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expenditure has yet been put into achieving good transport links between Istanbul and the airport location beyond the city. In its first phase, it is to be able to handle 90mn passengers a year. Turkey intends to more than double that number by 2027. If that is achieved, the mega airport would indeed become the world’s busiest on current projections.
“Second place in five years”. “Istanbul Airport will rise to second place in terms of passenger numbers it serves in around five years,” Transport Minister Cahit Turhan told reporters in a briefing in the airport’s gleaming departure hall, Reuters reported. “When all phases are complete, Istanbul Airport will sit in the leader’s chair,” he added. The airport was supposed to be fully operational on April 7 after authorities transport 10,000 pieces of equipment, from massive aircraft-towing vehicles to sensitive security sensors, across the city in a complex two-day operation, after which Ataturk Airport will close for passenger flights. Some analysts question whether the Istanbul Airport’s ultimate target of 200mn passengers a year is feasible because a second international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, will remain in operation on Istanbul’s Asian side. Turkish Airlines hopes the new airport will allow it to expand to the point where it is on a level playing field with the big Gulf carriers. The expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport to a capacity of 130mn passengers a year has been pushed back to 2030. Dubai-based Emirates is to one day shift to the airport, which ultimately aims to be able to handle 260mn passengers a year
9.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
Turkish contractors eye more investments in Belarus. Mithat Yenigun, head of the Turkish Contractors Association, has said that companies in Turkey have a firm interest in carrying out projects in Belarus. Turkish companies attach importance to increasing investments in Belarus, he told the Belarus Business Forum in Turkey’s capital Ankara. Belarus is a small market for Turkish constructions firms. Companies from Turkey have undertaken 46 construction projects worth $918mn since 1991 whereas in 2018 alone local companies carried out projects in other countries worth $20bn. Russia and Iraq are the main destinations for Turkish construction firms. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko paid an official visit in April to Ankara for talks focusing on bilateral issues. Speaking at the joint press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and his counterpart discussed military, political, commercial and cultural relations and evaluated further steps to be taken in the direction of mutual development. During Lukashenko’s visit, Turkey and Belarus signed six agreements to boost trade volume. “We will work on mutual projects to boost cooperation between the two countries in the fields of transport and industry,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkey and Belarus have the potential to reach a trade volume goal of $1.5bn. Trade volume between the two countries in 2018 amounted to $633mn. Turkey exported $440mn worth of goods to Belarus while its imports from the country stood at $193mn last year. The total amount of investments made by 45 Turkish firms operating in Belarus stands at $1.2bn.
9.1.5 Retail sector news
Turkish consumer electronics market to contract 15% this year says MediaMarkt executive. Turkey’s consumer electronics market will this year contract in terms of the number of goods sold by 15% due to a weaker currency and poor consumer appetite, but revenues in the sector will remain flat as companies will adjust their prices to inflation, said Yenal Gokyildirim, the board chairman of MediaMarkt Turkey. The size of the local consumer electronics market reached TRY54bn in 2018, a 16% expansion on the previous year, according to Gokyildirim. Despite the ongoing stagnation, Turkey is expected to have the fastest growing consumer electronics market in Europe for the next five years, he added. Given this growth potential,
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