Southwind Airlines (2S, Antalya) has taken delivery of its first B777-300(ER), TC-GRZ (msn 33501).
The 17.9-year-old aircraft owned by Air Lease Corporation was operated by Azur Air until March 2022. It underwent maintenance at Amman Queen Alia in 2022 and was ferried to Antalya on December 22 still under its Bermudan VQ-BZY registration. It began proving flights between Antalya and Bodrum Milas on March 10, 2023, but it has yet to be deployed into revenue operations by the Turkish leisure specialist.
The aircraft joins Southwind Airlines' existing fleet comprising one A321-200, one A321-200NX, and two A330-200s. However, only the two A321s are currently active, flying charter flights between Türkiye and Russia. As previously reported, the airline will soon induct its first B737-8.
Southwind is backed by Pegas Touristik, a tour operator affiliated with Russia's Nordwind Airlines, which established a Turkish AOC in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia in 2022.
