İbrahim Sünnetçi: Can we start our conversation by getting information about the journey of KEYVAN Aviation Group, headquartered in Istanbul, which was founded with more than 20 years of aviation experience, and its footprint in the Aviation Industry today?

Mehmet Keyvan:We started the establishment of our company in 2019. Officially, our establishment process was completed in January 2020. With more than twenty years of experience and vision in the aviation industry, we undertake the most innovative projects. Our biggest capital is our young and dynamic team. Together with our team, we are working hard to constantly produce new projects and, as a Turkish company, to put them at the service of all world aviation.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: Can we get information about KEYVAN Aviation's current organizational structure, personnel situation and targets and expectations for 2022?

Mehmet Keyvan: The number of employees of KEYVAN Group is 80. The majority of our workforce performs in the field of aviation data generation. We have a quality control team to ensure the quality of the data we produce. All the departments work in cooperation with each other in line with our company's production, productivity and growth targets. In 2022, we aim to reinforce our communication and agreements with our international and domestic customers compliant with the production process required by our LOA Type 1 Dat Provider certificate.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: Could you please inform us about the products and the projects in which KEYVAN Aviation has been developing core technologies in the field of aviation and implement its projects?

Mehmet Keyvan: KEYVAN Group has a staff of eighty people. The majority of our team works in the field of aviation data generation. We have a quality control team to ensure the quality of the data we produce. All our departments work in communication and cooperation with each other in accordance with our company's production, efficiency and growth targets. In 2022, we aim to strengthen our communications and agreements with our international and local customers in line with the production that our LOA Type 1 certificate authorizes us.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: Aviation databases are used by avionics manufacturers to create a navigation database. Can we get information about Aviation Databases, which are among the services offered by KEYVAN Aviation? Could you briefly summarize the production and update processes of the Aviation and Navigation Database for our readers?

Meriç Cınbarcı: 195 countries with airports in the world are divided into 10 regions. Each of these countries has to regularly publish technical aviation data for their airports. Every twenty-eight days, called the AIRAC cycle, this data is updated. Countries update this data of their airports thirteen times a year.Type 1 DAT Provider certificate holder companies, such as KEYVAN Aviation, obtain this data from the civil aviation institutions of the countries and pass it through a special process. The purpose of this process is to transfer the said data to the ARINC 424 database requested by EASA. The compliance of the data produced with this database with international standards in terms of accuracy, resolution, integrity, traceability, timeliness, completeness and format is guaranteed by certification. The amount of data that needs to be processed is huge. For this reason, in case of erroneous data, the produced data is controlled repeatedly by the Quality Department in accordance with data quality requirements. With the data updated every twenty-eight days by our Data Production Department, ARINC 424 database is produced for TYPE 2 DAT Provider certificate holder companies, which is also given by EASA. Companies holding the Type 2 DAT Provider certificate transfer this database to the aircraft's systems called FMS.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: What kind of aviation data does the Aviation and Navigation Database processed by KEYVAN Aviation contain and how many million data lines does it consist of? What can you tell us about your user profile/portfolio around the world?

Serkan Pusat: There are approximately 3 million data lines in total, containing data for 18.200 airports, 29.380 runways and 232.650 waypoints. Around the world, companies with EASA's Type 2 DAT Provider certification, Flight Planning companies and companies developing Simulator applications are our direct customers.

İbrahim Sünnetçi:  KEYVAN Aviation announced last February that it was the first company in Turkey to receive the international Type 1 DAT Provider Certificate issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the 4th company in the world. Can we get an information about the importance of the EASA approved Type 1 DAT Certificate for both KEYVAN Aviation and our country, and the possibilities and capabilities it will provide to KEYVAN Aviation? Why are so few companies in the world holding this certification?

Mehmet Keyvan :  In order to obtain the Type 1 DAT Provider certificate, called LOA Type 1, a really intense and standardized study is required. The standards we mentioned are mandatory standards brought by EASA for companies that want to obtain this certificate. There is no other explanatory or guiding document or guide other than the standards published by EASA and EU for the preparation process. There is no source that institutions that are in the process of preparing for the certificate can get support from. Not only in Turkey, but in the world. The preparation process includes many challenging stages. Every document, every study is meticulously checked by EASA. It is going through the interrogation process. Every inquiry and review involves making new updates, modifying and developing all documentation crosswise to match those updates. In addition to these, EASA also conducts official audits and these audits should be concluded in a way that there are no major deficiencies. After the entire preparation process is completed, another challenging step is the establishment of a competent team. Since there is no other company holding this certificate in Turkey, there are no experienced staff. For this reason, we have preferred to work with recent graduates from civil aviation depertments with no work experience. Among the candidates, we chose those who want to work on data production, are open to new information, and have the desire to improve themselves. We create and develop our own team with continuous on-the-job training. We would like to inform that our recruitment process continues to develop and strengthen our team. We would also like to point out that being the first and only Turkish company to have this certificate is a source of pride for all our team and our company. We have been awarded this certificate by overcoming all the challenging processes we have mentioned. Our name is officially published on the pages of EASA as certificate holder. All companies dealing with navigation data in the aviation industry are now aware of the name KEYVAN and that it is a Turkish company.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: What can you tell us about the export activities of KEYVAN Aviation? Can we get information about your overseas customers?

Mehmet Keyvan : The customers of our data production are completely international. For this reason, a significant part of our export transaction volume that we will realize with the services we will provide is within the scope of service issuance. The number of companies holding Type 2 DAT Provider certification in the world is limited, just like companies holding Type 1 DAT Provider certification. The names of these companies are also published on the certificated companies page on the EASA website. We are in contact with all these companies. Apart from this direct service, we are about to start working on a project basis with companies operating in the aviation industry that need navigation information for various reasons.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: What can you say about KEYVAN Aviation's expectations and targets for the next 10 years?

Meriç Cınbarcı: KEYVAN Aviation has determined its short and long-term goals since the day it was founded and made them a strategic road map. To be an industry leader in all service areas in which we operate, to produce technology related to these areas, to make the products we design a sectoral trend in the world, to focus on continuous development, to be an innovative, leading and pioneering product excellence center and ultimately to make our brand a world brand are expectations and goals for the next ten years of KEYVAN Group.

İbrahim Sünnetçi: As we conclude our interview, is there anything you would like to add or a message you would like to convey to our readers?

Mehmet Keyvan: We would like to support our local Turkish operators with the same quality data but with better cost.So while we are looking for export, we would like to support the companies to reduce their financial cost and keep the capital in our country