New Delhi: Hours after India revoked its licence to operate at airports in the country, Çelebi has claimed that it is not a Turkish firm. It says the rumours about its ownership and operations in India as “misleading and factually incorrect.”
“We are not a Turkish organisation by any standard and adhere fully to globally accepted practices of corporate governance, transparency, and neutrality, with no political affiliations or links to any foreign government or individuals”, the official statement by the company states. The last bit of its statement refers to the speculations that one of its owners is Sümeyye Erdoğan, daughter of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Çelebi says it has no links to Sümeyye, including shareholding or ownership.
But, then who owns Çelebi?
Çelebi Aviation states that 65% of its ownership lies with international investors, with Actera Partners II L.P., a Jersey-registered fund. However, Actera Partners in its profile says it is a “2012 vintage buyout fund managed by Actera Group located in Saint Helier, United Kingdom and invests in Turkey and Northern Africa.”
Of the remaining stocks, 50% belongs to Çelebi Havacılık Holding A.Ş. and the remaining 15% is owned by Alpha Airport Services BV, a Dutch-registered entity.
Çelebi Havacılık Holding A.Ş. is a Turkish-based firm though, founded by Ali Cavit Çelebioğlu in Balıkesir-Gönen. The Turkish shareholding is limited solely to members of the founding Çelebioğlu family – Can Çelebioğlu and Canan Çelebioğlu, children of Ali Cavit.
The company says that this family is in no way linked to politics.
After nationwide protests against Turkey over the country’s continued support to Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror strike and Op Sindoor, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) terminated its contract with Çelebi Aviation, citing security concerns.
Adani Airport Holdings followed suit by terminating the ground handling concession agreements for the Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Thiruvananthapuram airports.
The loss of Indian operations had a strong impact on Çelebi Aviation’s parent firm Çelebi Hava Servisi AS which plunged a whopping 10 per cent on Friday morning.
Çelebi operates in India under two entities – Çelebi Airport Services India for ground handling and Çelebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India for cargo services at IGI. Both companies come under Çelebi NAS Airport Services, which handles 70% of ground operations at Mumbai Airport and nine other cities, including Hyderabad, Cochin, and Chennai.
