Loading

Massive capacity expansion is planned for Istanbul airports, with competing private interests

Analysis

The anticipated arrival of a new airport at Istanbul by the end of 2018 should ultimately cater for 150 million passengers annually once fully operational. Meanwhile, Turkey's TAV Airports has just announced that during the final seven-year period of its concession at the existing Ataturk Airport it will continue to invest there in the form of a new terminal that will boost capacity by an additional 10 million passengers per annum (ppa).

This raises the prospect of an existing airport that is operated by a respected investor/operator competing for primary hub status with a brand new one, which TAV bid on to operate but which ended up in the hands of rivals in a consortium. And that does not take into account the other airport across the bridge in Asia, Sabiha Gökçen, which is owned and operated by yet another set of investors. Private enterprise in the airports business is alive and well in Istanbul but it needs to be.

Last year Ataturk's passenger traffic grew by 13.8% to 51.3 million (34 million of whom were international), making it the fifth busiest European airport, closing in fast on fourth placed Amsterdam Schiphol. It also showed the largest growth of the top 25 European airports, bettered only indeed by Sabiha Gökçen, in 26th place with 18.6 million passengers and growth of 28.7%.

Read More

This CAPA Analysis Report is 4,427 words.

You must log in to read the rest of this article.

Got an account? Log In

Create a CAPA Account

Get a taste of our expert analysis and research publications by signing up to CAPA Content Lite for free, or unlock full access with CAPA Membership.

InclusionsContent Lite UserCAPA Member
News
Non-Premium Analysis
Premium Analysis
Data Centre
Selected Research Publications

Want More Analysis Like This?

CAPA Membership provides access to all news and analysis on the site, along with access to many areas of our comprehensive databases and toolsets.
Find Out More