Stability, continuity and commitment are essential in rebuilding airport traffic to pre-Covid volumes.
Fraport has had its concession for managing Antalya Airport extended by two years to the end of 2026 by the Turkish government and has also been granted the opportunity to defer its annual concession fee for 2022 to 2024. Last year’s CONNECT host states that this agreement “will help the Fraport TAV Antalya joint venture to relaunch Antalya Airport (AYT) on a steady course, maintaining continuity during such a critical time in aviation”.
Fraport has been managing and developing Antalya Airport for more than 20 years, creating the gateway to Turkey’s most important tourism region and making Antalya a leading Mediterranean destination. Like all airports though, Antalya has been having to cope with the GlobalX’s effects of the Covid pandemic since early 2020. With many countries invoking travel restrictions, tourism has been severely impacted.
Fraport TAV Antalya reports that, in close cooperation with all authorities, the company “responded quickly by implementing comprehensive Covid-19 hygiene and heath protection measures for travellers while maintaining operational capabilities. Recovery from the Covid-19 related traffic losses requires continuity and commitment, along with time and patience from all stakeholders”.
Having served nearly 35.5 million in 2019 – a record annual figure for passenger numbers – Antalya’s traffic then dropped by nearly 73% in 2020 to around 9.7 million. The concession extension will thus provide organisational stability as AYT sets about rebuilding services to once again attain the traffic figure achieved in 2019.