MNG Airlines, which holds a significant share of the air cargo industry in Turkey, is looking to use its experience to expand its services and flight network. After converting Turkey’s first passenger-to-freighter (P2F) aircraft last year, MNG Airlines has completed the conversion of its second aircraft, and TC-MCN is ready to take the skies again with a much higher structural and volumetric payload capacity.
MNG Airlines, which was established 25 years ago, holds a significant share of the air cargo industry in Turkey. In addition to its scheduled flight network, MNG Airlines makes a valuable contribution to the air cargo industry by offering customized services that include flight, cargo, ground handling, and warehousing services. Now, MNG Airlines aims to make Turkey stand out in the air cargo market with its fleet of 9 wide-body aircraft.
With the vision of continuous improvement, MNG Airlines was the first Turkish company to invest in the acquisition and conversion of the A330 aircraft into freighters in December 2020. Turkey’s first converted A330-300P2F left Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW) facility in November 2021 and joined the MNG Airlines’ fleet as TC-MCM. Since then, it has completed nearly 3000 flight hours and carried over 12000 tons of cargo in the last nine months to maintain a sustainable network between China-Türkiye and Europe. The second A330-300, TC-MCN, was sent to EFW for the same P2F conversion process. The passenger-to-freighter conversion took 7 months from February to September 2022. TC-MCN is already scheduled to begin commercial operations in mid-September.
Airline Will Complement the Fleet with A321P2F aircraft
Ali Sedat Özkazanç, General Manager of MNG Airlines, said, “I am delighted to receive our second A330-300 aircraft from EFW’s facilities. As MNG Airlines, we are increasing our cargo capacity with a focus on customer satisfaction and flight safety. The fact that we are the first company in Turkey to invest in the conversion project makes us proud and motivates us to reach higher goals and work even harder. With TC-MCN, we will serve a wide range of customers and routes, both scheduled and charter. I am confident that the collaboration between MNG Airlines and EFW will continue to add value to both companies. We are currently developing transformation plans for 2024 and beyond. These include expanding our flight network and increasing cargo capacity with two additional A330-300P2Fs, for which we have already secured slots with EFW. Market demand and trends for short distance as well as the opportunity for the highest fuel efficiency and lower cost per tone have led us to the decision to complement our fleet with A321P2F in 2023 and 2024.”
