ISTANBUL HUB SEMINAR NEWS
SPEAKER: MEHMET ERKAN DURSUN
ÖZYEĞİN UNIVERSITY
05.04.2015
AVM 104 – INTERNATIONAL AVIATION MANAGEMENT
AUTHORS:
MURAT TOR
BORA KAYA
MUSTAFA CAN BEDİZEL
MEHMET ALİ AYDINCAN
BURHAN AVİS
BURCU SÖĞÜT
INSTRUCTOR:
LUIS MARTIN-DOMINGO
ISTANBUL
HUB SEMINAR
Speaker:
Mehmet Erkan DURSUN
İstanbul Hub Seminar;
the largest seminar so far to include aviation topics regarding İstanbul and
Turkey, was held on March 26, at Özyeğin University. Among the five guest
speakers was Mr. Mehmet Erkan Dursun who works as an Aviation Solutions Manager
for IATA (International Air Transport Association) and has an experience over
15 years in the industry was the first guest to give his presentation. He talked
about the topics mentioned below:
- Geography of Turkey is an important factor. Turkey is in the middle of the world. It also is the 37th biggest county in the world and 3rd biggest country in Europe.
- Population of Turkey is 77.7 Million. It is 18th most populated country in the world and 3rd crowded country in Europe. Turkey has 20 provinces more than 1 million population, 7
provinces more than 2 million population which is good for domestic market.
- Average age is 29 and this means we have got high potential for airlines in terms of passenger number. According to predictions, next 40 years Turkey’s population will stay young. We have our own domestic market if we compare with other hubs like Dubai, Doha, etc.
- When we look at the economy, Turkey’s GDP and GDP per capita is growing rapidly and it will continue growing in the next 5 years. This was estimated by IMF. Our GDP is stable by percentage if we compare it with the whole world. This means we need to work hard.
- In 2003, Turkey’s tourism income was really low compared to Germany or United Kingdom. Air transportation industry developed dramatically since then. In 1992 actually, Turkey didn’t have a big potential and only had 9 million domestic passengers and 25 million international passengers. After 2003, the government started to support and promote the air transportation, so the air transportation developed and the number of passengers increased sharply. The domestic market has developed particularly, if we compare with 2003. The international market on the other hand has also grown sharply.
Istanbul
New Airport will be the biggest airport in Europe. Istanbul has started to
become a busy city, so the third airport will be an important aspect for
Istanbul. THY has got a lot more
passengers nowadays if we compare with 2003. THY is also the fastest growing
airline in the World. According to IATA’S information, it almost %16.3 compound
annual growth rate (CAGR). In 2003 THY has only 10 million passenger, then; in
2014 THY has 55 million passenger number. Location of Atatürk Airport is really
important for THY’s development. Hub configuration developed sharply if we
compare to hub configuration between 2003 and 2014.
As a conclusion, Turkish aviation has a strong growth
in domestic and international market since 2003. Turkey has had a huge capacity
increase with the “Build-Operate-Transfer
Project”. However airport capacity is still a bottleneck for the rapid
growth. Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen are at their limits however
the 3rd airport is expected to solve this problem. Another aspect is
that the lack of qualified personal could be very dangerous for the Turkish
Aviation. Besides them, International money unit
parity and politics are importing and has potential to affect the sector in a
heavy way. But before all of them, we must think about two things; the Liberalization of the markets and Gulf Threat. This also can affect our
future in the industry. Especially, Gulf
threat is important. Because the companies like QATAR, Emirates in the Gulf,
have a big vision. They also increase their capacity and employing a lot of
people around the world. That is why; aviation students should not compare
themselves with the classmates after the 3rd airport. They better
should compare themselves with the world.
