Turkish Airlines, ITU and Boeing master’s program delivers first graduates

AUG 20, 2015: Boeing Turkish Airlines and Istanbul Technical University (ITU) celebrated the graduation of 39 Turkish Airlines executives from the master’s program (M.Sc. in Air Transport Management). The program was launched in 2013 jointly by Boeing, ITU and Turkish Airlines, to equip the Airline’s up and coming executives with the leadership and management skills required to successfully lead the country’s rapidly growing aviation industry and to have an effective part on the global aviation industry.

Dr. Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish Airlines, said, “Flying to more countries and more international destinations than any airline in the world, Turkish Airlines is very 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. 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. Today, İstanbul gains ground to become a global hub. Turkish Airlines is a global brand today just like our respected program partners Boeing and ITU. We are the rising star in the aviation industry. 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 the program and successfully completed it - will continue to add significantly to Turkey’s future aviation leader’s occupational capabilities, as we continue to implement our long-term goals. Being always proud to be an ITU graduate, I congratulate my young colleagues who succeeded to receive the ITU degree and I sincerely believe that they will have a crucial part on shaping the future of the world aviation.”

The master’s is the first of its kind in the region. The program has also 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. During the academic program, participants were trained in the fundamentals of airline management, aviation economics, air law and compliance management, while also being able to choose modules on topics such as airport planning and management, contracting in air transportation. Each course of the program was supported with case studies covering to solve real-life issues facing airline managers. The graduation projects of each candidate were based on the analysis of an issue related to Turkish Airlines and on the proposition of the possible answer.

“We are very proud to see the first graduate class of Turkish Airlines’ executives from the Air Transport Management Master’s Program and we wish all of the graduates every success in their future careers at the airline,’ said Todd Nelp vice-president European Sales Boeing Commercial Airplanes. ‘As the country’s aviation industry continues to grow, programs such as this running in cooperation with Turkish Airlines and ITU, are an important investment in the future success of the industry and its future executives and we, at Boeing, are proud to be able to play a role in that investment in Turkey’s future.’

“ITU’s Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics (FAA) is the oldest and the biggest aerospace academic institution of Turkey. Two years ago, ITU, Turkish Airlines and Boeing came together for a ground breaking program, which we see the end result today with our new graduates. They will always be remembered for being the first alumni,” said Prof. Mehmet Karaca, the Rector of ITU. “ITU is famously known for its pioneering role in every aspect and today we have proved this once again. Henry Ford had once said “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress; working together is success.” With this, I congratulate all parties involved in this success and most of all the 39 ITU graduates for their commitment to the program”