Germany's national airline Lufthansa announced on 19 December that it had signed a $9 billion deal with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing for the purchase of 100 aircraft and with Airbus for the purchase of 60 aircraft.
Four days earlier, on 15 December, Turkish Airlines (THY) announced that it had signed its largest aircraft purchase agreement with European Union (EU) airline Airbus.
The issue takes on a political dimension as Airbus is the co-producer of the Eurofighter Typhoon, which Turkey wants to buy to replace its F-16 fighter jets, because the US has put political conditions on THY selling Turkey 40 F-16 BLOCK-70 fighters.
Also, President Tayyip Erdogan claims that Germany is blocking the sale of Eurofighters.
European participation in the Eurofighter and production-landing costs
Turkey's desire to buy NATO-compatible Eurofighter Typhoon fighters if the United States continues to refuse to sell F-16s was first officially expressed by Yaşar Güler, Turkey's Minister of National Defense , during the meetings of the Planning and Budget Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
This was one day before President Tayyip Erdogan's November 17 trip to Germany, which took place amid tensions over the Gaza crisis.
Güler, who was previously Turkey's Chief of General Staff, was in effect announcing to NATO Turkey's need for the aircraft.
He also announced that the UK and Spain, co-producers of the Eurofighter, were trying to convince Germany.
The Eurofighter partnership also includes Italy. The UK and Germany share 33% each, Italy 21% and Spain 14%.
The 4.5th generation Eurofighter Typhoon is a relatively expensive aircraft, with a unit cost of about $90 million, close to the 5th generation F-35, which costs nearly $115 million.
The 4th generation F-16s are close to $20 million. However, the $18,000 hourly flight cost is cheaper than the $22,000 F-16 and the $36,000 F-35.
Maintenance costs are also lower.
Despite Erdogan saying, "If not, we will buy another," Guler told reporters on Dec. 16 that the Eurofighter Typhoon is "the only aircraft they see. as the best alternative" to the F-16 for Turkey. The day before, THY had signed a huge deal with Airbus.
Defence, trade and politics are intertwined.
"Intertwined issues" F-16- Sweden- Greece- Israel
On December 14, US President Joe Biden told President Erdogan by phone that he expected Sweden's NATO membership to be completed "as soon as possible."
On December 18, on his return from Hungary, Erdogan revealed that Biden had promised him to remove the congressional obstacle to the sale of the F-16s if he got approval of Sweden's membership from the Turkish parliament.
Erdogan could easily overcome the parliamentary hurdle by persuading his comrade, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, with whom he is negotiating candidates for local elections, but it is doubtful that Biden will easily overcome the congressional hurdle.
The F-16 sale block in Congress comes from the Greek and Armenian lobbies
We know that Biden talked about the positive impact of Erdogan's friendly rhetoric during his visit to Athens on December 7 in their phone call.
Την ίδια μέρα, ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών Χακάν Φιντάν έδωσε ένα μήνυμα ομαλοποίησης με την Αρμενία, η οποία βρίσκεται στο δρόμο για την εξομάλυνση των σχέσεών της με το Αζερμπαϊτζάν.
However, while these developments were taking place, Hamas had already attacked Israel and relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara had cooled.
The special dimensions of Russia and Canada
As it turns out, the political balance is extremely complicated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Turkey in early 2024.
Putin is offering Turkey the Su-35, which is not NATO-compatible, or the Su-57, whose serial production has been delayed.
On the other hand, following Erdogan's decision to buy the S-400 from Russia, the United States has pushed Turkey out of the F-35 program and blocked the sale of the F-16 BLOCK-70.
There is also the problem with Canada, which Erdogan explained on the plane, stems from the camera systems used on Baykar's Bayraktar UAVs.
Despite Selçuk Bayraktar's statement that Türkiye produces better camera systems than those produced by the Canadian company, the fact that Erdogan is raising the issue shows that the problem has not been fully resolved.
Canada, which had previously opposed Azerbaijan's use of the TB-2 against Armenia, is now reportedly putting forward this condition for Sweden's NATO membership.
THY-Airbus and Lufthansa-Boeing-The commercial aspect of the deal lifts German denial on Eurofighters to Turkey
Lufthansa will buy 100 B737-8 Max from Boeing for $9 billion, 40 of which are firm orders and 60 of which are options.
At the same time, it has also signed an agreement for 60 A220-300s from Airbus, 40 of which are firm orders and 20 of which are option rights.
THY, on the other hand, has decided to purchase 250 A321 , 150 of which are firm orders and 100 of which are discounted.
80 A350-900, 60 of which are firm orders and 20 of which are rebate entitlements.
15 A350-1000s, all of which are firm orders, and 10 A350-Freighters, 5 of which are firm orders and 5 of which are discounted, for a total of 355 aircraft, all from Airbus.
It was not disclosed how much Turkey would pay for this giant deal, and THY's largest shareholder is the Turkish Wealth Fund (TWF), chaired by President Erdogan, with a 49.12% stake.
After this giant deal with Airbus, we believe it is very likely that the German objection to the sale of the Eurofighter to Turkey will be lifted.
