Sharklet Airbus for Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines will become the first European airline to operate an A320 family aircraft with production-retrofitted Sharklet wingtip devices.

This follows the installation, by Turkish Technic MRO, of Sharklets onto the first of nine A321s to be retrofitted for the airline. All nine aircraft will be upgraded for the airline in Istanbul in the coming weeks.

Thanks to this aerodynamic upgrade, every Turkish Airlines’ retrofitted aircraft will benefit from a reduction in fuel costs by up to 4%, an annual 900-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions and an increase in range by up to 100nm.

Airbus has been delivering Sharklets as an option on new-build A320 Family aircraft since December 2012 but now the ‘production-retrofit’ option is being offered for newer aircraft delivered with the latest production standard of wings which are already capable of being fitted with Sharklets without any additional structural reinforcements.

Airbus has also recently launched the “in-service retrofit” programme – allowing Sharklets to be fitted for airlines currently flying older A320s which have the previous design of wing structure. The ‘in-service retrofit’ solution therefore includes a reinforcement of the wing structure and will be available for operators in 2015.  www.turkishairlines.com

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