Summary
- Turkish Airlines is launching a brand new independent low-cost carrier called AJet, a spin-off of its low-cost subsidiary AnadoluJet.
- AJet has unveiled a brand new livery featuring lighter colours and a more minimalistic design than AnadoluJet’s previous paint scheme.
- The airline will launch in March 2024 and can operate a fleet of Airbus and Boeing narrowbody aircraft, specializing in sustainability and customer experience.
Turkish Airlines has unveiled the brand new livery for AnadoluJet’s spin-off, AJet. The brand new low-cost carrier is ready to launch in March 2024, following the Turkish flag carrier’s decision to devolve budget subsidiary AnadoluJet into a totally independent carrier.
Changing faces
AJet’s recent livery sees the carrier shake off AnadoluJet’s red and dark blue paint scheme in favor of a lighter, minimalistic livery provided by Turkish Technic at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW). The primary aircraft to undergo the transformation is an Airbus A321neo, TC-LUC, delivered to the low-cost carrier in October 2022.
Turkish Airlines confirmed plans to spin off AnadoluJet right into a separate airline in late 2022 amid the low-cost carrier’s post-pandemic expansion. Speaking on the time, Turkish Airlines’ chairman Ahmet Bolat noted the evolution of the industry’s current market dynamics, making it easier to spice up the expansion plans of an independent airline versus a subsidiary. AJet was subsequently announced in February 2023,
The livery unveiling coincided with the brand new airline’s announcement that the Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Mr Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, had given the green light for AJet to launch services at the top of March. In a post shared to social media site X, formerly Twitter, the rebranded airline noted,
AJetting off
Turkish Airlines previously attempted to launch an AnadoluJet spin-off in 2021; nevertheless, a change in market conditions left the thought shelved until late 2022 following the airline’s rapid post-pandemic growth. In response to Turkish Airlines, the carrier hit a median load factor percentage of 90%, nearly ten percentage points higher than Turkish Airlines.
Over the past several months, AnadoluJet has expanded its services further, adding routes between Istanbul and Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG), Ankara Esenboğa Airport (ESB) and London Stansted Airport (STN), and Istanbul and Rome–Fiumicino International Airport (FCO).