Havaş Ground Handling Co. / Turkey 4.01

Our Company was founded on April 8, 1958, with the leadership of Turkish Airlines Inc., the provider of almost the entire capital of our company, with the title of USAŞ A.Ş. in order to offer aircraft ground services in the aviation industry. But, the activities of our company first started back in 1933 with the conducting of ground services for the company which was then titled Devlet Hava Yolları (State Airlines). The name State Airlines was changed to Turkish Airlines Inc. in 1955, and our Company solely served Turkish Airlines Inc. from this date until 1958, the year in which it was restructured as USAŞ with the leadership of Turkish Airlines Inc. in order to also offer ground services to foreign airline companies flying to/from our country in line with the fast developments in the aviation industry, and it provided ground services to all foreign airline companies in Turkey thereafter.

The Company, after continuing its services in that way until 1987, was then split into two companies of USAŞ (Aircraft Catering Services) and Havaş (Ground Handling Co.), one charged with offering aircraft catering services and the other ground services, respectively. So Havaş is the first and the original company established to provide ground services for aircrafts at airports in Turkey, and it still performs these services.

Having been privatized, Havaş was included in the structure of Ciner Group upon purchase of its shares in April 1995. Later, in March 1998, Swissport purchased 40% of Havaş shares and became a partner and this partnership continued until July 2005 with share standing at 60% to Ciner Group and 40% to Swissport. Investors’ interest in Havaş, one of the leading corporations in Turkey, continued and as of July 2005 it turned into TAV Airports Holding- Swissport partnership after 60% of its shares held by Ciner Group were purchased by TAV Airports Holding, which is the leading company of the Turkish Civil Aviation and which also builds and operates several airport terminals. These were not the only developments in the share structure of Havaş; right after the restructure, upon transfer of shares by Swissport to Ciner Group, the partnership structure in Havaş turned into TAV Airports Holding - Ciner Group again.

This partnership, which was maintained successfully until November 2007, became a Ground Handling Services Corporation fully-owned by TAV Airports Holding upon Ciner Group’s decision to opt out of the aviation industry and sell of all of its 40% shares to TAV Airports Holding. And after 35% of the shares were sold to HSBC Investment Bank Holdings Plc and İş Private Equity Investment Trust in March 2010, the new partnership structure was shaped as İş Private and HSBC Principal Investments with the principal partnership of TAV Airports Holding.

Havaş, which pays strict attention to prioritising its assertive attitude with regard to the ground handling services sector, is determined to maintain its presence in this sector as a ground handling corporation of world standards with its service quality, equipment park and technological infrastructure.

Havaş renders ground handling services at 22 airports in total: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Gaziantep, Zonguldak, Trabzon, Kayseri, Konya, Şanlıurfa, Sivas, Adıyaman, Muş, Elazığ, Batman, Nevşehir, Sinop, Merzifon and Gazipaşa.

Havaş also provides Warehouse services in Istanbul and Ankara. The total capacity of the warehouses is approximately 1,500 tons per day.

Furthermore, Havaş operates Hopa Passenger Terminal, which allows connection to Batumi International Airport operated by TAV Airports Holding and that facilitates travel for citizens living in the Eastern Black Sea Region.

Main services of Havaş, which has been organized to meet all ground handling needs of an airline company at an airport, include passenger and baggage, unit load device control, ramp, aircraft cleaning, load control and communications, cargo, flight operations, transportation, and representation services as described within the framework of IATA (International Air Transport Association) Ground Handling Agreement.

Today, Havaş holds a privileged customer portfolio consisting of more than 200 scheduled and charter airlines whose names are associated with quality all across the world. Aiming at improving its service quality and customer satisfaction continuously, Havaş carries out its operations with the awareness of its position as a responsible and important service provider of the airlines at respective airports, organizes the communication of the service concept and commercial policies of these airlines directly to the passengers and delivers personnel training accordingly.

In addition, Havaş also provides passenger transport services between airports and city centers by luxury shuttles as airline transport in Istanbul Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen, Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Çorlu, Dalaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Hopa, Izmir, Izmit, Konya, Malatya, Samsun, Şanlıurfa and Trabzon Airports, Havaş also offers “car park” services at Bodrum Airport.

Havaş, a member of the International Aviation Handlers’ Association (IAHA), certified its Quality Management System build in 2000 with the principle of “efficiency and productivity in services” by a certification authority with an international accreditation. It certified its implementations on ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems in 2008, through the continuously improving processes following its commissioning date and has been proceeding with the “Green Company” title assumed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in 2010.

Parallel to its corporate sustainability principles, developing unique tools to manage all its management systems with an embedded approach, which were created by both the legal authorities and the sector, HAVAŞ has leveled “continuous improvement” as the main objective.