Turkish Airlines to lease eight Airbus planes to cut costs

Turkish Airlines, which has seen profits hit by a weak lira and tough market, plans to lease out eight of its Airbus A330-200 aircraft, aviation company Air Partner said, a move that will help it to reduce costs. The partly state-owned Turkish carrier has been hit by the steady decline of the lira, falling tourism, and stiff competition this year. Its Q3 net profit almost halved to 584m lira ($170m). Aircraft remarketing agent Cabot Aviation, a division of Air Partner, said the Airbus aircraft would be made available on a wet lease basis, which includes crew, maintenance and insurance, or over a longer period on dry lease. "These Turkish Airlines aircraft offer an operator the ability to quickly supplement capacity or test markets," Cabot's senior vice president Greg Cope said. Turkish Airlines could not immediately be reached for comment. Though its passenger numbers increased in the first ten months of 2016, partly due to transit traffic, its load factor fell. <br/>