Turkey’s TAV eyes over 100 million passengers this year

BURSA - Doğan News Agency

TAV Airports CEO Sani Şener said the company has offered services to 96 million passengers last year and foresees closing this year at over 100 million passengers served. 

“We offered services to 96 million passengers in our domestic and foreign airports last year, thanks mainly to our operations in Istanbul. Our projection is to close this year with over 100 million. We had set a 100 million target for the year 2020 in 2010, but we’ll reach this target ahead of 2016. The number of air passengers has been growing in parallel to Turkey’s growth. We also cannot deny the contribution Turkish Airlines’ high growth figures,” he said at a meeting of the Balkan’s Rumelia Industry and Business Association in the northwestern province of Bursa. 

He also noted that the company expects around 10-12 percent of increase in revenue this year compared to last year. 

“If we won the operational rights of the duty free business at the Houston Airport in Texas, we can go and make business anywhere in the world. We have recently been found qualified to bid in an airport tender in the Philippines. We’ll bid for the construction and operational rights of five airports there,” he said, adding that the company is eyeing bigger stakes in Asia Pacific airports. 

He said the company has posted a significant growth in the service business in a bid to grow further in this field. 

“We have the operational rights of 14 airports across the world. Our business group also has a construction company, which only concentrates on airport building. With the addition of this business, the number of airports on which our business group has a footprint increases up to 70,” he said. 

He noted that the number of tourists visiting Turkey has slightly decreased this year due to escalating violence, adding that there is not any decline in Istanbul.

“We faced serious problems in Tunisia after the terror attacks had broken out there. We have seen a decrease in the number of Russian tourists in the Antalya Airport, where we offer only ground services…Our operations is going very well in Istanbul and Georgia. And we believe the operations will back to normal in Tunisia next year. Our company follows a smart growth strategy as we learn to deal with any shocks anywhere in the world,” he said. 

Şener also said air flight culture has developed in Turkey in a very rapid pace. 

“When our company first started to make this business at the end of the 1990s, around 33 million people preferred air travel. This figure has increased to 160-170 million. This is a huge growth,” he said. 

TAV increased its revenue by 17 percent to 508 million euros in the first half of 2015, the company said in July. Consolidated net profit of TAV Airports increased 4 percent and reached 88 million euros. The number of passengers at the airports operated by TAV reached 48 million with an increase of 8 percent compared to the previous year, said the company.