Will Turks Run Ny’s La Guardia Airport?

WILL TURKS RUN NY’S LA GUARDIA AIRPORT?

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

New York’s iconic La Guardia Airport

Turkish airports operator TAV plans to apply jointly with shareholder
Aeroports de Paris (ADP) for prequalification for rights to operate
New York’s LaGuardia airport, TAV’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

ADP owns a 38 percent state in TAV, reporter Reuters.

“Together with ADP we will apply for qualification for operating
rights to LaGuardia airport,” TAV chief executive Sani Sener told
Reuters during a visit by a French business delegation led by Trade
Minister Nicole Bricq.

The existing central terminal of LaGuardia, which serves only domestic
flights, opened to the public in 1964 and was designed to handle 8
million passengers a year. However, it soon became too small for the
amount of air traffic it faced, accommodating 24.1 million passengers
in 2011.

The aging, congested central terminal has long been projected to be
replaced by a new and wider one, particularly after Delta Airlines
announced plans to open a new domestic hub at the airport.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), the bi-state
port district authority running the airport, issued a Request for
Qualifications in October last year, for the construction and operation
of the planned new central terminal. The $3.6 billion project is
to be the biggest public-private partnership in the history of the
Port Authority.

The deadline for responses to PANYNJ’s request is Jan. 25. After
this date, the authority will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP),
Airports Council International Magazine reported.

“After the qualification, we will have the RFP and understand the
economics of the project,” a spokesperson for TAV told the magazine.

After the announcement, TAV’s shares surged to 10.06 Turkish Liras.

As the leading airport operator in Turkey, TAV operates Istanbul
Ataturk, Ankara Esenboga, Izmir Adnan Menderes and Antalya GazipaÅ~_a
Airports in Turkey, as well as others in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia,
Macedonia, Georgia and Latvia.

Aeroports de Paris (ADP) bought a 38 percent stake in TAV last year.

At the time of the acquisition, both companies signaled their in ention
to adopt a collaborative investing agenda regarding international
airports.

http://asbarez.com/107725/will-turks-run-ny%E2%80%99s-la-guardia-airport/