Seabird Airlines of Istanbul, Turkey, has signed a multi-aircraft deal along with an exclusive sales representative agreement covering Twin Otter series 400 aircraft sales in Turkey.

The package deal covers six aircraft configured with straight floats for water-based commercial operations, and the first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in 2014.

Turkey has a long coastline and poor road connections between coastal towns, so during summer months the Twin Otters will be put to use on scheduled services, as well as ad-hoc charter. "Turkey is surrounded by three seas," says founder and president Kursad Arusan, "so why has there been no such service before?"

Seabird has effectively been grounded for two years since its establishment in 2010 while going through the process of having legislation written into Turkish law for the operation of seaplanes. This was finally achieved last October, and the company has arranged for the ACMI lease of series 300 Twin Otters to start services ahead of the arrival of the 400s. Two aircraft are due to be in service shortly with a third arriving in June – all from Kenn Borek Air of Canada. The leased aircraft are effectively zero-time, and flown by experienced pilots with Turkish first officers. Although availability will be tight while there are only two aircraft, Arusan hopes to make five days a month available for ad-hoc charter.

The company will also carry out demon-stration flights in support of aircraft sales, both civilian and military, in Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia.

During winter months the Twin Otters will be land-based, the conversion from floats to wheels or vice versa taking two engineers around half a day to achieve.

The 400 series Twin Otter features many modifications that improve safety and increase performance over the series 300, the most notable of which is the integration of the Honeywell Primus Apex avionics suite. Other changes include upgraded Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 engines, use of composite materials, light weight interior, simplified electrical and LED lighting systems.