Why is the aviation sector so risky?
I have worked for 3 different companies since I am being a flight dispatcher. The first company is MNG airlines that is a cargo carrier airline. Next one is a general aviation company that was doing flight operations of the aircraft which fell down in Iran. Now, I have been working for Pegasus Airlines, which is a low cost company. Since all airlines that I work come from specific field in the sector, I have learned various procedures, technical knowledge and job practices. Though I heard some negative news during working times, all of them now have increased their profit and network, except Pegasus Airlines. Despite high profits, they could be right because aviation is a global sector. So, airlines can be easily affected negatively or positively by a news in the world. This butterfly effect has at least 10 sources but I am going to talk about three of them.
Terrorism
I am sure that you would probably hear many times a statement of Ibn-i Haldun such a “Geography is faith”. Since Big Bang, Middle East has experience various fights and politic scenes. Especially, Arab Spring left incurable marks in Middle East, 2011. If the geopolitic position of Turkey is watched out carefully, it is one of the most effected countries by terrorism. For example, terrorist attack to Atatürk Airport in İstanbul impacted negatively numbers of in-bound traffics at İstanbul in 2016. After it, Turkey has experienced a coup attempt at 15th of July in 2016.
As you can see in the graphic, the number of minimum passengers is seen in 2016 between 2008–2018. To increase numbers is really hard because firstly security, popularity, safety in senses should be fixed. They need at least three or four years.
Low-Cost Threat
LCC (Low Cost Carrier) and its management type have been stated in the previous story. As you know, the locomotive of Turkish airline is Turkish Airlines but now I am going to compare Pegasus Airlines with Sunexpress, which is a trade mark of between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. Sunexpress declared in 2008 that one of four hubs is İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport where Pegasus Airlines main hub. When calendars show 2019, Sunexpress declared that there is no flight from İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen to anywhere anymore. In 2010, Pegasus has carried 8.6 million passengers. Whereas Pegasus reached to 30 million in 2019, Sunexpress is 10 million at the same time. Another sample about this competition is statement of Turkish Airlines to public disclosure platform. Turkish Airlines initially transferred all international flights at Sabiha Gökçen airport to AnadoluJet a sub-brand of Turkish Airlines. Then, it completely assigned all operations to AnadoluJet, except Ankara.
Currency
At the first time of the university, I could not afford a laptop. When I decided to buy a laptop in third year of the university, my friend said me that you are crazy, now 1 ₺ is equal to 2 $. It is not suitable time to buy a laptop. Fortunately, I bought a laptop for myself at that time. Today, 1 ₺ is equal to 8 $. After I started to work, I wanted to buy a motorcycle or car, I absolutely understand how currency affects the life. As people, we can even feel into all field of our life, so airlines also sense more. We talked about the bankruptcy of AtlasGlobal in previous story, they stated main cause of the fail is moving to İstanbul new airport. The currency used in the sector is mostly American dollar ($) or Euro (€).
Numbers of airlines are related to the currency. Whereas there were 16 airlines in Turkey in 2010, it is 11 in 2020. So, there is an economic shrinkage as 30 % in 2020. Additionally, airlines reflect the currency increase to tickets but if they reflect more, the number of tickets sold would probably decrease. So, both ways are economic problem for airlines companies. If the economy is not powerful in the country, the aviation sector could encounter with more problems.
There are several causes being sensitive. Particularly, governments should take care of airlines in terms of both economy, employment and politic. For instance, İstanbul Airlines failed due to the currency in 2000. If the government at that time helped the company, İstanbul Airlines could have flown at the sky. Consequently, when you decide to found an airline company, you must consider different phenomenas such as population, currency, low cost, political situation with other countries etc…
