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Turkish Airlines signed a multi-year agreement with Canadian simulator manufacturer CAE on July 20 at the Farnborough International Airshow, securing five full-flight simulators and two flight training devices for its A321neo, A350, and Boeing 787 fleets, as confirmed in CAE's official press release. The contract is not simply a training investment. Without these simulators in operation, Turkish Airlines cannot type-rate the pilots needed to fly the widebody aircraft it has on order — making the deal as much a condition of its 2033 fleet target as the orders themselves.
Options cover one additional A350 full-flight simulator and one additional 787 full-flight simulator, bringing the potential total to nine devices. All seven firm orders are due for delivery by 2029, as confirmed by the American Journal of Transportation.
Turkish Airlines Is Targeting 800 Aircraft by 2033 — and Needs Pilots to Match
Turkish Airlines ended 2025 with a fleet of 516 aircraft and record revenue of $24.1 billion, according to the airline's 2025 annual results. Its 2033 vision, tied to the airline's centennial anniversary, calls for a fleet exceeding 800 aircraft, $50 billion in consolidated revenue, and 170 million passengers annually — roughly double its 2023 figure of 85 million, per the airline's 2033 strategy targets.
Those numbers demand not just aircraft but qualified crews. Turkish Airlines currently operates more than 5,000 pilots, including 320 from 58 foreign countries, with each pilot completing months of initial training and mandatory recurrent training in four-hour simulator sessions every six months for recurrent certification. To staff an 800-aircraft fleet, the airline needs a training pipeline that can process type-rating cohorts as fast as new aircraft arrive — and that pipeline runs through simulators.
The airline holds Airbus orders covering A321neo narrowbodies and A350 widebodies, signed in a landmark December 2023 Airbus order. A separate Boeing agreement, announced in September 2025, covers 50 firm orders plus 25 options for the 787-9 and 787-10 variants. The simulator types ordered at Farnborough map precisely to these three aircraft families.
What Was Actually Signed at Farnborough
The firm order covers five full-flight simulators and two flight training devices across three aircraft types, as confirmed by Aviation Week.
The full-flight simulator complement includes two Airbus A321neo simulators, one Airbus A350 simulator, and two Boeing 787 simulators. The flight training devices are two A350 Level 1 units — fixed-base, non-motion devices used primarily for cockpit systems familiarization and procedures training rather than for full type ratings. An option clause adds one additional A350 full-flight simulator and one additional 787 full-flight simulator, giving Turkish Airlines the flexibility to accelerate capacity as deliveries of those widebodies ramp up.
All seven firm devices are contracted for delivery by 2029, and they will be housed in a new Flight Training Centre that broke ground in Istanbul in January 2026. Simulator hangars at the facility are scheduled to become operational in 2027, with the full centre expected to open in 2028, per the American Journal of Transportation.
Turkish Airlines Chairman Murat Şeker framed the investment as foundational rather than supplementary. "As we continue to expand our fleet and global network, further strengthening our pilot training infrastructure is essential to supporting our long-term growth strategy," he said, as cited in CAE's official press release. "The addition of these advanced training devices will enhance our ability to prepare pilots across multiple fleet types with the highest levels of safety, consistency, and operational excellence."
CAE's Chief Executive Matthew Bromberg acknowledged a relationship of more than two decades. "For more than 20 years, we have worked together to support the airline's growth and evolving training needs," he said. "Through this comprehensive fleet of Airbus and Boeing training devices, we will continue to deliver advanced, high-fidelity simulation solutions that help Turkish Airlines build pilot capacity, maintain the highest safety standards, and support its long-term ambitions."
Why Airlines Cannot Just Fly Pilots on Real Aircraft
The technology behind a modern full-flight simulator is what makes the simulator order strategically essential rather than merely convenient. Under FAA regulations under 14 CFR Part 60, a Level D full-flight simulator — the highest regulatory classification — is approved for Zero Flight Time type training, meaning a qualified pilot can earn a type rating for the A350 or 787 entirely on the ground, transitioning directly to the cockpit without a single live training flight on the actual aircraft.
To earn that regulatory approval, a Level D simulator must replicate the target aircraft with measured precision. Every switch, lever, display, and alarm is calibrated to match the actual cockpit. The six-degrees-of-freedom motion platform — typically a Stewart platform configuration — must reproduce acceleration, turbulence, and ground effect during the landing flare with sufficient accuracy that no negative training transfer occurs when pilots move to the real aircraft.
CAE's True electric motion system, developed in collaboration with Moog for the 7000XR Series platform that serves as the expected baseline for the Turkish Airlines order, uses all-electric actuators capable of supporting simulator cabins weighing up to 14,515 kilograms while drawing less than a quarter the power of a comparable hydraulic system and eliminating toxic hydraulic fluid. The visual system projects computer-generated imagery through a curved mirror arrangement with a 200-degree horizontal field of view — creating the depth perception cues a pilot needs for approach and landing. The instructor station includes real-time data analysis and the CAE Flightscape Insight debriefing system, which allows training supervisors to replay and analyze every phase of each session.
The A350 Level 1 flight training devices in the Turkish Airlines contract are a different category of device: lower-cost flight training devices without the motion platform or full-fidelity visual systems required for type ratings. Their role is to sequence training cost-efficiently — pilots learn the A350's cockpit systems and procedures in the lower-cost device before moving to the full-flight simulator for the motion-intensive portions of type rating training that require Level D fidelity.
What Does It Cost to Train on Real Aircraft Instead?
A new Level D full-flight simulator carries a price tag of roughly $20 million to $30 million, depending on aircraft type and configuration. That figure sounds substantial until measured against the alternative. A new Airbus A350 lists for above $300 million. Running type-rating training on the actual aircraft burns fuel, maintenance cycles, and hours on a revenue-generating asset. The Zero Flight Time pathway eliminates all of that — every pilot type-rated on the A350 or 787 in Turkish Airlines' new centre will have gone through its entire ground and simulator curriculum before touching a real aircraft, keeping the widebodies in service.
The broader economics of the training market reflect that same logic. The global flight simulator market is valued at approximately $7.59 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $9.76 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence. A MarketsandMarkets report published July 7, 2026 put MarketsandMarkets' figure for the same market at $6.65 billion in 2026, growing to $9.77 billion by 2031 at an 8% compound annual growth rate.
The growth is structural: mandatory training regulations, a widening pilot shortage, and fleet expansion by carriers in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East are all pulling in the same direction. According to the same market research, CAE competes at the premium end of that market alongside FlightSafety International, L3Harris Technologies, and Thales.
How Many Pilots Does the Aviation Industry Actually Need?
The shortage context behind the Turkish Airlines deal is significant. Boeing's Pilot and Technician Outlook for 2025–2044 projects that more than 660,000 new commercial pilots will be needed globally over the next 20 years. CAE's 2025 Aviation Talent Forecast narrows the window: it estimates 267,000 new commercial pilots will be needed in the next 10 years alone, with Asia-Pacific accounting for the largest regional share.
Oliver Wyman's projections indicate that the United States pilot shortage will peak at approximately 24,000 pilots in 2026 and remain above 17,000 through 2032. Airlines worldwide are responding not just through recruitment but through capital investment in the infrastructure that enables training throughput — simulators, training centers, and the maintenance contracts that keep devices in qualification.
Why the Delivery Window Matters as Much as the Contract
The 2029 delivery target for all seven firm simulators is not a coincidence of scheduling. It is precisely timed to the inflection point in Turkish Airlines' widebody delivery ramp-up. A350 and 787 deliveries to the airline are expected to accelerate through the late 2020s. Pilots entering initial type-rating training for those aircraft need Level D simulators available and certified before they can qualify. If the simulators are late, the pilots are late. If the pilots are late, aircraft sit on the ground or fly understaffed — neither outcome is compatible with a 2033 fleet target of 800 aircraft carrying 170 million passengers.
The new Flight Training Centre's simulator hangar, scheduled to become operational in 2027, is designed to absorb the first wave of this training demand well before the full facility opens in 2028. The sequencing reflects a carrier that has planned the training infrastructure as carefully as the aircraft orders themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a full-flight simulator, and why do airlines use them instead of real aircraft for pilot training?
A full-flight simulator is a full-size replica of a specific aircraft's cockpit mounted on a motion platform that can move in six directions, paired with a high-resolution wraparound visual system. The highest regulatory tier — Level D — is approved for Zero Flight Time type training, meaning pilots can earn the qualification to fly a specific aircraft type without a single training flight on the real aircraft. Airlines use them because training on a live airliner is expensive (fuel, maintenance, opportunity cost), exposes equipment to additional wear, and cannot safely replicate emergencies. A Level D simulator can reproduce engine fires, hydraulic failures, severe weather, and runway excursions in a controlled environment that a real aircraft cannot.
How many simulators will Turkish Airlines ultimately have for the A350 and 787 types?
Under the firm contract, Turkish Airlines will receive one A350 full-flight simulator, two A350 Level 1 flight training devices (fixed-base, non-motion devices for systems training), and two Boeing 787 full-flight simulators. Options allow for one additional A350 full-flight simulator and one additional 787 full-flight simulator, which could bring the total A350 and 787 simulator suite to four and three devices respectively, as confirmed by Aviation Week. The airline has said it expects to acquire more than a dozen simulators total by the early 2030s.
Why does Turkish Airlines need simulators specifically for the A321neo, A350, and 787 — and not for other aircraft in its fleet?
These three types represent the core of Turkish Airlines' fleet modernization plan and the largest volumes of new aircraft arriving through 2033. The airline already has training infrastructure for legacy types like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family. The A321neo, A350, and 787 are either newly entering the fleet in large numbers or being delivered in variants that require separate type ratings from what existing devices cover. New type-specific simulators must be qualified against the actual aircraft's flight test data before they can be used for regulatory training — which is why the contract was placed now, with a 2029 delivery target, rather than once the aircraft start arriving in volume.
What does this deal mean for the global pilot training supply chain?
Full-flight simulator delivery timelines have lengthened in recent years, partly because supply-chain constraints for high-fidelity visual collimators — the curved mirror systems that produce realistic depth perception — are extending production schedules at Level D device manufacturers, according to market analysts. An airline that contracts simulators today for 2029 delivery is effectively reserving capacity in a constrained production queue. Airlines that have not yet placed orders for simulators covering their next-generation aircraft types may find it difficult to secure earlier delivery slots.
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