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Carrier has dozens of jets grounded by engine repair

delays

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Next year will continue in same fashion, Turkish CFO says

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Engine bottlenecks overshadow ISTAT air finance conference

By Tim Hepher

PRAGUE, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Turkish Airlines

(THY) expects bottlenecks in engine repairs that have grounded

dozens of its Airbus jets for months at a time to last

another two years, its finance chief said on Monday.

The Turkish state carrier will end 2025 with 45 Airbus jets

grounded due to unusually long Pratt & Whitney repair

waiting times. It started the year with 35 jets left idle.

"Next year, it will continue in the same fashion," CFO Murat

Seker told a European aircraft conference hosted by the

International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT).

Last year, on average, some 40 Airbus A320neo-family jets

were grounded due to the maintenance backlog, he added.

"I think it is going to last until the middle of 2027 at

least. We will have a significant number of aircraft grounded."

THY is one of several carriers to face disruption from the

longer-than-usual repair turnaround times, which have also

affected carriers like Hungary's Wizz Air ( WZZAF ).

The average turnaround time is some 200 days, Seker said, adding

that THY had received "some reasonable compensation" from Pratt

& Whitney, part of U.S. aerospace giant RTX Corp. ( RTX )

RTX did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

RTX Corp ( RTX ) CEO Chris Calio told a conference in September that

cases of aircraft on the ground due to Pratt engines have

stabilized, and are expected to come down, but "clearly we have

more work to do." The company expects maintenance, repair and

overhaul service to be up 30% year-over-year.

The jet shortages have pushed up air fares for passengers

and the prices of engine spares for airlines, leading to tough

negotiations over maintenance deals, industry sources say.

THY last month unveiled a deal with Boeing ( BA ) for 225

jets including 150 of its 737 MAX model but said it was subject

to a deal for engines supplied by French-US CFM.

(Additional reporting by Allison Lampert; editing by Edward

Tobin)