Turkish authorities have handed over operations of the terminals for cargo, ground handling services and refuelling facilities at Istanbul’s secondary airport, the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, to a new consortium formed by construction company Limak and GMR Infrastructure. The handover makes GMR the first Indian company to operate an airport abroad. The group has also begun work on expanding the project from its current capacity of 3 million passengers to 15 million.
Unlike the airports in Delhi and Hyderabad, revenues for the GMR consortium will accrue entirely from non-aeronautical sources. The aeronautical revenues, which are obtained by charging airlines for landing and parking, will accrue to the Turkish government.
The airport company will make its money from activities such as retail, cargo, selling aviation fuel and passenger service fees, which are not from the core aeronautical sources. International passengers flying from the Sabiha Gokcen airport pay e12 each, while domestic passengers pay e3 and the revenue goes to the airport operators. The new operating company has recently renegotiated contracts with all the airport concessionaires for a new deal with them.
The airport is competing with the much larger Attartuk airport, which is Istanbul’s primary airport. ``The Attaturk airport is saturated and aircraft are delayed because of congestion and high turnaround time,’’ says GMR group chairman, corporate and international business, GBS Raju. Sabiha Gokcen airport is also being marketed as an attractive cargo hub to freight forwarders and cargo airlines, an area almost entirely ignored by the larger airport, he said.
Duty-free shopping will account for almost 25% of the airport’s revenues, he said. An average passenger spends about e12 at Sabiha Gokcen, compared to e3.5 at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport. The airport revenues are likely to go up substantially when the new terminal is complete, since it will have much larger retail space, Mr Raju said. The upgrade will cost about e250 million (about Rs 1,575 crore) and will include a 60-room hotel.
It will be commissioned by 2009. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday presided over the ground breaking ceremony for the upgrade. He also urged the consortium to complete the project ahead of its scheduled time. The Turkish government has embarked on an aviation policy to encourage competition to the state carrier Turkish Airlines in an effort to bring down air-fares and improve air-services through the country.
GMR, which won the bid after intense rounds of bidding in July last year, is part of a three-member consortium that includes Turkish construction company Limak and Malaysia Airports Holding. The consortium had to slug it out with four other bidders including Germany’s Fraport, Venice Airport from Italy, TAV of Turkey and Chicago Airport. The winning bid was for e1.93billion, which will be paid over 20 years. The GMR group has already tied up debt for the project from ABN-Amro and Turkish banks.
SOURCE:
Economictimes.com
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