The Eurasia Air Show is quickly approaching. It will be accomplished under the auspices of the Presidency and intensive preparations have been well underway; not just for many months, but years in the making. Following a busy preparation and planning stage for the event which will host international companies and delegations with platforms to be displayed at the static area, solo and acrobatic flight shows and many other activities, the final touches are presently being made for the Eurasia Air Show. Eurasia Air Show’s CEO Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz and the organizer of the event Medya City’s CEO Mr. Hakan Kurt shared the details of the organization with the journalist at a press meeting.

Eurasia Air Show’s CEO Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz: “We are striving to bring the world’s greatest air platform AN-225 to Antalya”

Eurasia Air Show’s CEO Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz stated that they accomplished almost 600 negotiations and visited 11 countries within the preparatory stage which lasted for nearly two years and commented on their activities considering the event: “In order to host an international event which is praiseworthy for our country, we allocated an area of 300 thousand square meters in Antalya. Our static area will be 170 thousand square meters. A total of 48 chalets will remain at this static area and approximately 50 civilians, commercial and military air platforms will be displayed at the static area. We are in close cooperation and coordination with the Embassy of Ukraine to bring the world’s greatest aircraft AN-225 to the Eurasia Air Show. In order to display the AN-225 at the static area, and our activities to this end are still proceeding. We will be displaying the Airbus 380A from Qatar at the static area. We are currently under the signing stage of the agreements with worldwide aviation giants Boeing and Airbus and soon we will complete the signing the process. Russia will be one of the countries that will have broad participation in the event. The Russian company Sukhoi will be displaying its aircrafts at the static area. Similarly, Leonardo will be bringing its C27-J aircraft. Leonardo will also demonstrate its AW101 helicopter at the static area and make a demonstration flight as well. Moreover, both our rotating winged platforms and fixed winged platforms which are in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces will take part at the static area and in the flight shows.”

Stating that Turkey will also host the Asian Civil Aviation conference, Mr. Yenibertiz underlined that the General Directorate of Civil Aviation arranged the Eurasia Air Show in Antalya a day before this event. Mr. Yenibertiz added: “Civil aviation authorities of 192 countries have been invited to the event and 50 of them replied to the General Directorate of Civil Aviation so far.”

Mentioning the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries’ great support of the event in respect to the participation of military delegations, Mr. Yenibertiz noted that the Undersecretariat has sent official invitations to nearly 40 countries and underlined that these official invitations have also been sent to private companies by governmental authorities for the first time. Stating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ negotiations were proceeding for the participation of the heads of State that Turkey has good diplomatic relations with, Mr. Yenibertiz added that similarly the contacts were being run by the Ministry of National Defense, the Turkish General Staff and the Naval Forces Command.

Medya City CEO Mr. Hakan Kurt shared that Turkey gained an export revenue at the level of $150 – $160 billion in 2017 yet imported $ 200 billion.  Mr. Hakan Kurt added that their aim through this organization is to gain for the country added value and continued: “When we launched the studies of this organization, we started our journey by asking ourselves how can we contribute to our country and explore the ways of gaining added value. We launched our activities in 2011 with an indigenization exhibition of the Turkish Armed Forces and then the Turkish Aerospace Industry Exhibition and Forum. In 2014, we accomplished the first Hightech Port Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul. We conducted the same event in Qatar in 2015 and in Istanbul in 2016. We will hold this organization again in Istanbul in 2018. Furthermore, we also accomplished an organization namely the Global Satellite Show regarding satellites. This year we will be running the fourth occurrence of this event. While we were preparing for the aforementioned events, we realized that we did not have an aerospace event representing our country in the full sense and with the support of the authorized institutions in 2016 we launched the Eurasia Air Show at the Farnborough Air Show 2016.”

Stating that the event will create a critical position for the integration of the Turkish Aerospace Industry with regional and worldwide markets in military and civil aviation areas, Mr. Kurt underlined that they have been working to this end over a period of two years. Mr. Kurt stated that they adopted the Dubai Airshow as a reference model for measuring their success and said, “Our target is to get ahead of the Dubai Airshow’s figures when we hold this event for the third time in Antalya. The Dubai Airshow recently hosted 66 thousand visitors, displayed 167 air platforms, hosted 1,200 media representatives and had 1,100 attendees. In order to claim our success, we have to surpass Dubai Airshow’s figures.”

Stating that the participation of foreign countries in the event is of critical importance for the event, Mr. Kurt added that countries such as Russia, Iran, the United Kingdom, Qatar and Pakistan will be attending the event.  He noted that negotiations between Azerbaijan and France continue and new countries may be added to this list.

Mentioning that they expect to see over 100 flags at the event in respect to delegations, Mr. Kurt stated that for the success of the event the rate of international participation should be around 35% – 40% and they believe that they will achieve this figure. 

Expressing that the main philosophy and aim of the Eurasia Air Show is to integrate the Turkish Aerospace Industry with regional and worldwide markets in both military and civil aviation areas, Mr. Kurt added that they planned to put forth an Air Show that competes with the whole world by bringing together Eurasian communities of the region and the decision makers. Mr. Kurt concluded that they aim to get ahead of the Dubai Airshow regarding the number of demonstrated platforms, visitors, attendance of companies and media, etc. and this is anticipated to occur when they organize the third event of this organization.

Eurasia Air Show’s CEO Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz: “Iran, for the first time, will be attending an International event at the pavilion level” 

The Question and Answer session started following the remarks. Upon the question regarding which international defense and aerospace companies will be attending the event, Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz stated that they will be hosting nearly 35 worldwide major brands and continued: “We are about to sign agreements with Boeing and Airbus. Major companies such as Thales of France, Leonardo from Italy, Honeywell from America, BAE Systems, GE Aviation, Dassault Systems, Rosoboronexport, Russian Helicopter, Antonov, Roll-Royce from United Kingdom will be attending the event. Moreover, Iran will for the first time, participate in an international event at the pavilion level.”

Mr. Ferhat Yenibertiz: “We are pushing our limits to bring critical platforms such as the Mig-29 and Su-35”

Upon the question regarding which platforms would be demonstrating flights, Mr. Yenibertiz shared that they have been conducting preparations with a flight management team yet there might be some last-minute changes, as is common in such airshows and added, “We are pushing our limits to bring platforms such as Mig-29 and Su-35. Our negotiations continue for the flight demonstration of the F-35 JSF jet within the inventory of the Italian Air Forces through a brief passage in the event. To this end, our governmental authorities officially invited Italy. Nearly 100 demonstrations in which Turkey’s and the world’s leading acrobat teams and pilots will display their performances are being planned.”

For the Eurasia Airshow, overall participation of a total figure of 100 thousand participants composed of over 500 companies, over one hundred military, civilian and commercial aircrafts, over 150 military delegations from over one hundred countries and 20 thousand international professional visitors is planned. Moreover, with the coordination of the Ministry of National Education, school tours are being planned to spark the interest of Turkish youth in aerospace, enabling them to closely examine the unique platforms.

On April 27th, on the third day of Eurasia Air Show, the “THY Airlines CEO Summit” will take place, which will gather decision makers of commercial airlines. Turkish Airlines has sent invitations to CEOs of 31 Airlines so far and it has been announced that the names of the CEOs who will be participating in the summit are materializing and becoming clear. A conference on “Women in Air” also will take part at the organization for the first time as well. A platform composed of women with roles in aviation and space from all around the world is aimed to be organized through this conference that will last throughout the day.