SAHA Istanbul represented Türkiye by attending the European Aerospace Quality Group (EAQG) meeting, which was held for the first time in Türkiye.
SAHA Istanbul represented Türkiye by attending the European Aerospace Quality Group’s (EAQG) term meeting, which was held for the first time in Türkiye.
According to the statement made by SAHA Istanbul, the summit of transformation and workforce development in aerospace technologies was held for the first time in Türkiye by SAHA Istanbul.
The National Aviation Industry Committee (MİHENK) was established under the leadership of SAHA Istanbul with the participation of the giant companies that make up Türkiye’s aviation industry. As the 13th country to complete the EAQG integration with MihENK, Türkiye has thus become an important part of the international organisation that manages the aerospace industry in the world and supervises quality processes, and this development paved the way for Türkiye’s domestic and national companies operating in this field to issue AS 9100 certification.
While the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK) was integrated into the European Civil Aviation Quality System through the SAHA MİHENK structure established by SAHA Istanbul, national companies operating in this field in Türkiye became accredited to issue AS/9100 series qualification certificates.
Representatives of aviation, space and defence companies evaluated international aviation quality activities at the meeting, which was attended in person and remotely by 40 members of EAQG from various countries such as Airbus Defence and Space, Leonardo, BAE Systems, Thales, Dassault Aviation, HENSOLDT, AIAD, Meggitt, FACC AG Operations, Fokker Technologies Holding B.V. Aerostructures, ArianeGroup, Aselsan Turkish Aerospace, TEI-TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii AŞ.
With the EAQG end-of-term meeting held, SAHA Istanbul became an affiliate member of EAQG and started to take steps to become one of the decision-making organisations in the field of aviation by voting.
SAHA Istanbul MİHENK (TR CBMC-Turkish Certification Body Management Committee) OP Assessor trainings, which has undertaken the task of establishing the Industry Controlled Other Party (ICOP) structure in Türkiye and ensuring the compliance of National Accreditation Bodies (NAB) and Accredited Certification Bodies (CB) with 9104 series standards, were successfully completed on 14-16 March in Istanbul.
Under the coordination of Turkish Aerospace Ind. AŞ, TAI, TEI, ASELSAN and ThalesGroup participated in this training, which was given for the first time in Türkiye by EAQG OPMT (Other Party Management Team).
MİHENK serves as the Technical Committee of the SAHA Istanbul Defence and Aerospace Cluster and represents the Turkish National Aerospace and Defence Industry. MİHENK and its activities support the European Sector Management Structure (SMS), EAQG Other Party Management Team (OPMT) and SAHA Istanbul Defence and Aerospace Cluster, which acts as the Turkish National Aerospace Industry Association.
“In recent years, defence and aerospace activities in Türkiye have entered a rapid growth trend”
İlhami Keleş, Secretary General of SAHA Istanbul, stated that these sectors have entered a rapid growth trend with the work carried out in the fields of defence and aerospace in Türkiye in recent years, and will continue to grow in the coming period.
Keleş said, “In order for the sector to keep pace with these developments, it has become necessary to take part in international aviation quality processes and to improve the technical and qualification infrastructure of our companies.
Pointing out that in order for the defence and aerospace sector to meet this need with domestic companies and to prevent the outflow of resources abroad, TÜRKAK should obtain the authority to accredit domestic companies from the International Aviation Quality Group (IAQG), Keleş said: “This committee, which was established to carry out the necessary work for TÜRKAK to obtain this authority on the one hand, and to be a part of the structures that manage the aviation industry abroad and supervise quality processes on the other hand, has made and continues to make a great contribution to the sector. In the future, MİHENK will show a willingness to expand according to the need.”
