Turkish Airlines (IS:THYAO) Chairman of the Board Ahmet Bolat said yesterday that the global airline is looking at potentially ordering 600 aircraft next month.
Bolat said that the announcement will take place at the upcoming International Air Transport Association (IATA) Assembly General Meeting in Istanbul.
He added that the talks are ongoing with Boeing (NYSE:BA) for a part of the order with Turkish looking to order 200 widebody and 400 narrowbody jetliners.
Once it is confirmed, it would become the largest-ever aircraft order in history. Three months ago, Air India ordered 470 new aircraft to beat America’s 2011 order of 460 planes.
Jefferies analysts believe Boeing is a front-runner to get a larger portion of the order book. The carrier has 469 aircraft at the moment with 52% belonging to Boeing and 48% to Airbus (EPA:AIR).
“Turkey has had its request for F-16 upgrades approved in April, coming two weeks after Turkey dropped its objections to Finland joining NATO. Turkey also wants to buy 40 new F-16s from the US, with that likely more contingent on Turkey dropping its objection to Sweden joining NATO, but the aircraft order could potentially be used as a bargaining chip,” the analysts said in a client note.
They rate Boeing stock with a Buy rating and a $250 per share price target.