Turkish Airlines (THY) is seeking up to 15 70- to 90-seat regional aircraft to replace its BAE Systems Avro RJ100 fleet, which the carrier plans to phase out this year.
The carrier’s chief executive Candan Karlitekin visited the São Paulo facilities of Brazilian regional jet manufacturer Embraer in January for a demonstration flight on the E-170 twinjet.
Bombardier, which has just agreed to supply Turkish carrier AtlasJet with three CRJ900s, says that it is offering 50- to 90-seat aircraft. “The CSeries could also be an option for THY,” says Bombardier vice-president for international regional aircraft sales James Dailly.
Karlitekin says: “At the moment we are just looking at regional aircraft. We are not sitting at the table for negotiations.”
Under the regional jet plan, THY would order eight aircraft and take seven options. It hopes to approve the plan by May.
The aircraft would be used on domestic routes to airports with short runways as well as to destinations in neighbouring countries. The airline, which operates five RJ100s, would take at least five aircraft on short term leases after making its regional jet selection.
Source: Flight International
