Paris airport owner faces scrutiny over sanctioned airlines
TAV Airports, 46% owned by Paris Charles de Gaulle operator Groupe ADP, serves sanctioned Russian and Iranian airlines in Turkey. ADP and TAV deny any breach and say Turkish authorities decide which airlines fly.
Groupe ADP, the French state-controlled owner of Paris Charles de Gaulle, faces scrutiny over services provided to sanctioned airlines at airports run by TAV Airports, the Turkish operator in which it holds 46.12 per cent, according to a Financial Times investigation. ADP and TAV say they comply with sanctions.
The FT reported that Havaş, TAV's ground handling subsidiary, is listed as the ground handler for Ural Airlines, a Russian carrier the European Union sanctioned on June 24 2024, at Antalya, where TAV runs the airport in a joint venture with Germany's Fraport. At least 54 Ural flights have appeared on the airport's online schedule since September 21, to destinations including Moscow and Volgograd.
The newspaper also reported that at least eight of the 27 Iranian airlines the United States sanctioned on September 8 kept using airports operated by TAV in Turkey and Georgia in the weeks that followed. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had warned that anyone doing business with Iran's remaining airlines was "at risk of being cut off from the global financial system".
Meraj Airlines, which Washington has sanctioned since 2014 and which is not among the 27, flew from Tehran to TAV-operated Ankara on October 5 and returned to Iran that night.
Separate monitoring by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies counted at least 83 flights by 12 sanctioned Iranian carriers landing in Turkey between September 23 and 27, after the wind-down deadline Washington had set for September 23. The think-tank named Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir rather than specific airports and did not mention TAV, which runs Ankara and Izmir but not Istanbul.
ADP said it ensures strict compliance with applicable regulations and sanctions, and TAV said it has not violated sanctions. TAV added that Turkish authorities decide which airlines may land at Antalya, that it provides sanctioned carriers only the minimum services required by local rules and government contracts, and that it has stopped services within its control to the sanctioned Iranian airlines.
Fraport said it is in full compliance with applicable law, while the French finance ministry, the state holding agency and the European Commission declined to comment.
The legal question turns on control. EU sanctions bind EU persons and companies, so a Turkish operator is not automatically covered, but since June 2024 EU parents have been required to use best efforts to ensure that non-EU entities they own or control do not undermine Russia sanctions.
ADP's 46.12 per cent stake is large enough to make that test a live one, although whether it amounts to control is for lawyers and regulators to decide. US secondary sanctions can cut a foreign company off from the American banking system, but a US sanctions lawyer put the likelihood of action against TAV as "extremely low" because of diplomatic risks.
Antalya is a substantial asset, having handled 39.2mn passengers in 2025, according to TAV, which holds 50 per cent of the airport. Any penalty or loss of access would therefore reach well beyond the Ural flights themselves.
What to watch: whether the European Commission or French authorities open an inquiry into how ADP applies the best efforts rule to TAV, and whether Treasury moves against Turkish ground handlers or airport operators serving the 27 designated Iranian carriers.
