THY makes deal with Airbus

Turkish Airlines (THY) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Airbus to add 117 more planes to its fleet. Turkish Minister of Finance Mehmet Simsek, Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Binali Yildirim, THY Chairman of Board Hamdi Topcu, CEO of THY Temel Kotil and President and Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Fabrice Bregier were present at the signing ceremony held in Istanbul. European-made 117 planes will be added to the fleet of THY by the end of 2020, with the agreement signed. Number of planes in the THY fleet will reach 375 by the end of 2020 and the average fleet age which is currently 6.6 will be reduced to five with the addition of new Airbus planes. Turkish Minister of Finance Mehmet Simsek delivered a speech at the signing ceremony where he stated that the THY Airbus cooperation was an important turning point. "THY is a success story not only in Europe but also in the world despite the global economic crisis. I believe, the cooperation of THY and Airbus will pave way for developing Turkish civil aviation as well as aircraft industry," Simsek said. Also speaking at the signing ceremony, President of Airbus Fabrice Bregier stressed that the THY would be among the top 10 airlines of the world soon. THY Chairman of Board, Hamdi Topcu underlined that it was their aim to be one of the world's best 10 airlines Airbus will increase investments to $2.4 billion by 2015 Airbus CEO Frabrice Bregier said that his company did not rule out setting up production facilities in Turkey in the forthcoming years. "The Turkish government shows its willingness to invest more in the aviation industry. If such vision is the case, we can listen [to the government] and mull what we can do," Bregier told the Anadolu Agency during a press conference after the penning of a deal between the Turkish Airlines and the Airbus over the purchase of 117 airliners.   "Our investments in Turkey is around $74 million, but we want to double it soon. The aim is to increase our investment to $2.4 billion by 2025," Bregier said.