ÇELEBİ AR19-270720 (1)

17 Çelebi Ground Handling Inc. 2019 Annual Report According to Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO of IATA, airlines did a good job of maintaining stable growth last year amid many difficulties. Weaker economic conditions, low global trade activity, political and geopolitical tensions put pressure on demand. Smart capacity utilization and the effects of the grounding of MAX 737 planes contributed another load factor, and helped the industry to be managed through weaker demand and improve its environmental performance. International passenger transport traffic by regions: International passenger traffic was up by 7.1% annually in 2019 and was up by 4.1% as compared to 2018. The capacity increased by 3.0% while the load factor was 0.8 points higher to reach 82.0%. The traffic of Asia-Pacific Carriers increased by 4.5%, which is a major decline as compared to the 8.5% growth attained in 2018. While this weakens commercial confidence and economic activity, it also reflects the implications of the trade war between the US and China. The capacity increased by 4.1% and the load factor was up by 0.3% to 80.9%. European Carriers’ traffic was up by 4.4% in 2019, which can be considered as a slowdown when compared to the 7.5% growth in 2018. The capacity increased by 3.7% and the load factor was up by 0.6 points to reach 85.6%, which is the highest rate in the regions. The lower results can be attributed in general to decelerated economic activity. The reasons for this include industrial disputes (strikes), Brexit uncertainty, and the collapse of a number of airlines. The passenger demand for Middle Eastern Carriers increased by 2.6%, lower than the slowest growth rate of 4.9% the year before. However, demand began to pick up in the fourth quarter and led all the regions with a monthly growth of 6.4% in December. As annual capacity increased by 0.1%, the load factor was up by 1.8 points to reach 76.3%. North American Carriers improved from 5.0% decline in the previous year to 3.9% growth in the reporting period. The capacity climbed to 2.2% and at 1.3 points, the load factor achieved the second highest growth rate among the regions and went up to 84.0%. Latin American Carriers increased traffic by 3.0% in 2019, which represented a dramatic deceleration as compared to the 7.5% growth rate of 2018. The capacity increased by 1.6% and the load factor was up by 1.1 points to 82.9%. The year was overshadowed by the social unrest and economic hardships suffered in certain countries in this region. African Airlines led all the regions with a 5% rise in demand on top of the 6.3% growth registered in 2018. The capacity increased by 4.5% and the load factor was up by 0.3 points to 71.3%. The airlines in the region benefited from a generally supportive economic environment and the increased air carrier connections in 2019. Domestic Passenger Market Domestic air transport increased by 4.5% in 2019, which points at a decline as compared with the 7.8% rate in 2018. All markets displayed an expansion, led by China and Russia. As capacity increased by 4.1% over its 2018 value, the load factor was up by 0.4 points to 83.7%. China’s Airline attained 7.8% rise in domestic passenger traffic, which marks the slowest performance since the global financial crisis. The trade war between the US and China, weak consumer expenditures in Hong Kong and unrest all came together and contributed to this economic slowdown. Looking at early 2020, the positive effects of the “first phase” trade deal with the US will possibly diminish due to the effects of the Corona virus pandemic. Indian Airlines, experiencing a severe reversal of the four-year double-digit demand increase, saw its traffic decline from 18.9% to 5.1% in 2018, and come almost to a standstill in 2019. In Turkey… According to provisional results domestic line commercial aircraft traffic decreased by 12.0% in the January-December 2019 period in Turkey compared to the same period of the previous year, and international commercial aircraft traffic increased by 11.5%. Based on these results, total commercial aircraft traffic decreased by 1.1%. The key driver behind this decrease was the shift from domestic flights to international flights. January-December 2019 Activities and Performance A total of 113,653 flights were serviced by the Company in the Turkish market in 2019, corresponding to an 11.5% year-on-year decrease over the 2018 figure of 126,777 flights.