Turkey’s leading airport operator TAV Airports announced its operating results for 2014. According to the announcement, TAV Airports Holding announced a net profit of EUR 218 million in 2014 with an increase of 64% compared to the previous year and increased its revenue to EUR 983 million with an increase of 9%. The company will propose a dividend distribution of TL 306 million.
The number of passengers at the airports operated by TAV reached to 95 million with an increase of 14% compared to the previous year.
TAV Airports Holding President & CEO Sani Şener stated “Today, we have managed to take part in 39 other airports with our service companies besides the 14 airports we operate. In 2014, while our revenue increased 9% and reached EUR 983m, our net profit came in at EUR 218m, demonstrating 64% growth, fully in line with the guidance we had disclosed in the beginning of the year. During this time our passenger number reached 95m. Our company’s EBITDA reached EUR 434m. Furthermore, our contribution to employment continued and our headcount increased to 14,478 by an increase of 6% on average.”
Şener continued “As we expanded our airport portfolio in line with our corporate strategy, we launched a new growth initiative within TAV Airports: expansion of our service companies outside of the TAV ecosystem. While currently, we operate at 14 airports, our service companies provide services at 39 other airports. In total, we have a footprint at 53 airports around the world. We will continue pursuing this strategy to attain even better financial results. During the year, ATU, our duty free operator company, was awarded the concession to operate the duty free shops at Salallah Airport in Oman as well as at five other airports in Tunisia, including Carthage Airport in the country’s capital. In addition, ATU assumed operation of the duty free shops at Monastir Airport in Tunisia in July 2014. BTA, our food & beverage company, began operating the food and beverage outlets at Uniq Istanbul, which is likely to become one of Istanbul’s most popular shopping malls. TAV Operation Services commenced operation of Air France/KLM passenger lounges at Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart airports in Germany. TAV Information Technologies won the contract to set up the IT infrastructure for Abu Dhabi Airport. Expanding the geographic scope of its services to include Medinah, HAVAS posted a major jump in profitability as a result of the restructuring program implemented in 2014. In December 2014, TGS, a joint venture of HAVAS and Turkish Airlines, won a tender from Turkish Airlines to provide ground handling services for eight major Turkish airports.”
Şener added, “We topped the Istanbul and overall passenger targets that we had set at the beginning of 2014. According to passenger traffic statistics for the year, Istanbul Ataturk Airport was the fourth busiest airport in Europe. In order to ensure uninterrupted passenger growth at Istanbul Ataturk, we began expanding this facility in cooperation with the State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI). The investments DHMI undertook in the apron area increased the airport’s aircraft parking capacity by 25% as of November 2014. A 42% total increase in parking capacity will result as these investments are finalized in 2015. Meanwhile, TAV Airports will initiate approximately €75 million investment to increase the capacity of the international terminal. The terminal extension projects will be completed in 2016”. Remarking that they continuously raised the bar higher in domestic operations, Şener underlined: “In March, we were awarded the tender for operation rights of Milas Bodrum Airport; and hence increased the number of airports we operate in to 14. We took over the operation of the domestic terminal of Milas Bodrum Airport in July 2014 and as a result, we served nearly 1 million additional passengers during the second half of the year. At the beginning of 2014 we completed construction of Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport’s domestic terminal, which commenced service as Turkey’s largest domestic airport terminal. This was also a stellar year for Gazipaşa Alanya Airport, where passenger traffic grew a dizzying 115% to 726 thousand passengers. After completion of the expansion projects that we will be undertaking here, Gazipaşa Alanya Airport’s capacity will climb to 2 million passengers per year.”
“Medinah Airport in Saudi Arabia continued to perform brilliantly with 22% growth in passenger traffic in 2014. The new terminal building that will go into service in first quarter 2015 will remove all roadblocks to this airport’s future growth. As rapid expansion also continued at our airports in Georgia and Macedonia in 2014, we extended our airport portfolio to encompass Eastern Europe by taking a 15% equity stake in the consortium that operates Zagreb Airport in 2013. This year we expect to learn the result of the tender for the operation of New York LaGuardia Airport in the United States that we had bid on in 2014.”
