Yıldıray Karaer, Chairman of Corendon Group, participated in the panel titled “Mature Markets, Emerging Travel Trends” at TIF2024. During the panel, Karaer shared insights on the rising costs in the aviation industry. He stated, “As an airline, we can no longer talk about cost efficiency. Costs are increasing every day.”
He went on to say, “Airport taxes are rising, and due to environmental reasons, the number of slots at airports is becoming much more limited. Our main market is the Netherlands, and we operate many flights from Amsterdam. We used to have 550 slots, but due to environmental reasons, it has now dropped to 250. All of these factors are making ticket prices much more expensive. As an airline, we expect more support from ground services and airports.”
“Flights Will Get Even More Expensive”
Karaer also mentioned that flights will become more expensive in the coming years. “Efforts to reduce carbon emissions are adding extra costs. We operate flights from Europe to Turkey, where the standards are very different. Therefore, flights will not become cheaper in the coming years; they will become more expensive,” he said.
“This is a Risk for Vacation Destinations”
Karaer emphasized the importance of destinations not being overly dependent on tour operators. He said, “We also operate as a tour operator and hotel management. Our destinations are dependent on tour operators. When you look at our business model, 70% is directed by tour operators. This is a risk for us. Some tour operators, like Thomas Cook and FTI, have ceased operations. This is a risk for vacation destinations. What are we doing about this? We are working on improving our business model. We can’t change the destinations, but as a tour operator, we are trying to create our own customers. Consumers are now booking their hotels online and buying their flights from local companies. Therefore, the same issue could arise for vacation destinations. Every tour operator and airline needs to create its own customer profile. We are seeing many airlines set up their own tour operators. The future is moving in this direction.”
“We Are Focusing on Sports Tourism to Extend the Vacation Season”
Regarding projects aimed at extending the tourism season, Karaer explained, “There is an issue in the tourism sector of being dependent on the season. When winter comes, we arrange trips to winter sun destinations like India. We are focusing on sports tourism to extend the vacation season. At our facility in Belek, we have emphasized golf, attracting tourists from many countries. We want to benefit from football tourism by building football fields and are developing tennis tourism by constructing 14 tennis courts. We also want to create a bicycle tourism program. We believe this will help us utilize the winter season.”
