Turkish parliament is expected to consider a draft bill to open Turkey’s state-controlled rail network to the private sector. If the bill is passed in the Grand National Assembly Turkish State Railways (TCDD) will be restructured into a corporate entity in control of the country’s 12,000 km-long railroad network and related infrastructure. Moreover, private companies appointed by the Ministry of Transport w ...

The prime minister has made some top important statements regarding the tender for privatization of Turkey’s roads and bridges a short while ago. In an interview on a prominent TV channel on February 1st Mr. Tayyip Erdoğan who obviously sounded unhappy with the result of the tender said; "We will review the privatization offers, for example for the highways or bridges. We have much bigger expectations" refe ...

Business giants clash for bridge privatization Highest bid for 2 bridges and 8 motorways comes from Koç and Ülker groups The final negotiation talks on on the privatization tender for the the highway bridges with total length of 1975 miles were held in Ankara on 17th December 2012. 3 consortiums participated in the tender to grant the right to operate said facilities for 25 years, in a single package. 1-    ...

In compliance and to contribute to the efficient measures taken by the concerned ministries Turkey started Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) services from a privately owned Port in Iskenderun, southern province of Hatay on Sunday. Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Hayati YAZICI made a speech at the ceremony and said that Turkey was a country playing a key role in regional and global integration. The minister went o ...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that during his last visit to Germany, Chancellor Merkel has made a business offer about Turkish Airlines. At an AK Party meeting marking the 10-year anniversary today, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered him to establish joint management for Germany's national air carrier Lufthansa and Turkish nationa ...

It is known that the giant city of Istanbul has two airports, namely Atatürk Airport on the European side and Sabiha Gökçen AP on the Asian side. The huge traffic the megapole has been receiving recently has shown the capacity is not going to be sufficient soon. The government has been long drawing attention to this saying a third airport is on the way. Withing in this framework, the Metropolitan Municipali ...

Turkish Airlines which is a very young corporation compared to its competitors in Europe and the world, has taken giant steps in the last 2 decades. In fact the compnay has promoted to become one of the most promising air transportation operation in the world in spite of all the crisis and other negative factors prevailing during the last decades. Although the managment has often received much criticism - h ...

Turkey is embarking on the mass production of its first 100 percent domestically made missile. Minister of Industry Nihat Ergün has announced that Turkey has begun the serial production of the SOM missile developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Institute of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).The missile, which was developed by TÜBİTAK in its entirety all the way to its batteries, has a 200 kilometer range and ...

$1.6 bln Kadıköy-Kartal metro line opened in İstanbul İstanbullites hailed an important moment in the city's history on Friday as they witnessed the inauguration of the country's longest metro line -- between Kadıköy and Kartal -- for which the municipality has spent $1.6 billion over the past four years. The ceremony organized for the first trip between the two major districts on the province's Asian side ...

Turkey’s railway privatization plans stir foreign interest The plans regarding the opening of Turkey’s railroads to private sector use before the end of the year, brings forth investment opportunities for global companies operating in railroad industry. Private sector entry to the country’s currently state-controlled railroad transportation is expected to attract logistics companies as well as locomotive an ...

As part of a survey conducted by global aviation research organization Skytrax, the Turkish Airlines (THY) has been named as the winner of three categories, namely, the Best Airline in Europe, the Best Airline in Southern Europe and the Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seats. These three awards were received by THY Director General Temel Kotil at a ceremony which was held yesterday in Farnborough, Britain ...

Bursa to rival traffic-hit Istanbul in sea transport Following a much criticized ‘flexible pricing’ policy by İDO, the privatized Istanbul ferry firm that also operates to a number of cities by the Marmara Sea, Bursa municipality accelerates efforts to found a competitor The Bursa Metropolitan Municipality has taken action to obtain port permission to transport passengers to Istanbul by establishing a marin ...

IDO originally an Istanbul Municipality company has been operating sea transportation services along/across Bosphorus and Marmara Sea, for many years. The company with the biggest fleet of vessels in the world was acquired by TASS, a consortium of AKFEN, TEPE and 2 other companies a short while ago Akfen and Tepe groups are known for their investments in transportation sector as well as construction and sev ...

Transportation, Maritime and Communication Minister Binali Yildirim yesterday attended opening ceremony of the new international terminal in Milas-Bodrum Airport. Speaking at the ceremony, Yildirim said his ministry has been making investments in Mugla, which extends on a coastline of 124 km and which is considerably important in Turkey’s tourism sector. Yildirim also held contacts with a delegation partici ...

Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş has revealed plans to build a cable car line that will pass over the Bosphorus Bridge to tie Altunizade to Etiler. The project, planned to be conducted in a build-operate model will not only be crucial for tourism but will also be an attractive touristic attraction. Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş was responding to questions from the press following a meeting with Singapore's Industr ...

Dozens of employees from Turkey's national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines went on strike Thursday, a day after parliament passed a controversial bill to ban strikes in the aviation sector. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)-dominated parliament passed the bill late Wednesday a after heated debate. "Many employees went on strike at 0300 GMT to protest the new law and they will not start working un ...

The İstanbul-based International Transporters Association (UND) on Thursday criticized an incentive package that was recently announced by the government, saying it does not provide any support to the land transportation segment of the logistics sector.The incentive package aims to stimulate the economy and reduce country’s current account deficit (CAD) by providing investments to certain industries and sec ...

Turkish Airlines posts 29.3 million lira loss Turkish Airlines posted 29.3 million Turkish Liras in net losses in the first quarter of 2012, the national carrier told the Istanbul Stock Exchange in a recent statement. The airline had posted 18.5 million liras in profits in the first quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, the airline has announced that it will begin operating flights between Istanbul and Marseille in 2 ...

THY to purchase 50 percent of Polish airlines LOT Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said that technical efforts were under way for Turkish Airlines (THY) to purchase 50 percent of Polish Airlines LOT. WARSAW- Following Turkish-Polish Business Forum in Warsaw, Caglayan told reporters that THY was the 4th biggest airway company of Europe, adding that THY would have nearly 200 planes by the end of this y ...

A Chinese firm will provide cars for the subways in the Turkish capital of Ankara, executives said on Wednesday. The Chinese "CSR Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd" has offered the lowest bid of 391.2 million USD to provide 324 cars for Ankara's subways and won the tender. The other bidders were CAF SA of Spain and Hyundai Rotem of South Korea. The cars will be used in Tandogan-Kecioren, Kizilay-Cayyolu and Batik ...

Aiming to be the sole ‘aerospace university’, Turkey’s Aviation Board University is also planning to manufacture the first ever domestic airplane by 2014. In collaboration with 82 different firms, the university also plans to train Turkey’s first astronauts. The Turkish Aviation Board University (THKÜ), which was inaugurated on May 2nd by President Abdullah Gül, will be producing Turkey's first-ever domesti ...

Transportation Minister Binalı Yıldırım says the government is planning to hold a tender this year for the construction of a third airport for Istanbul to ease the air traffic at Istanbul’s two main airports Turkish Transportation Minister Binal Yıldırım said on April 21 that the government was planning to open a tender for the construction of a third airport in Istanbul. Yıldırım said Istanbul’s Atatürk Ai ...

A new fast train linking Ankara and Istanbul will carry 50,000 passengers a day when it opens within two years, the Turkish State Railways' (TCDD) general manager said yesterday at a groundbreaking ceremony. The project will reduce distance between Turkey's biggest two cities to 3 hours. The total line will be 523 kilometers long, Suleyman Karaman said at the ceremony in the northwestern province of Kocaeli ...