Page 173 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Deniz Kaymak - Merih Aydınalp Köksal

Introduction

Aviation, which constituted only a small portion of the transport sector
in the 1950s, currently plays an essential role in financial development of
countries by connecting continents for business, tourism, trade, defense
and humane purposes. According to the annual reports of International Civil
Aviation Agency (ICAO), the number of passengers was 0.6 billion people
in 1980, which rose to 4.1 billion in 2017. Thus, the total global revenue
traffic including the international and domestic flight services exceeded 945
billion RTK and increased by 6% in the last five years. The same year, the
1
airway operation revenues of the ICAO member countries increased by 150%
compared to the levels in 2000, reaching 757 billion dollars (ICAO, 2000-2017;
ICAO, 2017). Moreover, according to a report issued by Boeing, it is estimated
that the worldwide passenger traffic will increase by 5% and this upward trend
will continue in the next 20 years (Boeing, 2013). Aviation sector in Türkiye
started to develop and grow with the beginning of liberalization policies and
subsidies to private companies. Thanks to the policies implemented, private
companies were introduced to the sector, which was dominated by Turkish
Airlines until the 2000s. After 2003, the precautions in this field were put to
use and stability was maintained in the sector. Thus, aviation sector became
an important part of the economic development of Türkiye.
The 2018 activity report by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, there are
11 commercial airlines and 57 airports in Türkiye. According to ICAO 2017
End of Year Report, Türkiye ranks 12th in the list of World RPK , and 11th in
2
list of World RTK. According to air traffic data in these reports, there has been
a much greater increase in passenger, plane and cargo traffic in Türkiye in
recent years compared to World averages.
Studies by industrial and regional institutions on air traffic on air traffic
growth up to date contain certain regional air traffic estimates and route-
based air traffic developments. These studies include Türkiye in European
region as the changes in the country’s aviation sector are quite stable due
to its geographical position. However, despite being a part of Europe, the
overall growth trend in Turkish civil aviation does not follow the growth trend of
Europe. The rapid growth experienced by European aviation sector took place
between 1970 and 2000, while Türkiye experienced the same kind of growth

1 RTK (Revenue Tonne per Kilometer): The unit of volume in aviation industry equal to 1 revenue
tonne of cargo (passenger and/ or cargo) transported 1 kilometer.
2 RPK (Revenue Passenfer per Kilometer): The unit of volume in aviation industry equal to 1 reve-
nue passenger transported 1 kilometer.

158 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,