Airbus has secured another major A350 freighter customer with an order from Turkish Airlines for five of the new cargo aircraft.
The order follows Cathay Cargo’s recently announced decision to order six A350Fs, with the right to order 20 more.
According to Turkish Cargo’s website, the cargo business of Turkish Airlines currently operates 10 Airbus A330-200Fs, 8 Boeing 777Fs, two Boeing 747-400Fs, and two Airbus A310-300Fs.
Turkish Airlines has also ordered a large number of passenger aircraft from Airbus.
These include 50 A350-900s, 15 A350-1000s and 150 A321s.
This follows two orders from the airline for 10 A350-900s in September and four A350-900s in July.
Airbus said its A350F order book now stands at 50 orders from nine customers, following its launch at Dubai Airshow two years ago.
Customers have a while to wait until deliveries of the freighters begin though. In May, Airbus shifted the entry into service date for the A350F to 2026.
The A350F can carry a payload of up to 111 tonnes and can fly up to 8,700 km. Its cargo door will have a width of 4.4 m.
“This order for the latest generation aircraft is a demonstration of the bold vision of Turkish Airlines. The A350-900, A350-1000, A350F, and A321 will all be flagship aircraft in their respective category and efficiency drivers to shape the airline’s future and sustainable expansion, with more range, less fuel, noise and emissions and best cabin in class,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus chief commercial officer and head of international.
“The opening into the A350-1000 and the A350F highlights the cross-model value of the A350 family and reinforces our long-lasting partnership with Turkish Airlines and Türkiye’s aviation sector.”
Turkish Airlines’ deal with Airbus is another blow for Boeing after it initially appeared Cathay would place an order for its 777-8 freighters.
The airframer’s 777-8F freighter programme has slowed down this year.
Orders placed for the Boeing aircraft include Silkway West (2), Cargolux (10), Lufthansa (7), ANA (2) and Qatar (34).
Ethiopian Airlines also signed an MoU for five of the aircraft, although it is not clear whether this order was later firmed up.
The last deal that Boeing struck for the model was with Silk Way West at the end of last year.
The 777-8F offers a maximum structural payload of 118 tonnes (revenue payload 112.3 tonnes) and a range of 8,167 km, while its cargo door has a width of 3.72 m.
