye as liaison offices since 1990 as a key partner of Türkiye in military aviation and space.

Airbus Defence and Space Türkiye (ADSTR) was established in November 2013 as a 100 percent Airbus subsidiary. The primary founding purpose of ADSTR is to fulfill the in-service support responsibilities coming from the main sales contract of A400M. Now, Airbus has become even stronger in Türkiye with this new establishment providing sales & marketing, contractual, material and services support.

As of today, Türkiye is operating the largest CN235 Light Transport Aircraft fleet in the world with 58 active aircraft. In 2022, Airbus completed the deliveries of 10 A400M Strategic Transport Aircraft. In order to operate these platforms safely and with a high availability rate, ADS provides uninterrupted training, technical, service and material support since the first day the platforms were put into service. In order to increase and accelerate the effectiveness; Upon the request of TR-MoD, a GTA (General Terms Agreement) agreement was signed in 2022 between ASFAT and ADS for direct service and material support. Thus, ADS has become a direct solution partner of MoD and end-user Force Commands.

In 2017, the contract for TURKSAT 5A & 5B telecommunication satellites was signed with Turkish satellite operator, TURKSAT. The two telecommunications satellites manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space were launched into orbit within the same year of 2021.

Airbus would like to become a part of the Turkish space industry as a long-term partner by supporting space projects today and is ready to be a key solution partner for Türkiye not only for telecommunication satellites but also for the upcoming space projects as part of Türkiye’s National Space Roadmap being coordinated by newly established Turkish Space Agency (TSA).

Helicopters

Türkiye is an important partner for Airbus Helicopters. Significant Military contracts were signed in the 1990’s for the delivery of helicopters. Türkiye is the world’s largest Cougar operator with a fleet of 45 Cougar helicopters that are operated by the Turkish Land Forces and the Air Force for general purpose and Search-and-Rescue missions. The Turkish Military operates the largest AS-532 Cougar Helicopters fleet in the world.

Airbus Helicopters has a strong presence in the Parapublic Emergency Medical Services segment in Türkiye. 13xEC-135 helicopters have been operated by the Turkish Aeronautical Association for the needs of the Turkish Ministry of Health all around the country. Around ten civil Airbus Helicopters models are also flying in Türkiye, such as the single engine H130 and the twin engine H145, for various purposes including private and business aviation in addition to passenger transport.

Local partners

Türkiye has been an integral part of Airbus supply chain for more than 20 years, being a partner in main Airbus aircraft programmes, from the A220 to the prestigious A350 and previously to the world’s largest commercial airliner A380. Turkish aerospace industries have progressively embarked on high capabilities and skills in the last 15 years and Airbus is focused on the continued development of long-term cooperation projects with the Turkish aviation industry. Production increase for Airbus single aisle aircraft as well as Airbus widebodies will create further jobs in the future and Turkish aeronautical industries will benefit with additional responsibilities from a continuous development of its strategic skills. In the course of cooperation, Airbus generates more than 3000 direct jobs in the Turkish aeronautical industry and continues to develop its sourcing in Türkiye to procure a cumulative volume of $5 Billion turnover from Turkish suppliers between 2020 and 2030.

Airbus has seven major industrial partners and subsidiaries in Türkiye.

Turkish Aerospace which started as a partial rate supplier of section 18 shells is now the sole supplier of the fuselage section 18 of the A320 and is also manufacturing section 19, with the objective of becoming the supplier of fully equipped section 18/19 barrel assembly.
Building on the A400M partnership where for the first time Türkiye designed, developed and manufactured assemblies for Airbus, Turkish Aerospace now designs and manufactures sub-assemblies for commercial aircraft such as the ailerons of the A350 XWB, the A330 rudder, the A220 Fixed Trailing Edge or the A220 Canopy.
PFW (Hutchinson) - Havacılık Sanayi (HS) in Izmir assembles aerostructure components for the A320 Family aircraft including pressurized floor frames, auxiliary center tanks and ram air turbine housing. PFW also produces thousands of different tubes per month for the majority of Airbus aircraft types. In 2008, PFW was awarded the contract for the A321 inboard flap assembly. All auxiliary fuel tanks for the A320 Family are now manufactured and assembled in Türkiye. It is also in the plan of PFW to assemble A220 additional center tanks in Türkiye in the future. KaleAero in Istanbul machines the center tank walls and PFW HS assembles them to an entire unit. In 2015, PFW was awarded for the Single Aisle after belly fairing assembly providing a further growth to the Izmir facility
Fokker Elmo is an Airbus industrial partner for harnesses. Since 2005, Fokker Elmo’s subsidiary in Izmir manufactures the A400M wing electrical harnesses as a single source supplier and produces the A330neo pylon harness. In 2021, Fokker Elmo transferred A220 harnesses production from their Chinese plant to Izmir.
LISI, based in Izmir, produces fasteners for Airbus commercial aircraft. Approximately one-fourth of LISI Izmir production volumes are dedicated towards Airbus programmes reinforced by a contract renewal till 2025 allowing LISI Group to build a solid manufacturing strategy from its Izmir plant. For more than 15 years now, LISI contracts’ renewal on fasteners with Airbus lead to work allocation to their manufacturing plant in Izmir.
TSI and TCI received full support from Airbus to develop seats and galleys for the Turkish Airlines fleet. TSI is an Airbus catalogue supplier for their Epianka seat for A320 and A350 aircraft platform.
Airbus and Turkish Technic have signed a long-term component pool agreement for the A350 aircraft fleet of Turkish Airlines in April 2021.
The Second Air Maintenance Factory Directorate belonging to the Turkish Ministry of National Defence (MoND) has established a new facility in Kayseri to perform retrofit operations for the strategic transport aircraft A400M from July 2021.

Airbus is supporting and enhancing Türkiye’s aerospace aspirations. Accordingly, Airbus has been partnering with TAI to develop the capabilities of the Tier2 supply chain by contributing to audits, supplier development and qualification of suppliers and special processes used for Airbus products since 2014. This has been beneficial to SMEs working for TAI and now being also suppliers of other Airbus major Tier 1 partners (HMS for PFW, GKN and FACC, KPA for Daher, Kale Aero for PFW, Uygur for Safran and Patria, Epsilon for Patria, Alp Aviation for Honeywell).

The Turkish industry is also a key player in engine parts manufacturing with a strong presence on Airbus A320neo and A220 engines from P&W and CFM through Kale P&W, Alp Aviation and TEI.

Since the beginning of 2018, Airbus has been supporting the Turkish Airlines Air Transport Management master programme delivered at the Turkish Aviation Academy.

A400M Turkish Air Force Delivered Into RAF Brize Norton

Innovation

Innovation is in the DNA of Airbus and innovation management is a critical part of Airbus company culture. Therefore, Airbus is closely following the developments in Türkiye’s innovation ecosystem and Turkish start-ups and sharing its innovation management experiences with its partners in Türkiye.

Corporate Citizenship

Airbus is pioneering sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world. The company’s sustainability commitments guide and ensure that all the decisions can contribute to a healthier environment and stronger communities. And it’s constantly innovating to provide the most efficient and technologically advanced solutions in commercial aircraft, helicopters, satellites, defence and connected services.

Since the beginning of 2018, Airbus has been supporting the Turkish Airlines Air Transport Management master programme delivered at the Turkish Aviation Academy. A support agreement is in place with THY and will start in 2023 with the 6th cohort of students delivering lectures of compulsory and elective modules. As of today, more than 100 people have graduated with this master programme, essentially THY employees.

Following the devastating earthquakes in February 2023 Airbus has:

Prioritised customer support and spares to ensure that the civilian and military aircraft involved in the relief effort had the highest priority and availability possible
Provided free high resolution satellite imagery to aid the planning of the relief efforts
Worked with the Turkish Air Force to deliver temporary housing kits directly to the affected area and used the Airbus A400M ro deliver them
The Airbus Foundation organised the airlift of more than 115 tonnes of emergency relief aid from Europe into Türkiye
In conjunction with our partner MaviAir, Airbus provided a helicopter to take food and medical supplies to remote areas which would otherwise have been cut off from the rest of the world
In June 2023, during the IATA annual general meeting in Istanbul, our gala dinner was transformed into a fundraising event. The money raised was used by the Turkish Red Crescent to help set up local jobs and provide education material to children with special needs.
In October 2023 Airbus and Turkish Aerospace Industries formalised their collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the "Airbus - TAI Aviation Vocational School" in Kahramanmaraş.

Future Collaboration

Türkiye is strategically positioned as an air bridge between Europe and Asia; 25% of the worldwide population is accessible in 4 hours flight from Türkiye. Airbus’ global market forecast predicts that over the next 20 years the passenger traffic to, from and within Türkiye will be more than triple.

Airbus is extremely well positioned to meet this demand with our eco-efficient, modern family of aircraft, and Turkish aerospace companies are well positioned to benefit from this growth through long-term industrial partnerships with Airbus.