【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

  Soaring ambition

【The Economist】 April, 2019

  翻译练习：青澄青果

(注：本文仅用于英语翻译练习和单词学习之用）

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Airport mega-projects are ten a penny these days. China is building Beijing Daxing International Airport, a new hub airport near its capital, with a total capacity up to 100m passengers a year. Construction has begun on a vast new airport for Dubai, which its government hope will eventually draw 130m flyers annually. Abu Dhabi and Qatar plan to erect cavernous new terminals. Yet perhaps none is as ambitious as Istanbul's New Airport, on Europe's eastern fringe in Turkey. It became fully operational on April 6th, and aims not just to impress visitors but also to help the country's flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, wrest the skies from its successful Gulf rivals.

巨无霸机场如今遍地开花。中国在建的北京大兴机场位于首都北京，预计每年的旅客吞吐量可以达到一个亿。迪拜也开建了大型机场，预计每年吸引1.3亿的旅客。阿布扎比和卡塔尔也打算建立巨型航站楼。不过与伊斯坦布尔新机场相比，这些都小巫见大巫。位于欧洲东端的伊斯坦布尔新机场已经于4月6日全部投入运营，除了吸引海量旅客之外，其意在助力土耳其航空公司（土耳其的旗舰航空公司），从而与海湾地区的竞争对手争夺市场。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Everything about it is huge. Turkish,which is by far the new airport's biggest user, had to move 10,000 pieces of equipment weighing over 47,000 tonnes 40km from its old home. In less than five years a forested valley the size of Manhattan has been transformed into a facility with enough room for 3,000 flights a day carrying 90m flyers a year. That could make it one of the world's largest airports by international passenger numbers. If all goes to plan, by 2028 the airport will have six runways and capacity for 200m passengers a year.

新机场方方面面都规模宏大。土航是机场的最大用户，需要把总重超过47000吨的一万多件设备从从40公里外的老机场迁出。不到五年的时间里，土耳其就把一个面积和曼哈顿一样大、森林茂密的山谷打造成了每天供3000架航班出入年吞吐旅客达到9000万的巨型设施。单从国际旅客的数量上讲它就已经是世界最大的机场了。不出所料，到2028年它将拥有六条跑道，年旅客吞吐量将达到两亿。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

It's $11bn price tag, is gargantuan, especially when Turkey's economy is shrinking and inflation is more than 20%. Delays and cost overruns forced the grand opening to be postponed by six months. In the rush to get the airport finished at least 52 builders have died, sparking protests.

单是高达110亿美元的标签就足以让人震撼，尤其是土耳其还在经历经济紧缩和面临超过20%的通膨。超期超支导致开幕式延期了六个月。为了赶工期还造成52名建筑工人伤亡，引发了抗议活动。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Foreign airline executives see more than a prestige project, however. Compared with many of those in the Gulf, this one presents a sounder business case, thinks Mark Martin, an aviation consultant based in Dubai. Turkish is growing at an annual rate of 30%, unlike its Gulf rivals, whose expansion has stalled or gone into reverse. While it was fast running out of room at Ataturk airport, the threat it posed was limited. No longer.

他国航空公司的高管可不只看到了新机场的八面威风。迪拜的一位航空业顾问马克马丁认为，新机场给出了教科书式的案例，土航以每年30%的速度扩张，而海湾地区的竞争对手有的陷入停滞有的在倒退。土耳其则不然，过去老机场的吞吐量有限，显得土耳其构成的竞争威胁有限，但是新机场的运营使得情况大为不同。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Over the past decade the Gulf's three biggest carriers redefined air travel. Most international carriers transport passengers to and from the airlines' home countries. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar used their "super connector" home bases as places where flyers changed planed en route to elsewhere. The focus on higher-margin long haul routes allowed them to charge less for superior service, luring passengers away from hub airports in America and Europe, and from the Western airlines that use them.

过去十年间海湾地区的三家最大的航空公司重新定义了航空旅行这个行业。在大多数航空公司都只是其所在国将乘客迎来送往。而阿联酋航空、阿提哈德航空和卡塔尔航空，利用了乘客在这些国际交通枢纽地换乘的优势大做文章。它们专注于在长途旅行服务中所得收益，提供优质而廉价的服务，从而将乘客从美国和欧洲的航空港和那些西方国家的航空公司吸引过来。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Now they risk being disrupted in turn by Turkish. The new airport is designed to turn Turkish into a fully fledged super-connecting airline. Fees that airlines, including Turkish, are charged for every passenger favor those in transit over those who start or end their journey there. Chairman of the new airports's operator says that its shopping areas were designed to be more attractive even than Dubai's and Qatar's.

而现在这三家航空公司面临着来自土耳其同样的挑战。土耳其新机场正是如此设计的，一旦羽翼丰满，其将成为航空交通枢纽。在收费方面，包括土航的方案都是一样的，对于过境旅客予以比进出航空港的其他旅客更大的优惠。新机场负责人披露机场的商业区设计远比迪拜机场和卡塔尔机场吸引人气。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

The falling value of Turkey's currency has also proved beneficial. Analysts at CAPA, an aviation consultancy, calculate that Turkish earns 14% of its revenue in Turkish Lira, but incurs 26% of its expenses in the currency. A weaker Lira therefore lets it undercut rivals in the Gulf, which do not enjoy a similar advantage.

土耳其货币贬值也对其航空业助一臂之力。CAPA分析学者认为土航收益的14%费用的26%用里拉结算，里拉的贬值使得土航与海湾对手竞争，显然后者无此优势。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

Finally, Istanbul is helped by its proximity to Europe. Turkish can use smaller narrow-body aeroplanes, which are cheaper to operate, on its routes to Europe. The Gulf carriers have to use bigger, more expensive wide-body jet that are great for long-haul flights but less efficient for middling distances. Smaller aircraft, including long-haul ones, allow Turkish to offer more flights to most destinations each day. Business travelers are willing to pay a premium for such flexibility.

伊斯坦布尔同时还拥有贴近欧洲的地理位置优势。土航对欧线路采用运营成本较低的窄身飞机。海湾公司采用的高大上更适合长途飞行，而对于中途距离则不适合。由于土航采用小型机（包括长途线路），所以可以每日增发航班架次， 这就吸引了更多的商务旅客，他们愿意为此灵活度买单。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃

The Gulf carrier are not giving up without a fight. In February Emirates cancelled most of its remaining orders for the Airbus A380 super-jumbo, the world's biggest passenger plane, in favour of smaller models. Sir Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, hopes that a partnership with flydubai,another Emirati airline that flies only marrow-body jets, will help it to preserve market share. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Gulf carriers are reciprocating Turkish's earlier compliments.

海湾航空公司自然不会束手就擒。二月份，阿联酋航空公司取消了未履行的空中巨无霸A380订单，转而青睐小型机。其总裁希望通过和使用窄体机的迪拜航空进行合作保持现有市场份额。如果说模仿是最诚挚的赞扬，海湾的三家航空公司已经在回敬土航先前对它们的赞美了。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 野心勃勃