Turkish airlines to buy 15 Airbus A330-300

According to Reuters, the carrier made the announcement in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, where it said it will buy four planes in 2014, six in 2015 and five in 2016.

Analyst Saj Ahmad said: "Turkish Airlines is taking advantage of vacated delivery slots at Airbus for A330s where some customers have both deferred and cancelled existing orders at the plane maker. Add to the mix Turkish Airlines expanding fleet, the A330-300 provides a good solution for their medium haul, higher density routes that will eventually be serviced by either 787s or A350s when the airline finally decides to place an order.
 
"That they've not yet done so points to the fact that the A350 is going to be delayed even more than Airbus admits, and Boeing's existing 787 backlog is so large and deliveries are only starting to gain momentum, the availability of cheap A330s enables Airbus to maintain production rates without disrupting the expense attached to the supply chain if they had to cut rates, particularly as China refuses to take its A330s in the wake of the simmering row over emissions trading at the ETS scheme.
 
"It's a good deal for Turkish Airlines, although A330 residuals are continually falling, there will be questions asked as to whether these A330s were sold at a loss to secure production stability for Airbus."