Turkish Airlines (THY) has finalized a deal with Boeing for up to 150 737 MAX aircraft, the largest single-aisle order the Turkish flag carrier has ever placed with the U.S. planemaker.
The agreement, signed on Sept. 23 in New York on the sidelines of the 81st U.N. General Assembly with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in attendance, comprises firm orders for 100 Boeing 737-8 jets and options for a further 50 737 MAX aircraft. Negotiations between the two companies had been underway since 2025.
Flexibility on aircraft size
Under the terms, THY retains the ability to switch to the larger 737-10 variant, allowing it to tailor capacity to passenger demand on different routes. The airline says the 737-8 consumes roughly 20% less fuel and produces correspondingly lower emissions than the aircraft it will replace.
THY Chairperson Murat Şeker said the jets would bring "greater efficiency and flexibility to our operations." Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stephanie Pope pointed to the "mutual trust and shared vision" behind the long relationship between the companies.
Building on earlier commitments
The narrowbody order follows THY's 2025 commitment for 75 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, underlining the airline's continued reliance on Boeing alongside its other suppliers. Together with its subsidiary AJet, THY already operates more than 200 Boeing aircraft. Earlier this year, the two companies also signed a strategic memorandum of understanding on industrial cooperation within Türkiye's aviation sector.
The deal arrives as the carrier continues a rapid expansion. Traffic data released in October showed the fleet had grown 12.1% year on year to 567 aircraft by the end of September, while the airline carried 73 million passengers in the first nine months of 2026.
Financial terms of the order were not disclosed in the reports.
Sources
- Turkish Airlines seals deal for up to 150 Boeing 737 MAX jets – Daily Sabah
- Turkish Airlines carries 73 million passengers in January-September – Hürriyet Daily News
Photo: Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
