Only one sixth of airports in Turkey yield profit

Hacer Boyacıoğlu ANKARA/Hürriyet

The plane traffic across the country has soared 39 percent within the past five years, but the airport expenses have jumped by 100 percent. DHA photo

Only one of six airports in Turkey managed to post profit in 2012, sounding the alarm for the sector, which has been facing a boom in recent years.

Only seven of 43 currently operating airports in Turkey yielded profit in 2012 due to excessively rising, spending and stagnating sales, according to the Turkish Court of Accounts’ 2012 report on the country’s main airport operator body, the General Directorate of State Airports (DHMİ).

All airports have approximately 5 million Turkish Liras in expenditure surplus, reads the report, which revealed the newly inaugurated airports suffer from the same problem.

 “After Iğdır, Kastamonu, Şırnak and Bingöl airports were put into service, the number of airports that spend much more than they gain surged,” the report detects.

The plane traffic across the country has soared 39 percent within the past five years, while the passenger traffic increased by 54 percent, according to the report.

However, the growth of service production costs at ports doubled in five years, overtaking the rise in sales, which is reported to be 65 percent.

The DHMİ’s service production expenditures witnessed a remarkable rise in 2012, surging by 25.1 percent to 1.1 billion.

Despite some airports such as Kocaeli, Mardin and Şanlıurfa have enjoyed falling per flight expenses due to soaring commercial plane traffic, the commercial flights at Ferit Melen [Van], Hatay and Diyarbakır airport fell appreciably.

Meanwhile, the heavy travel traffic of DHMİ employees jumped the expenditure per flight by 37 percent at Ankara Esenboğa airport, the report stated.

The report advised the country’s airport regulator body to establish an incentive system for the private sector and encouraging the local economic and administrative actor to get involved in airport operation.

“Therefore, plans for strengthening the financial structure, raising income and sources with paying the unpaid capital being at the priority and taking measures that would achieve savings, hold great significance,” the Court of Accounts’ report also said.