Page 83 - TURKRptJul19

A new flight connecting Turkey’s business capital Istanbul with Iran’s central desert city of Kerman is set to launch, ILNA reported on June 26. Though airlines around the globe have generally wound down flights to Iran in the face of the US sanctions regime directed at the country and companies that do business with it, Turkish carriers including flag carrier Turkish Airlines and low-cost operator Pegasus continue to run connections with Iran. Both airlines are believed to have access to Iran’s advantageous official forex rate for payments in the Iranian rial (IRR). In the face of US sanctions, the IRR has lost around 65% of its value against the US dollar, a big difficulty for international enterprises relying on rial revenues. The new service will be run by Turkish Airlines, according to Kerman’s governor Javad Fadaei.
Turkey’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has said it will keep the Boeing 737 MAX jets in its fleet grounded throughout this summer. The carrier added that due to the decision to keep the planes on the ground, some flights would be cancelled. It, however, did not say how many flights would be affected. THY has 24 Boeing 737 MAX jets in its 336-strong fleet of aircraft. As of end-May, the carrier was flying to 310 destinations. In May, Tuncay Eminoglu, THY vice president for sales for Asia region, suggested that the impact of Boeing grounding its 737-8 MAX aircraft worldwide in the wake of two deadly crashes had only minimally impacted THY’s operations.
A decline in domestic passengers impacting the airline is said to reflect the effect of the dire economic conditions in Turkey, such as negative growth, high unemployment and high inflation.
Turkish Airlines is targeting a passenger volume of 80mn this year, up from 75.2mn in 2018. The company’s revenue target for 2019 is $14.1bn.
On a related note, the general manager of Pegasus Airlines, Turkey’s leading low-cost airline, said on June 25 that the carrier does not have any 737 MAX jets in its fleet and the company has not ordered any. “We have a total of 82 jets, including 42 Boeing B737-800s, one Boeing B737-400, 12 Airbus A320-200CEOs and 27 Airbus A320NEOs,” Nane said, adding that the average aeroplane age in Pegasus’ fleet is 5.6 years. Pegagus will receive 11 Airbus jets by the end of this year, according to the executive.
● Istanbul Airport
Fees charged to Istanbul Airport operator 'hugely cut and postponed'.
The Turkish government has reportedly hugely cut and postponed fees charged to the consortium operating the new Istanbul Airport.The consortium appears to have been under considerable financial pressure for some time but officials—perhaps wary of bad news hitting Turkey’s flagship mega infrastructure project within months of its opening, and with the controversial Istanbul revote ahead on June 23—have, according to a piece written for news website Airport Haber by columnist Ali Kidik, moved to ease the situation. The operator, IGA, is to pay €335mn per year for the right over the first two years to run the airport, almost exactly two-thirds less than the original €1bn annual charge, Kidik said, adding that the payments would be delayed for 25 years. Istanbul Airport, a mega airport that officials want to see become the world’s busiest flight hub in coming years, was opened by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last October, although it was a long way from being ready for a proper launch. That launch eventually took place in April after flag carrier Turkish Airlines moved its operations to the airport from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.
‘Breathtaking but very poorly designed’. There have been criticisms that the $12bn airport is unnecessary and that, although it is “breathtaking”, it is one of the most poorly designed airports in the world. Instead of building Istanbul Airport, Turkey could instead have simply added one runway each to Istanbul’s two exising airports, Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen, according to some critics. However, the Erdogan administration takes great pride in its mega infrastructure projects hailed as placing Turkey at the cutting edge. Reports
83 TURKEY Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com