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28 October: Maputo, Mozambique becomes Turkish Airlines’ 45th African destination. The Star Alliance airline is providing free travel to Istanbul for its 45 partner African airport CEOs to attend ACI Airport Exchange, 8-10 December. The event is being hosted by İGA Havalimanı İşletmesi A.S., the company building the €10.2 billion Istanbul New Airport mega-hub.

Turkish Airlines has agreed to provide free tickets to all CEOs of ACI Africa member airports across its 45-city African network, so they can attend ACI Airport Exchange in Istanbul, 8-10 December, to learn about its brand new mega-hub, and get Turkish business more involved in African airport development. The news reflects Turkish Airlines’ intensive interest in Africa, where it most recently opened its 45th destination – to Maputo.

ACI Airport Exchange is this year being hosted by İGA Havalimanı İşletmesi A.Ş., the company building Istanbul New Airport – the new €10.2 billion mega-hub opening in 2018. The event is very much shaping-up to be a showcase of Turkish airports expertise, with the programme including ‘The 1st Istanbul New Airport Development Conference’ – one of seven specialist conferences accompanied by a major exhibition.

Turkish Airlines’ motivation to bring its African airport partners to Istanbul links with strategic Turkish Government policy, which views Africa as a priority interest as it estimates the continent will become a $30 trillion economy by 2050. Turkish business is closely harnessed to this policy, especially Turkey’s thriving airports sector which is keen to play a central role in the redevelopment of African airports.

Serdar Yildirim, the new Director General of DHMI, the state airports organisation, recently told Airport Business that DHMI wants a leading role in building and operating new African airports in partnership with skilled Turkish construction firms and airport operators. DHMI’s plan is to export the Public-Private-Partnership model which has transformed the Turkish airports landscape, including the Istanbul New Airport.

There are already real examples in Africa of how the Turkish PPP model is bearing fruit, including the new terminal at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport, which was inaugurated by Turkey’s President Erdoğan in January. The build-operate facility is managed by Favoli Airport LLC – a partnership between Turkey’s Kozuva Construction and Cetin Group – which has a 20-year concession to operate the terminal.

There are real examples in Africa of how the Turkish PPP model is bearing fruit, including the new terminal at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport, which was inaugurated by Turkey’s President Erdoğan in January.

Yildirim commented: “We have massive capabilities ­– we are planning to finish Istanbul New Airport in only three years. We know how to make successful joint ventures, and all the indicators are that African attitudes to our presence are good.”

He also welcomed the İGA-hosted ACI Airport Exchange as “a platform and shop window for Turkey’s substantial airport development, construction and management capability”.

Meanwhile, Dr Temel Kotil, the Turkish Airlines CEO, enthused that “Anybody serving Africa has a good profit – yields are two or three times higher than in Europe on every single flight, sometimes traffic may be tiny, but the profit is high. As the market grows this will change, yield is going to halve, but in 20 years Africa is going to be like heaven.”

He added: “My message to other airlines, whether code sharers or Star Alliance is: Fly to Turkey more! We need feed – we are going to get it from ourselves – but we also welcome other airlines – for every 100 passengers they bring I will get 50 customers from these lovely ‘other’ airlines who will fly on to Africa.”

Dr Temel Kotil, the Turkish Airlines CEO, recently told Airport Business: “Anybody serving Africa has a good profit – yields are two or three times higher than in Europe on every single flight, sometimes traffic may be tiny, but the profit is high. As the market grows this will change, yield is going to halve, but in 20 years Africa is going to be like heaven.”