Good news for Alanya from, TAV Airports Holding Chairman Hamdi Akin:
“The Antalya Gazipasa Airport will begin operating in the summer.”
TAV Airports Holding Chairman Hamdi Akin, in Alanya on the invitation of President of the Alanya Chamber of Trade and Commerce Kerim Tac, has presented regional tourism operators with the good news they had been anxiously awaiting. Stating that the relevant public authorities had been asked to provide the 500,000 square metres of land needed for the airport to reach international standards, Akin said that the first aircraft will land in the Gazipasa Airport this summer. The region’s economy is expected to revive as a result of the opening of the airport.
Hamdi Akin, Chairman of TAV Airports Holding, which won the right to operate the Gazipasa Airport for 25 years by proposing in last year’s tender to pay the state a fixed yearly lease of ,000 and to also turn-over a sum totalling 65% of the annual profits, has now given the good news that the region has been anxiously awaiting: “The Antalya Gazipasa Airport will begin operating this summer.”
TAV Airports, considering boutique airports a part of its basic strategy, aims to operate these airports in the best possible way by designing them to serve a high number of passengers, while keeping investments and operational expenses under feasible control, and to thereby revive the economy of the regions where they are situated. TAV Airports, which has first realised this objective in the Batumi International Airport in Georgia, will now initiate a similar implementation in the Antalya Gazipasa Airport.
The aim is make the necessary investments to ensure that the passenger capacity of Gazipaşa Airport reaches its maximum levels and to extend the runway so that the airport achieves international standards and can thus serve Alanya and its surroundings. Only one hour distant from the tourism centre of Alanya, the Gazipasa Airport is expected to draw visitors from Scandinavian countries who have an interest in Alanya from a touristic point of view and who may wish to invest in the region. The Gazipasa Airport therefore will also play a triggering role for the region’s economy.
“The first airplane will land in June”
Regional tourism operators have long complained that Alanya’s distance from Antalya has been curtailing a substantial increase in the number of tourists to this region. Now on his visit to Alanya on the invitation of Kerim Tac, President of the Alanya Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Hamdi Akın, Chairman of TAV Airports Holding, presented these operators with the good news that they had been awaiting: “The first airplane may land in the Gazipasa Airport in summer.” Pointing out that the story of the Gazipasa Airport began in 1985, that its foundations were laid in 1989 and that it was handed over to the private sector in 2007, Akın emphasised that the greatest obstacle preventing the opening of the airport was a psychological one, that it has been said for years that large aircrafts would not be able to land in the Gazipasa Airport. Akin said, “With our joint efforts, we will overcome the preconception that large aircraft cannot land in the Gazipaşa Airport. Stating that the 1825 x 36 metre long runway of the Gazipaşa Airport has now been completed, Akın added that the first application has been made for the airport’s operating licence and that he believed it would be given soon. Akın stated that within this framework, the first airplane would be able to land in the Gazipasa Airport in summer, that the terminal building has also been modified and work is continuing with other facilities of the airport, such as the fire brigade centre, the ground services building, the car park and the flight control tower.
Stating that the relevant public authorities have been requested to provide 500,000 square metres of land so that the airport can reach international standards, Akin said, “You get the scissors and we will get the ribbons for the opening. This year we will land A319 Airbuses in the Gazipasa Airport and next year Boeing 737s.” Akın also said that the major obstacle before them was the nationalisation of land and that the airport also needs a second runway, parallel to the first.
TAV Airports Experience is transferred to Gazipasa
Completed in 1999, the Antalya Gazipasa Airport has a yearly passenger capacity of 500,000, a terminal building covering an area of 2,144 square metres and a car park with a capacity for 105 vehicles.
TAV Airports operates the Istanbul Atatürk and Ankara Esenboğa Airports Domestic and International Terminals and the Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport Domestic Terminal in Turkey, the Tbilisi and Batumi International Airports in Georgia and the Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport in Tunisia. TAV Airports also holds the operation rights for the Enfidha Zine Abidine Ben Ali International Airport in Tunisia and the Skopje Alexander the Great and the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle International Airports and the Shtip Cargo Airport in Macedonia. TAV Airports aims to transfer its knowledge and expertise to the Gazipasa Airport.
OBJECTIVE:
Opening the Gazipasa Airport to flights TAV Airports signed the “build and operate” agreement for the Gazipaşa Airport with the General Directorate of Airports Authoritiy (DHMI) on 4 January 2008. The plans for the revision of the airport, which was handed over on 1st February 2008, were accepted on 1st August 2008 and permission for the privatisation was provided. At the Gazipasa Airport, where actual work began immediately afterwards, the runway of 1825 by 36 metre long has been completed and applications have been made for the operating licence. Once the operating licence has been obtained, there are plans for the first aircraft to land in the Gazipasa Airport in summer; TAV Airports has also asked the relevant authorities to provide the 500,000 square metres of land needed for the airport to achieve international standards.
