Türkiye’s national carrier and a pioneering defense contractor have partnered to build an indigenous pilot training aircraft, the companies announced on Tuesday.
The agreement comes as airlines rush to rebuild capacity and fill the empty cockpits as air traffic gets back on track and travel demand rockets following a slump due to the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkish Airlines (THY) Chairperson Ahmet Bolat said the latest industry estimates projected a need for about 300,000 pilots in the next decade. He said THY alone would need about 11,000 pilots for the next 10 years, during which the company last week said it aims to double the number of its staff.
The deal signed Tuesday will see Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) manufacture 20 single-engine pilot training aircraft for THY’s subsidiary Turkish Airlines Flight Academy (TAFA), Bolat told a signing ceremony in Istanbul.
As many as 600 pilots are trained a year in Türkiye, including over 200 at Turkish Airlines’ centers, said Bolat.
"We need an average of 1,000. That means we need 400-500 more pilots to train per year. The most important bottleneck here is the aircraft. The aircraft we are placing orders for are coming in 2026," he noted.
"There is a bottleneck in the whole world. From that point of view, this may be a modest contract for us because we are ordering 20 aircraft. However, we need 100 aircraft in 10 years. When we look at the world’s need for aircraft, in the same way, there is currently a need for more than 3,000 aircraft."
The Turkish aviation market has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels more quickly than most markets in other parts of the world.
Turkish Airlines alone flew about 6.5 million passengers in April, an increase of 31% versus a year ago. In January-April, it managed to lift its passengers by 33.6% year-over-year to 23.6 million.
Bolat said the agreement with TAI would mark the domestic manufacturing of the first aircraft serving civil aviation.
"We have already been cooperating with our strategic partner TAI before, and we are proud as Turkish Airlines to have taken part in such a project for the first time," he noted.
The assembly line that will be set up will be capable of manufacturing 200 aircraft per year, said Bolat.
"So it’s not just going to be left with these 20 planes. TAI is getting into this business to sell aircraft worldwide from here. From that point of view, I am also glad that we have created the basis for a beautiful cooperation," he said.
For his part, TAI General Manager Temel Kotil said the deal would mark the company’s engagement in civil aviation projects.
TAI has developed multiple air vehicles, including Hürjet, the advanced jet-powered trainer and light attack aircraft, Hürkuş training aircraft, and unmanned air platforms such as Anka and Aksungur. It also manufactured the tactical reconnaissance attack helicopter Atak and the multirole helicopter Gökbey.
In what marks its most crucial project, TAI has been working on a domestically developed 5th-generation fighter jet. Named KAAN, the aircraft has been developed to replace the F-16s in the Air Forces Command’s fleet and are planned to be phased out starting in the 2030s.
KAAN made a runway debut and completed its first taxi test after starting its engines for the first time in mid-March.
"We will design and deliver our aircraft originally and as soon as possible," Kotil said of the deal with Turkish Airlines. "This agreement will open up some opportunities for us here. But, of course, we are a defense company ... But this signature is very important. Because now we have set foot in civilian (aviation)."
Kotil said they would be producing long-lasting training aircraft with superior performance and flight quality compared to their counterparts and equipped with the latest technology avionics systems.
"With the addition of aircraft to the inventory of Turkish Airlines, we will significantly reduce our dependence on foreign countries in this regard," he added.
Officials also warned about the global difficulties in medium-and long-term aircraft procurement based on discussions with manufacturers of current and alternative aircraft types used at TAFA.
The agreement could be extended to future procurement if the aircraft TAI develops meets efficiency standards, with the eventual goal of completely reshuffling the TAFA fleet with domestically developed planes.