The importance of Istanbul in global air transportation will increase even more

Airbus Market Analysis and Forecasts Vice President Antonio Da Costa and Airbus Türkiye President Simon Ward made evaluations about the aviation industry to the AA correspondent.

Pointing out that the future of global aviation is affected by political and geographical developments, Costa said that Istanbul's current growth performance is an important indicator for the future period.

Emphasizing that Türkiye has a strong growth potential in air transportation, Costa said, "We expect Istanbul to reach an increasingly important position in international air traffic. It is always difficult to see where it will be reached in the future, depending on how political and geographical developments will progress. However, we see that Istanbul is showing strong growth. Istanbul is already an important transfer point and we expect it to become an even more important transfer center in the future." he said.

Referring to Türkiye's air transportation potential in the next 20 years, Costa said that the aircraft fleet in the country is expected to grow more than twice and that approximately 1800 aircraft will be needed for the total airline market in Türkiye.

Pointing out that they foresee significant increases in the number of airline passengers and traffic in the next 20 years, Costa said, "I think we have a great potential for growth. Another interesting factor is that we expect the number of passengers and traffic to double or even triple in the next 20 years. In addition, we expect a strong increase in connecting flight traffic and the number of tourists coming to and leaving Türkiye." made his assessment.

"I witnessed that the Turkish aviation industry has undergone a significant transformation"

Airbus Turkey President Simon Ward also stated that the Turkish aviation and space industry has experienced significant growth in the last 20 years, and said that he has been working in Türkiye for 20 years and witnessed that the Turkish aviation industry has undergone a significant transformation during this period.

Pointing out that when he first came to Türkiye, there were limited offset contracts for the production of small metal aircraft parts, Ward stated that today the Turkish aviation and space industry carries out much larger-scale production for Airbus.

Ward said, "When you look at the Turkish aviation and space industry, there are buildings full for Airbus assembly. When I first came, 35 million dollars were spent annually, now we are spending 750 million dollars. Moreover, this figure is growing exponentially. We are doing more and more work." he said.

Regarding the future period of the aviation industry in Türkiye, Ward stated that it is difficult to make 20-year predictions due to the dynamic structure of the country, but the industrial cooperation between Türkiye and Europe will become stronger in the next 5-6 years.

Pointing out that the cooperation between Turkey and Europe has developed in two directions, Ward said, "We are now exporting the Turkish-made training jet HÜRJET to Spain. Now we not only buy products, we also export products. I think this partnership element will be one of the areas where we will see growth." shared his opinion.