Turkish Airport operator and Groupe ADP member, TAV Airports, served 52 million passengers in 2021, +92% year-on-year, while revenue reached €522 million/$594 million.

 

TAV Airports Holding Executive Board Member & CEO Sani Sener said: “2021, for us, was a year of significant passenger recovery, massive inorganic growth and value creating corporate actions.”

 

In 2021, TAV was able to extend its operation of Antalya Airport by 25 years to 2051. “The new concession will have higher rent, but it will also have higher revenues and we expect a significantly better retail profile mostly due to increased retail area,” said Sener.

 

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: ‘GRADUALLLY NORMALISING’

Antalya recovered 92% of international passengers in the fourth quarter versus 2019 and is preparing for ‘a great season in 2022’. In 2022, Turkish Association of Tourism Agents expects tourist arrivals to reach 2019 level. Antalya’s international traffic, which was growing at 8% per year before the pandemic, offers significant growth potential for the long term as well.

 

“We have communicated for a while that the industry has expected the global passenger recovery to be two-pronged where leisure and short haul destinations recover the fastest,” added Sener.

 

“In line with these expectations, TAV Airports’ passenger recovery towards 2019 levels has been significantly faster than most peers.”

 

Sener confirmed that international travel has been ‘gradually normalising’ for the last two quarters as COVID-19 vaccine documentation ‘has become mostly sufficient for cross-border mobility’.

 

In the third quarter, TAV reached the highest levels of passenger recovery since the beginning of the pandemic. The recovery then accelerated during the fourth quarter as more ‘unhindered international mobility became possible,’ added Sener.

 

KAZAKHSTAN’S ALMATY AIRPORT

TAV Airports took over the operation of Kazakhstan’s Almaty Airport in April 2021. TAV now owns 85% of the Airport and its associated fuel and catering businesses, while Kazakhstan Infrastructure Fund, managed by VPE Capital and backed by Kazyna Capital Management, holds the remaining 15% stake. Almaty is the first airport in TAV’s portfolio where the company owns the airport instead of a time limited concession.

 

“With accelerating recovery and contribution of Almaty [Airport], we managed to recover 100% of revenue compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. Revenue recovery in the second half of 2021 vs the second half of 2019 was 89%.”