TAV aims for 100 million passengers this year

ISTANBUL

Airport operating company TAV Havalimanları aims to serve at least 100 million passengers this year, said Serkan Kaptan, noting that the company’s growth in 2023 was above their targets.

The airports TAV operates served 96 million passengers last year, a 22 percent increase compared to 2022. The revenues of the company grew 25 percent to 1.3 billion euros.

“We are forecasting the passenger traffic to be between 100 million to 110 million, while we expect EBITDA to reach 490 million euros this year,” Kaptan told reporters in a meeting on the company’s performance last year and expectations for 2024.

TAV Havalimanları operates 15 airports in 8 countries.

“We already made a good start into 2024,” Kaptan, adding that the numbers in January were strong.

Despite all the challenges and risks, 2023 was “a good year” for TAV, he said. Almost all the airports TAV operates saw double digit growth in passenger traffic.

“The number of international passengers increased by 25 percent to 63 million. Despite the adverse effects of the Russian-Ukraine war, the passenger traffic from Western Europe and the Middle East rose significantly,” Kaptan said.

Passenger traffic from Russia fell 40 percent compared to 2019, but the number of travelers from Germany and the U.K. rose 24 percent and 58 percent, respectively, according to the CEO.

TAV is currently making investments worth a total of 1.2 billion euros at the airports in Antalya, Ankara and Almaty (in Kazakhstan), said Kaptan.

The company’s EBITDA was 385 million euros last year, up 19 percent. TAV increased its net profit by 104 percent in 2023 from the previous year to 249 million euros.