Five joint venture companies that won the tender for the construction and operation of the of the 3rd airport of İstanbul were operating under “public-private cooperation” where the government officials were arguing “with this method, not even a penny would be coming out of citizens pocket”.
But the tax for per passenger is going to be 20 euro. The current tax in the largest international airport, Atatürk Airport is 15 dollars now.
İstanbul's new airport is promoted as a great success by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP government.
The airport project was awarded in 2013 to a consortium, namely Kalyon, Cengiz, Limak, Kolin and MNG [İGA]. The same companies have stood out in public projects for years, winning tender after tender in major sectors such as power distribution and the construction of subways, tunnels and dams.
The project was based on the 'build-operate-transfer' model of public-private partnership. In return for 25 years of operational rights, the companies would pay certain rents but would enjoy profit guarantees by the government. The Treasury will make up for any gap between the guaranteed and actual number of passengers.
Limak has announced the total rent that is going to be paid to the state is going to be 26 billion 136 million euro, 1 billion 45 million annually. Yet İGA’s contract has not been made public.
According to Çiğdem Toker from Cumhuriyet daily, the government had guaranteed the following payments for 12 years:
-For each passenger that flies abroad: 20 euro
-For each passenger that comes from abroad and flies abroad: 5 euro
-For each passenger that flies in domestic lines: 3 euro
Adding up: 6.3 billion euro.
While the government argued the prices of plane tickets were going to be cheaper, considering the current tax of 15 dollars are 70 Turkish Liras and 20 euro 110 lira, the additional cost is expected to be seen in plane ticket prices.
