FLUG REVUE November 2003: Antalya airport has bright future

ANTALYA “GATEWAY TO THE TURKISH RIVIERA”

By Dierk Wünsche

The terminal capacity of Antalya airport is currently designed to handle 17.3 million passengers. The sole runway used up to now has a capacity of 24 flight movements per hour and is available for use 24 hours a day. Some 360 airlines fly to the airport, linking the Turkish Riviera with over 180 international destinations in 55 countries. This makes Antalya (AYT) the second biggest airport in the entire Mediterranean area. Only Palma de Mallorca (PMI) handles more passengers. When ranked alongside other European airports, Antalya comes 27th, and world-wide it is number 92, according to ACI statistics for 2002.

The Turkish Number One in international passenger traffic has undergone meteoric growth during the last five years. Thus, passenger numbers have risen by 75 percent, and a record 9.8 million passengers used the airport in 2002. In 1999 it was still only handling 4.2 million international passengers, then the following year this rose to 6.6 million. Thanks to these record results, Antalya has finally overtaken Atatürk airport in Istanbul, which handled 8.5 million passengers in 2002 and 8.8 million in 2001. Unlike Istanbul Atatürk, 99% of Antalya's business is charter flights. Altogether, Turkey has 31 airports, nine of which are international passenger airports. In the passenger rankings for international transport for 2002, Antalya and Atatürk airport were followed by Dalaman with 2.2 million passengers, Adnan Menderes (Izmir) with 1.5 million, Milas (Bodrum) with 1.4 million and Esenboga (Ankara) with 1.0 million passengers.

Despite the SARS crisis, the Iraq war and the sluggish German economy, passenger numbers at Antalya airport have not completely collapsed this year. Although the original target figure of over ten million passengers will not be achieved, the expected three percent decline should be viewed as still quite respectable. In the period to the end of August, passenger numbers were only 340,000 down on the record results of the previous year.

The most passengers handled in any single day were 76,767 on 27 July, the highest number of arrivals for the year was 40,941 passengers on 3 August, and the record for numbers of departing passengers was 40,604 passengers on 17 August. As of the end of August, flight movements stood at 38,374. 80 percent of traffic at Antalya airport is concentrated into six months of the summer. Traffic is showing an upward trend in the autumn.

The catchment area of passengers arriving at Antalya airport covers three continents: Europe (west and east), Asia (the Middle East) and Africa. Europeans are the strongest contingent, accounting for 73 percent of passengers in 2002, with the Germans in the lead at 48 percent. Russia comes next, with 11 percent, followed by the Benelux countries. The number of passengers arriving from Russia rose significantly by up to 30 percent in the first six months of 2003. There were also more tourists from Iran in the summer of 2003. Nine of the top twelve destinations served are in Germany.

If one examines the passenger figures in terms of departure destination airport, then Moscow comes first with ten percent, followed by Düsseldorf (8%), Frankfurt (7%) and Amsterdam (6%). The strongest airline at the airport in terms of passenger numbers is the Turkish carrier Onur Air, which carried 11 percent of passengers in 2002. Next in line comes home carrier SunExpress with nine percent, followed by Thomas Cook (Condor) with eight percent and Pegasus and Hapag-Lloyd, both with seven percent. Home carrier Sky Air accounted for 5% of passengers, followed by Air Berlin in and Siberian Air, each with four percent.

The airport's new international terminal was opened officially in April 1998. For many years the previous terminal building had been bursting at the seams during peak periods. Huge queues in front of the terminal and long waits had been an everyday occurrence. Today that building is reserved for domestic traffic. The new international terminal is the first example of airport privatisation in Turkey. In the autumn of 1999, Fraport AG acquired a 50% share in the Antalya Havalimani Uluslararasi Terminal Iseletmeciligi Anonim Sirketi company (Antalya Airport International Terminal Management Company). The management company says that it takes special pains to make passengers' airport experience as pleasant as possible. The quality offered to passengers should not be confined to pure service but should extend to the way in which it is presented. About 2,500 staff are currently employed at the airport, including staff in the duty-free shops and ground handling staff. The number of staff concerned with providing mobility to the tourists is estimated at over 15,000.

With regard to architecture and service, once again the company wants the terminal to be viewed as a model and to stand out with its openness and rapid passenger handling. Thus, passengers arriving at the airport can normally collect their baggage a mere twenty minutes after landing. One Turkish peculiarity is the possibility of making duty-free purchases in the arrivals hall. To avoid congestion either in or directly in front of the terminal, the rows of “welcome desks” for organisations such as car hire firms and travel agents have been moved to an area in front of the bus parking spaces. This means that passengers can be processed quickly here as well. The requirement for 100 percent screening of passengers' baggage that came into force on 1 January 2003 is implemented in Antalya in compliance with the international standard. Thus, departing passengers have all their baggage x-rayed and pass through passenger control the moment they enter the terminal. A second check of hand luggage and another passenger control await passengers when they arrive at the departure gate. A total of 59 check-in counters are available for passengers to check in, and according to airport figures the time taken to handle each passenger is around 30 seconds. This compares with a standard time internationally of around two minutes.

The entire atmosphere and the wide range of service possibilities at the airport (duty-free area, restaurants and 24-hour medical support) are intended to give passengers a feeling of security and resemble the amenities of a five-star hotel. Perhaps the most striking architectural feature of the terminal is a 750m2 pool which is crowned by a huge dome. This open design allows the daylight to flood into both the arrival and departure levels. A long row of “classical sculptures” recalls the history of the region and thus attunes the arriving passengers to the country they are entering.

The terminal concession granted to Fraport AG and its Turkish partner, the Bayindir group, runs to 2007. By that date the second runway currently under construction will long be finished. It is scheduled to enter service at the end of 2005. By that time, according to the trend forecast, over 15 million passengers per year should be passing through the airport. The capacity of the existing terminal will then reach its limits. The military base currently still operated at the airport, which even has a separate runway parallel to the first runway, will then be vacated.

To ensure that the “gateway to the Turkish Riviera” remains open, the airport authorities and the Turkish government are planning to expand the passenger handling area. Thus, a call for tenders for the construction of a second international terminal was issued in the first week of September. This could take the form of an almost identical extension that adjoined the existing terminal seamlessly on the north side, with eight additional passenger walkways. This would mean that one terminal could be devoted to arrivals and the other to departures. Another possibility is to build a second terminal in a 90º orientation towards the east, between the existing runway and the second one that is under construction. This would adjoin a ramp area which currently serves as a long-term car park. The second terminal should be commissioned in 2006.

Irrespective of which variant gets the go-ahead, airport general manager, Andreas Paul Stark of Fraport AG, and his Turkish colleague, Naci Alin, believe that the potential at Antalya airport is far from being exhausted. “We are an important engine for tourism in Turkey, even in times of crisis. About 70 percent of all travellers come to Turkey by plane. This means that airports like Antalya are the strongest growing gateways and are contributing towards improving the infrastructure.” Thus, Turkey has the highest growth rate of all in the tourist industry, expressed in terms of international tourist arrivals: +13.6%. This compares with Croatia (+6.1%), Bulgaria (+7.8%), and Spain (+3.3%). The travel potential remaining to be tapped in the former eastern bloc states and the Russian market is thought to be particularly high. And, of the major Turkish tourism regions of Istanbul, Izmir, Bodrum and Dalaman, the region around Antalya, with its market share of 40 percent, is clearly in the lead. As the Turkish airport authorities consider further expansion and privatisation projects, the airports at Bodrum and Dalaman should take a good look around.

From page 64 of FLUG REVUE 11/2003

Last updated 10 October 2003

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