News / 'Unforeseen' India suspension forces Çelebi to refocus on emerging markets

“It was unforeseen,” said CEO Dave Dorner.

“But this isn’t a situation that imperils the rest of our business. Each country’s operations have a degree of self-sustainability.

“Operationally, nothing’s changed for us in places like Frankfurt, Hungary, Turkey, or Tanzania,” he told The Loadstar on the sidelines of the Aviation Connect conference in Copenhagen today.

Mr Dorner noted that the India exit had highlighted the need for regulatory consistency and legal predictability in high-investment sectors like aviation services.

“You want clarity of the rules, and consistency in how they’re applied,” Mr Dorner said. “That’s what makes a market investable. It’s a really tough business case to make otherwise because you don’t see a lot of certainty.”

He told The Loadstar the disruption had sharpened Çelebi’s approach to market entry and risk assessment.

“There’s more uncertainty now… You need to ask ‘do I have a reliable partner? Do I understand the regulatory risks?’ That’s more important than ever.”

Mr Dorner said Çelebi would now refocus efforts on regions that offer both growth potential and a more stable business climate.

“We’re a leader in emerging markets, and we see that as our strength,” he said. “Our current focus is on expanding our presence in Indonesia, where we’ve recently opened our first cargo station, and we have a number of projects under way for other emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East and South-east Asia.”

“We inherited 26 stations and over 1,000 employees. Now, we’re in the process of putting in our own standards, equipment, and systems to really grow that business,” he said.

Another focus in its growth strategy is Hungary, a market he described as “exploding – well over expectations”, adding: “It’s frankly hard to keep up.”

And he said that, driven by surging ecommerce volumes especially from Asia to Europe, Çelebi had expanded its role in Hungary and Turkey to include activities it “never did before”.

“In Istanbul, with FedEx, we were doing sorting on their behalf, and in Hungary it was with the local affiliate of Cainiao, we’re doing sorting and other activities.”

“Each business has its nuances and its capabilities and its expertise. And so how far do you push into that? How do we grow our expertise base? Where can we add value? Where do we draw the line?” said Mr Dorner.

“But in both those operations, I think we pushed much further than we had before, because this growth opportunity was large enough to expand the service offering.”