Turkish airlines buys 15 Boeing aircraft

PARIS, Sept 29 (AFP) - Turkish Airlines has completed an order to buy 15 737-800 airliners from US manufacturer Boeing, the two companies said in a statement on Wednesday.
The order, announced in July is worth 982.5 million dollars (798.8 million euros) on the basis of catalogue prices.
Delivery of the airliners, which will replace Boeing-737 airliners and other models, is to begin next year.
Turkish airlines operates an ageing fleet of 65 aircraft.
The government has signalled it wants to privatise the company. An attempt to privatise was abandoned in 2001 because of insufficient interest by potential buyers.
The airline carried 10.4 million passengers to 103 destinations in 2003, making a net profit of 147 million dollars.