Turkish Technic, Turkish Airlines' maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) arm, inked on Wednesday an agreement with British giant Rolls-Royce to establish one of the largest engine maintenance facilities at Istanbul Airport.
Turkish Technic's chairperson of the board of directors, Ahmet Bolat, expressed excitement about the partnership between the company and Rolls-Royce, saying they have been working for over a year and a half to finalize the agreement.
"This will make us the third-largest maintenance, repair and operations company in the world. We are currently ranked seventh. After aircraft maintenance, engine maintenance is also very important," Bolat said.
"We have an engine maintenance center at Sabiha Gökçen Airport. We will break ground at Istanbul Airport in the first quarter of 2026. In the fourth quarter of 2027, we will take the first engine into maintenance. When this maintenance center is fully mature in 2036, it will maintain 200 engines per year," he added.
"Considering that Turkish Airlines will have 135 A350 aircraft, it will maintain roughly 70 of Turkish Airlines' own engines every year. In addition, around 120-130 engines will come from abroad."
The new facility, targeted to be operational by the end of 2027, will enable Turkish Technic to deliver comprehensive maintenance services for Trent XWB-97, Trent XWB-84 and Trent 7000 engines, which power the Airbus A350 and Airbus A330neo aircraft, Rolls-Royce said in a press release.
"This will greatly enhance and expand Turkish Technic’s engine maintenance and overhaul operations," it added.
"This MRO company will generate an annual revenue of $1.5 billion. We are signing such a big agreement. At the same time, this will not only be a business where engine parts will come from abroad, but we will only put labor here," Bolat noted.
"We will also maintain some parts of this engine in Türkiye. We will repair 20% of the engine parts of this aircraft in our country. We will gain such a repair capability. It will be a huge investment for our country, an investment of $300 million."
He also added that they have so far invested $1.1 billion in Istanbul Airport and will continue to make new investments.
In this new engine facility, Turkish Technic will serve Turkish Airlines' fleet and Rolls-Royce's airline customers worldwide.
The facility, which will increase the company's annual revenue by approximately 30% and establish Turkish Technic as a leader in the engine maintenance market, is expected to generate an annual export contribution of approximately $700 million for the Turkish economy over the term of the agreement.
"We’re significantly increasing our global MRO capacity by 2030, and today’s announcement marks an important milestone on that journey, as we add Turkish Technic to our global network of capable, flexible and resilient MRO providers to support our TotalCare customers around the world," said Rob Watson, President of Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce.
"It reinforces our strong partnership with Turkish Airlines, whose fleet of Airbus A350s will be supported by this facility, and shows confidence in Turkish Technic’s ability to realise their ambition to become a world-class provider of civil large aero engine MRO," he added.
"In April 2024, we reaffirmed our commitment to Türkiye, announcing our intention to explore the implementation of a number of industrial initiatives. Today’s agreement is a demonstration of that commitment. We are delighted to welcome Turkish Technic into our expanding network of Trent engine maintenance centres."
Turkish Technic provides maintenance, repair, overhaul, engineering, modification, tailor-made power-by-the-hour and reconfiguration services to many domestic and international customers at five locations.
In late 2023, Turkish Airlines placed a historic order for Airbus A350 aircraft, making the airline the world’s largest operator of the Trent XWB engine. It included an order for 120 Trent XWB-84 engines and 40 Trent XWB-97 engines, excluding options and spares.
