Turkish Air may buy 100 Boeing jetliners

Turk Hava Yollari AO, Turkey's state-controlled airline, said it plans to buy as many as 105 planes from Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS by 2023 as other carriers cancel orders because of the global financial crisis.

Turkish Airlines will purchase at least 25 widebody jetliners, with an option to add a further 10, the Istanbul- based company said today in a statement. The carrier also aims to buy 50 to 70 single-aisle planes and has asked the world's two largest aircraft manufacturers to submit bids.

``The market for planes has been weakening as the number of carriers diminishes,'' said Douglas McNeill, an analyst at Blue Oar Securities in London. ``I would think you could get reasonably good prices on orders.''

More than two dozen airlines have collapsed this year as record fuel costs crimp earnings and the international banking crisis depresses travel demand. The aerospace industry's order backlog is a ``bubble'' that will deflate as traffic plummets and carriers have difficulty securing financing, London-based Evolution Securities analyst Nick Cunningham said yesterday.

Turkish Airlines said it's looking at Chicago-based Boeing's narrowbody 737 and the longhaul 777 and 787 models, together with Toulouse, France-based Airbus's single-aisle A320 series and the bigger A330 and A350 types.

Boeing Prediction

Turkey's economic growth rate may outpace the ``overall European marketplace'' for the next 20 years, making fleet expansion essential, Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said today at a briefing in Paris. ``We expect it to grow very briskly,'' he said, citing the impact of tourism and business demand.

BE Aerospace Inc., the world's largest maker of aircraft interiors, cut profit forecasts through 2010 yesterday, citing weakening demand from airlines and business-jet operators. Airbus received 79 percent fewer orders in September and its largest customer, International Lease Finance Corp., has said the planemaker should scale back plans to boost production.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the world's two biggest carriers, and British Airways Plc, Europe's third-biggest, reported traffic declines last month as economic growth slowed.

Airbus is a division of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co.