Havaalanları Yer Hizmetleri A.Ş. (Havaş), the first Ground Handling Services Company in Turkey, was founded by the state in 1933 to provide ground handling and catering services for airlines. Whereas catering services of the company were privatized under the name USAŞ in 1987, ground handling services unit continued to render services under the name Havaalanları Yer Hizmetleri A.Ş.
Having been taken into the scope of privatization, 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 till July 2005 with share portions as 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-Swissport partnership after 60% of its shares held by Ciner Group were purchased by TAV Havalimanları Holding, which is the leading company of 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-Ciner Group again.
This partnership, which was maintained successfully till November 2007, became a ground handling services corporation fully-owned by TAV Havalimanları Holding upon Ciner Group’s decision to opt out of the aviation industry and sale of all of its 40% shares to TAV Holding.
Havaş, which pays strict attention to prioritize 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 at the world standards with its service quality, equipment park and technological infrastructure. Our company which was granted “4 Crown” award, the second highest award of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, in 2002 was nominated to “5 Crown” award in 2004, and in the same year it was announced as “the Best Ground Handling Corporation of the World” by First Choice Airlines for the services provided in Dalaman and was elected as “the Second Best Ground Handling Corporation of the World” for the services provided in Bodrum in 2004. Our İzmir Station was granted “Excellence” award of SAS Norge Airlines in 2007.
Our company, Havaş, which received “the Best Privatization” Certificate from the Privatization Administration on August 31st 2000, was presented by British Airways as one of the best 3 ground handling companies from which they receive services in the world. Again in 2004, the International German Quality Certification Institute TÜV announced Havaş as “the Ground Handling Corporation with the Best Operating Quality Management System in the World”.
İzmir Station was elected as the winner for summer 2007 and 2008 among the countries where British Airways operate flights.
HAVAŞ renders ground handling services at 18 airports in total: Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Gaziantep, Trabzon, Kayseri, Konya, Şanlıurfa, Sivas, Adıyaman, Muş, Elazığ, Batman,Nevşehir and Gazipaşa.
It also provides Import Warehouse services with a capacity of 700 tons/day in order to provide its customers with better, faster and more quality services.
Furthermore, HAVAŞ operates Hopa Passenger Terminal that allows connection to Batum International Airport operated by TAV Havalimanları Holding and that facilitates the travel of 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, representation and supervision services as described within the framework of IATA (International Air Transport Association) Ground Handling Agreement.
Havaş, a member of International Aviation Handlers’ Association (IAHA), was entitled to receive ISO 9002:1994 certificate at all of its stations in September 2000 and implemented ISO 9001:2000 standard in January 2003 in accordance with its high quality service provision policy.
Havaş continues to improve its service quality by obtaining OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Certificates at Ankara, Bodrum, Dalaman and Gaziantep Stations in the first step and ISO 14001 Environmental Management Certificates at Bodrum and Dalaman Stations in October 2008.
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, gets organized to communicate service concept and commercial policies of these airlines directly to the passengers and delivers personnel trainings accordingly.
Besides providing passenger transport services between airports and city centers by shuttles with the same comfort as airline transport at Istanbul Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen, Ankara, İzmir, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Malatya, Samsun and Şanlıurfa Airports, Havaş also offers car park services at Bodrum Airport.
