At the Crossroads: Turkey’s key role in 21st century logistics

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To the southeast, the Gulf carriers contend that there is room for everyone, and that expansions in Istanbul aren’t a threat. “The future is even more promising, with demand for airline passenger journeys expected to more than double from under 2.5 billion now to 5 billion by 2027, which means that there will be a lot of traffic to go around for all the major aviation hubs,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. “Our focus is to provide the necessary capacity and boost service levels to capture a share of that growing market.”

While Griffiths has a point, Emirates, which bases out of Dubai, has seen growth levels starting to slow over the last few years. Immediately south in Abu Dhabi, fellow Gulf-based carrier Etihad saw its cargo business shrink, as increased pressures on cargo revenues and yields prompted a 10 percent decline in freight revenues to US$900 million over FY2106.

Turkey was drawn into the regional instability that started in 2011 when the Arab Spring toppled regimes across the region, spreading to Turkey in the form of the Gezi Park protests and the Syrian Civil War to the east. When ISIS struck Ataturk Airport last year, the country’s reputation as a reliable and secure transit hub was shaken. Since forwarders are responsible for supply chain security, Turkey’s political upheaval threatened its reputation as a secure transportation link. “We were affected by regional instability especially in Middle East region in the last recent years,” said Onder. “Some of the carriers have reduced their flights to the region and some of the carriers have decided not to fly to Turkey at all and at the end it affected the cargo capacity dramatically.”

That said, Onder is confident that the situation is normalizing. “I am optimistic about future since there is a great potential for airfreight cargo in this region,” she said. “We will always have challenges but these challenges keep us fresh, attentive and more focused on solutions.”