Turkey’s TAV eyes acquisitions abroad: CEO
Sefer Levent - BODRUM
Turkey’s TAV Airports has plans to pursue new acquisitions abroad in line with a company decision taken two years ago, according to TAV CEO Sani Şener. “TAV has become the operator of 69 airports across the world from being a company which ran 14 airports two years ago in line with our global growth vision. We will be soon in the Philippines’ capital city of Manila.
There will be privatization tenders in Africa, Russia and the United States in the upcoming period and we are interested in attending some of them. We see substantial demand especially in Russia and Africa. We are also preparing to bid in India,” Şener said in a meeting in the Aegean resort of Bodrum, where the company will start to undertake the operational rights of the airport as of Oct. 22.
TAV Airports now operates the Istanbul Atatürk, Ankara Esenboğa, İzmir Adnan Menderes, Milas Bodrum and Alanya Gazipaşa airports in Turkey. The Tbilisi and Batumi airports in Georgia, the Monastir and Enfidha-Hammamet airports in Tunisia, the Skopje and Ohrid airports in Macedonia, the Madinah Airport in Saudi Arabia and the Zagreb Airport in Croatia are also operated by TAV Airports, among others. TAV is also providing services and products in other areas of airport operations including duty-free, food and beverage, ground handling, IT, security and operation services, according to the company website.
TAV will soon take the operational rights of the Milas-Bodrum Airport for the next 20 years. The airport is 32 kilometers from the touristic destination of Bodrum and 82 kilometers from another touristic spot, Didim.
Şener said the company has a number of plans to encourage extending Bodrum’s tourism season, which is now around seven months a year.
He also noted the company has invested 75 million euros in the Atatürk Airport, adding the airport will be closed down after the third airport in Istanbul is opened and the company’s operational rights end in 2021.
He said any TAV losses will be compensated by the authorities if the third airport opens before 2021.
“The number of the Atatürk Airport has been increasing year by year. TAV renewed all luggage systems in the airport… And now we have started to build an additional terminal. We’ll open this terminal in April 2016, we hope… We work in close coordination with Turkish Airlines and General Directorate of State Airports Authority [DHMİ],” he said.
Şener also noted the most sold product in the free-shop section of the Atatürk Airport is now Turkish delight, followed by alcoholic beverages.
