Bronchial sleeve lobectomy (BSL) is a lung-saving procedure indicated for central tumors as an alternative to pneumonectomy (PN). Our study compares operative results of both operations. We inducted a study including a total of 273 patients of whom 139 underwent PN and 134 were treated with BSL between January 2007 and December 2017. Both groups were compared in terms of their demographic characteristics, morbidity, mortality, survival and recurrence. The patients in our study comprises 254 (89.7%) men and 28 (10.3%) women. The morbidity rate is higher in the BSL group than the PN group. There are no statistical differences in terms of 30-day mortality rate, local recurrence or distant metastasis between two groups. Overall 5-year survival rate is higher for the patients who underwent BSL. Moreover, BSL has significant survival advantage in patients with N1 disease, neoadjuvant therapy and age less than 60 years. BSL can be performed safely in selected patients without increasing mortality, local recurrence or distant metastases, also offering better long-term survival rates compared to PN.