Turkish Airlines, Boeing and Istanbul Technical University Welcomes Class of 2014- 2016 of “Air Transport Management” Program
Turkish Airlines, Boeing and Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey’s leading aerospace engineering and technology institution, today opened their doors to the class of 2014-2016 of the recently founded new academic program. The master’s program will equip Turkish Airlines’ future executives with the skills needed to deal with Turkey’s rapidly growing aviation industry.
The two-year master’s program in Air Transport Management, which is the first of its kind in the region and was launched last year, also has academic partnerships with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, Cranfield University in the United Kingdom and the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Working with the academic partners, experts from Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes’ Network and Fleet planning group, as well as Economic Analysis lead and teach some of the courses for program participants.
In 2013, the first class started with forty executive candidates from Turkish Airlines. The participants of the program were trained in the fundamentals of airline management, aviation economics, air law and compliance management, while they chose modules on topics such as airport planning and future technologies for air transportation systems. At the end of the program, graduation projects will focus on solving real-life issues facing airline managers.
“As Turkish Airlines, we are proud to contribute to furthering international integration by building bridges between continents and by also providing outstanding contributions towards developing cultural, commercial and economic relations. We have made significant progress in the investment plan that we have pursued in the past 10 years. We have seen a constant growth in the number of destinations, fleet and passengers; all while also achieving profitability. As Turkish Airlines, our goal was to capture an important share of the traffic passing over us and we developed appropriate strategies for this aim. To continue to build on our success, I believe that this program -which has improved the efficiency in management skills of our executive candidates who attended this program’s first education period last year and will successfully complete it in forthcoming months- will continue to add significantly to Turkey’s future aviation leader’s occupational capabilities, as we continue to implement our long-term goals.” said Dr. Temel Kotil, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Turkish Airlines.
“Boeing has been working with Turkey for 70 years. Along with our partnership with Turkish aviation industry, Boeing continues to contribute to advanced educational programs in Turkey with a responsible and sensitive approach,” said Bernard J. Dunn, President of Boeing Turkey and North Africa. “We are proud to help in the process of developing qualified workforce who can meet the demands of the industry. This master’s program in Air Transport Management is based on the examples and curriculums of the world’s renowned universities specialized in the field of aeronautical education and I believe it will help the future’s executives of Turkish airline companies to enhance leadership capacities.”
“Our talented team has decades of knowledge and experience to share,” said Fariba Alamdari, Vice President of Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Through collaboration and partnerships like this, we can support the future Turkish airline leaders to further develop and strengthen the country’s aviation industry.”
“We are very excited about the Aviation Institute and the Air Transport Management program, and within the next few years we expect it to grow and develop into a world-renowned program,” said Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Özkol, Vice Rector of ITU. “The Class of 2016 has been an important step towards longevity of the program.” he added.
