Turkey the rising star in air cargo

After showing leadership in many areas in airline transport this year, Turkey also demonstrated rapid growth in air cargo. According to the latest global air cargo market data by World Air Cargo Data (WACD), over the first nine months of this year, the lowest average growth rate over the last five years was 2.8 percent. On average, Turkey grew by 10.2 percent during this period. Turkey’s growth in the last months of the year is expected to accelerate further in parallel with the increase in exports. One of the fastest growing air cargo brands, the flag carrier company Turkish Cargo, increased its revenue by 29 percent in the first nine months of 2018 compared to the same period of the previous year. The company increased its cargo also by 25 percent. According to WACD, Turkish Cargo provides service to 122 countries and flies to more than 300 destinations. Thus, Turkish Cargo maintained its 8th position on the WACD list. The company aims to reach a capacity of two million tonnes with the opening of the new Istanbul Airport and to become one of the top five airlines in the world. In 2023, the target is to be in the top three with total capacity of four million tonnes.

Key to this growth will be the new airport. Logistics giants like UPS, DHL and FedEx say that foreign technology and automotive companies are already preparing to cooperate with local firms on storage facilities to export from Istanbul Airport. A Far Eastern mobile phone company, which is preparing to enter the Turkish market, is in talks with Fevzi Gandur Lojistik for its Istanbul Airport operations. Ataturk Airport has a terminal area of 9 aircraft with a parking space of 250,000 square meters. At Istanbul Airport, a cargo city of 1.4 million square meters and 29- aircraft parking capacity has been built. Additionally, e-commerce volume is estimated to reach $4.9 trillion by 2021. These products, such as electronics and medicine, which require fast delivery, will be carried by air cargo and provide substantial trade flow to Istanbul. When the four stages of the new airport are completed, the annual air cargo capacity is expected to reach 5.5 million tonnes, making Turkey a regional hub for air cargo.

And let’s not forget passenger transport

The European Air Navigation Security Organization (EUROCONTROL) announced air traffic data for the JanuarySeptember period of 2018. In the report, Turkey took first place with 192 additional daily flights. Within the EUROCONTROL member countries, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) ranked first in the same period. Among the airports that contribute most to European air traffic, Antalya Airport came second following Frankfurt.