# Zafer Airport

Zafer Airport remained below expectations again

The amount paid to the contractor of Zafer Airport, which was built at a cost of 50 million euros, reached 60 million euros due to unrealized passenger guarantees. In the January-August period, Zafer's guarantee deviated by 93 percent. The problems caused by lack of planning at Zafer Airport, one of Turkey's first regional airports, continued in August. The tradition at the airport, which has not been able to reach the guaranteed number of passengers in any month since 2012 when it was opened, was not broken in August 2023. In Zafer, the guaranteed number of passengers in August could not be achieved either. Zafer Airport, which serves with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, was guaranteed 1 million 317 thousand 733 passengers for 2023. The total money paid to the contractor in the 2012-2022 period reached 59.6 million euros due to passenger guarantees that were not realized at the airport, whose construction cost was 50 million euros. The guarantee amount to be paid to the contractor until 2044, when the airport will be transferred to the state, is calculated as 208 million euros. According to the data of the State Airports Authority, 3 thousand 825 passengers used Zafer Airport in January 2023, 4 thousand 83 passengers in February, 5 thousand 167 passengers in March and 4 thousand 710 passengers in April. According to the news in Birgün Newspaper; The number of passengers of the airport in May was recorded as 5 thousand 9. While 9 thousand 866 passengers used the airport in June, the number of passengers in July and August was listed as 15 thousand 116 and 14 thousand 874. It was reported that of the 14 thousand 874 passengers using Zafer in August, 4 thousand 215 were domestic passengers and 10 thousand 569 were international passengers. In the January-August period, when a total of 878 thousand 488 passengers were guaranteed, only 62 thousand 650 passengers used the airport, and a deviation of 93 percent was recorded in the passenger guarantee.