Turkey’s 51 airports served 5.39mn passengers in February, a figure that was down 56% y/y and up 4% m/m, according to data from the country’s airport authority, DHMI.

In January-February, 11mn passengers travelled through Turkish airports, down 60% y/y.

Also in January-February, Istanbul Airport served 3.33mn passengers, down 66% y/y.

In February, unnamed sources told Bloomberg that Turkey’s top airport operators, namely Kalyon-Cengiz-Mapa-Limak (Istanbul Airport), Malaysia Airports (Sabiha Gokcen Airport) and ADP (covering TAV’s five airports, namely Antalya, Ankara, Gazipasa in Alanya town of Antalya, Izmir and Milas-Bodrum in Mugla Province), were seeking rental deferrals, discounts and contract extensions in joint talks.

Also in February, airport operator TAV (TAVHL) said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul that DHMI had delayed concession rent payments, scheduled to be made in 2022 to cover 2020, to 2024, for all five of TAV’s airports.

DHMI also extended the operating periods of the airports in question by two years.

Istanbul Airport is required to pay an annual fee of €1.05bn to DHMI. Passenger guarantees are subtracted from this amount. Annual fees have been delayed for 2018, 2019 and 2020.

For 2019, the airport paid €22mn to DHMI because it served more than the guaranteed volume of passengers.

For 2020, the airport is set to receive €230mn from DHMI.

Zafer airport, which was built under a public private partnership (PPP) construction project worth €50mn in Kutahya, is one of the airports that attracts a lot of criticism from opposition politicians.

For 2020, the government guaranteed 1.28mn passengers to Zafer, which is meant to serve Kutahya, Afyon and Usak provinces. But just 7,235 passengers used the airport.

For 2021, the passenger guarantee for the airport stands at 1.32mn.

As of 2020, Kutahya, Afyon and Usak provinces were inhabited by a combined population of 1.68mn.

Zafer has passenger guarantees to 2044. Its operator IC Ictas Insaat, received €6.74mn from the government for 2020.

Zafer was launched in 2012. The government paid a total of €21mn in compensation to the operator from 2012 to 2016, according to the Turkish Court of Accounts.

For 2021, DHMI forecasts air passenger traffic at Turkey’s airports will increase to 123mn people from 81mn in 2020.

Istanbul Airport, the two-year-old mega airport that is Turkey’s largest airport, saw a 55% y/y decline in passengers to 23mn in 2020.