• 10 Mayıs 2022 Salı

Who Should Be the Aviation Center?

Is it Eskişehir? Seattle? Is it Toulouse? Eskişehir is the starting point of Turkish aviation history.

Many people have said this over and over. Vecihi Hürkuş made his first plane here. When the first aircraft factory was not to be established here, the first aircraft maintenance center was established immediately. “Aviation Export Figures” of Eskişehir, which has more than ninety years of aviation experience, were announced recently.

The officials, who stated that aviation exports, which were 55 million dollars in 2000, reached 300 million dollars today, emphasized that the steps taken by the government in recent years have expanded both aviation and other industrial areas, increasing the business volume and employment situation. At this point, we need to consider, what is the state of aviation both in Turkey and in the world!?

Today, aviation turnover in Ankara, primarily Aselsan and TAI, has exceeded billions of dollars. With its sub-industry reaching hundreds of figures, Ankara has undoubtedly become the capital of aviation with the "Aviation Special Zone" project started in Kazan.

The world is elsewhere. We all watched the work of the European Space Agency live. Technology that makes spacecraft that can land on a moving Comet, and as yet undisclosed aerospace technologies. In the aerospace and other industries, the golden rule is clear: You will make products! You are doomed to stay on the side with the supplier industry and fall behind more and more.

If we look at the world aviation figures, the city of Toulouse, France, which is one of the rivals of Eskişehir, has already surpassed the event as the host of Airbus company. While only Airbus's turnover of approximately 40 billion dollars and its personnel of more than 150,000 are clear, the US city of Seattle is also the city where the Boeing aircraft factory is located. It has approximately $80 billion in aviation exports in Seattle, with Boeing-based figures alone.

However, all of these cities have similar beginnings in aviation history. It means that between 1920-2000 they widened the difference. And Eskişehir has started to close the gap in the last 13 years. Even if the difference is a little big...