Over the past 12 years, Turkish Airlines has more than trebled its number of aircraft and passengers per year and grown freight loads by a factor of five.
The airline has expanded to the point where it flies to more international destinations than any other airline and has just moved into the new state-of-the art Istanbul Airport, which looks primed to become the biggest in the world.
The airline’s business acumen has also been recognized through 23 international aircraft finance awards in the past decade in the process of raising $15bn.
This year Turkish Airlines has won the ‘Lease Deal of the Year Award’ from Airline Economics and the ‘Aircraft Tax Lease of the Year’ Award from Global Transport Finance.
The prestigious awards were for the innovative financing of new B777-Freighter aircraft which were delivered in November 2018 for a sum 110 million Euros through a complex and unique French Tax Lease. The structure was arranged by Credit Agricole CIB with a loan provided by ICBC Financial Leasing, a subsidiary of one of the largest Chinese banks.
Turkish Airlines has already tapped the Chinese market for $1.3 billion in total and the airline has mandated another 14 aircraft to be delivered in 2019 with a value of $750m from Chinese banks and lessors.