Turkey's first and only manufacturer of aircraft seats, upon its foundation TSI Aviation Seats set its target to be ranked among the top 5 leading aircraft seating manufacturers in the world. TSI has 2 production facilities, one in Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Turkey and the other in Salt Lake, Utah in the USA. The strong companies in their partnership structure are indications of the reality of this goal.

TSI Aviation Seats was established in 2012 by Turkish Airlines, Turkish Technic and Assan Hanil (a joint-venture between Turkish industrial conglomerate, Kibar Holding, and Hanil Seoyon E-Hwa, a South Korean global auto parts supplier) in order to design, manufacture, modify and merchandise aircraft seats and their subsequent spare parts.

Annual revenues are projected to hit $50 million in 2019 and the firm has a goal of seeing this number double by 2023. The employee count across its two locations stands at 120.

TSI has a close relationship with Turkish Airlines with orders for seats on almost 400 aircraft. The company had agreements with Freebird Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines, Nordavia Airlines and Nordwind Airlines, and also struck deals with other leading Airlines. As such, it is perfectly poised to become a major seating vendor. Indeed, TSI has ambitions to rank among the world’s top-five aircraft seat manufacturers by 2023. Accordingly, production capacity will ramp up rapidly to 100,000 Pax per annum over the next few years.

TSI promises customized solutions in a timely manner. Pre-certified seats can be delivered in less than three months, while the company has recently completed projects that started at the design stage with Airbus and Boeing in less than 16 months – much lower than the industry average. With a cluster of car-makers and parts suppliers, the Turkish automotive sector – in which TSI’s ownership Assan Hanil is heavily involved – exports billions of dollars inmotor vehicles and components each year. 80% of TSI’s suppliers are local and proximity to this supply chain, most of which is situated within two hours of its Istanbul headquarters, is fundamental to the firm’s ability to deliver seats on-time or even ahead of schedule.

Manufacturing aircraft seats with the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), TSI is the aircraft seat supplier of Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

TSI attaches great importance to R&D studies, focuses on the development of high value-added products and technologies, and increases quality and reliability by using digital technology at every stage.

Up until today, TSI has obtained various patents regarding aircraft seat design with its superior engineering experience, and has received a US trademark registration as of March 2018.

2018 was a very successful and enthusiastic year for TSI Aviation Seats as there were many significant steps forward.

In May 2018, the first deliveries of TSI’s new economy class seat Epianka were been completed with an overachievement for the A321neo ACF and B737MAX. The A321neo ACF is the first ‘Cabin Flex’ series aircraft, by applying modifications to the fuselage, it enables flexible cabin configurations for up to 240 passengers.

TSI’s new economy class seat; Epianka expands the creativity and competitiveness of economy seating and makes it one of the best solutions for the leading airlines. The seat also changes the meaning of comfort and practicality and offers wide and slim 12” monitors for in-flight entertainment system. Epianka's functional lower literature pocket with multiple pockets are very useful. Thus, the passengers will be able to keep their wallet near them, mobile phone close at hand, etc.

Epianka will also be delivered to wide-body linefit projects; the A350 and B787 in 2019. The seats will have 13.3” monitors for the in-flight entertainment system. These 13.3” monitors will be certified by TSI Aviation Seats for the first time for Turkish Airlines’ new A350 and B787. This is a remarkable development not only for TSI but also for the aviation industry. Epianka will be certified for A320, A350, B737, B787 and B777, thus, using the same seat platform for different types of aircraft will provide advantages to airlines for maintenance and operation in terms of parts commonality.

TSI has made its first step into narrow body business class seating with the launch of Royalux in 2018. The seat will be offered in 3 different concepts with the option of electrical or mechanical controls. The project will be completed by the end of 2019.

In the last quarter of 2018, TSI increased its production area by 325% with a significant investment. As a result of intensive work; their production facility in Sabiha Gökçen International Airport moved to the new area of 3400 m2. In the new facility, with 2 production lines their capacity has increased from 10,000 pax to 25,000 pax per year with one shift. In the 3rd quarter of 2019, a new production line for business class seats will be established.

In 2018, the number of TSI employees expanded by 30%. Manpower will continue to rise significantly in 2019 in both locations, at the headquarters & production facility in Sabiha Gökçen International Airport – Istanbul, Turkey and the production facility in Utah, in the USA, to expand and develop TSI into one of the world’s leading seat manufacturers.

With the 22 shipsets delivered in 2019, the total number of delivered shipsets reached 115 so far. This number will reach over 1000 through 2023 with the orders taken from world’s leading airlines.