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months of 2020, marking a steep 62.8% decline from a year ago, data from the country’s airports authority, DHMI, showed.
Turkey’s airlines need $750mn to survive through 2020 and $2bn in total to survive through next year too, Mehmet Nane, CEO of the country’s leading low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines (PGSUS), told BloombergHT on September 10.
Also on September 10, flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO) said in a stock exchange filing that it served 2.6mn passengers in August, down from 7.4mn a year ago. The international travellers total fell more than 75% y/y to 1.1mn. The domestic passenger decline was 47% y/y.
7.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
Monthly mortgage rates, which were hovering around as low as 0.64% in June, rose above 1%, business daily Dunya reported. Only state-owned Halkbank kept its rates below 1%, at 0.99%.
The annual interest rate on housing loans stood at 21.65% in July 2019 but dropped to 9.14% in July this year, a report by the Real Estate and Real Estate Investment Companies’ Association (GYODER) noted.
Home sales in Turkey increased by 54% y/y in August after surging 124% y/y in the previous month.
The residential property index increased by 25.8% on an annual basis in July, Turkey’s central bank announced on September 16.
Construction of two 318m-high towers has been completed on the $1.3bn Canakkale (Dardanelles) Strait Bridge in Turkey, set to be the longest suspension bridge in the world with a main span of 2,023m, New Civil Engineer reported on September 7. The bridge was designed by Cowi and the construction is the responsibility of a joint venture between Daelim, Limak, SK and Yapi Merkezi. Construction on the project started in March 2017. The bridge opening is scheduled for March 2022.
7.1.5 Retail sector news
7.1.6 TMT sector news 7.1.7 Tourism sector news
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has already impacted Turkey’s 434 shopping centres like a “tsunami” and they may not weather the fallout from a possible second wave of the pandemic, Murat Izci, head of KDM Shopping Malls Leasing and Management Consulting, told daily Cumhuriyet.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Istanbul-based shopping mall operator Akis Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi’s (Akis REIT’s) National Long-Term Rating at 'BBB(tur)' but has revised the outlook to ‘Negative’ from ‘Stable’, it said on August 27.
Turkey will launch its Turksat 5A satellite on November 30, the country’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu said on September 16.
Turkey’s foreign tourist arrivals declined by 71% y/y to 1.8mn in the holiday season peak month August, data from the country’s tourism ministry showed.
44 TURKEY Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com
