Local aviation sector turnover reaches $17 bln

ANKARA

The turnover of the Turkish aviation sector recently reached nearly $17 billion, up from $2.5 billion in 2003, General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) Director General Orhan Birdal has said.

“The number of airline passengers was 33 million in 2003, and the figure is expected to be 130 million by the end of the year. The number of planes using our airspace will reach 1.5 million by the end of 2012,” he said Dec. 7 at the first International Conference on Aviation organized by the University of Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) in Ankara.

Meanwhile airline passenger numbers are set to rise by over a quarter in the coming years to hit 3.6 billion in 2016, with China accounting for nearly one in four new travelers, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Dec. 6, according to Agence France-Presse.

IATA said the 28.5 percent global increase over the next five years means that airlines will carry 831 million more people in 2016 than in 2011. “Despite the current economic uncertainty, expected demand for connectivity remains strong,” said Tony Tyler, director general of IATA, which said that aviation supports 57 million jobs and $2.2 trillion in economic activity.

 Almost 500 million new passengers are expected to travel on domestic routes and 331 million will take international routes, IATA said in its Airline Industry Forecast 2012-2016. And while the United States is to remain the largest air travel market over the five-year period – with 710 million domestic passengers and 223 million international travelers by 2016 – its growth rates “will be well below” the global average of 5.3 percent for international travel and 5.2 percent for domestic routes, IATA said.