Aviation Turkey: In April 2021 Honeywell appointed you as President of High Growth Regions, Turkey, Israel & Central Asia. How would you sum up your role? As a manager who has been leading the digital transformation of companies for many years, what kind of work have you focused on so far, what are your predictions for the short and medium term?

Uygar Doyuran: Over the years in my career, I’ve had the opportunity to get deeply involved in digital transformation in almost every industry. From Finance to Education, Retail to Consumer World, Industrial to Defense. We’ve seen the transformational effects of digital technologies such as Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, digital twins and others in these industries. 

Today at Honeywell we leverage all of these technologies across our solutions portfolio. What is more important than the technologies themselves is to translate them to business outcomes for the specific customer needs. In a manufacturing plant, digital technologies help managers monitor their whole operations providing a single source of truth tailored to their primary focus of interest. The CEO would want to see key operations and high-level financials in real-time, while a Plant Manager would want to check asset performance and manufacturing yield. At Honeywell we provide the full infrastructure to enable these, ranging from control systems to IoT devices and advanced software solutions to provide these outcomes. We help optimize plant-wide operations, reduce energy consumption, increase reliability with predictive maintenance for many customers in Turkey and Central Asia. 

Industrial Digital Transformation is a key requirement that, in the near-term and beyond, will continue to accelerate. In order to get the benefit out of digital transformation efforts, industrial customers should be working with companies that have strong experience in their specific industries – as most of the time, this is a tailored-made solution specific to customer environment, A combination of increasing quantities of data and processing power, a need to maximize productivity and competitiveness as we return to growth following the pandemic, a broader range of competing priorities for businesses to deliver against, and an increasingly remote or hybridized workforce, means digital transformation is now more important than ever. Digitalization is of vital importance for businesses to stay competitive and stay ahead.

Aviation Turkey: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge global disruption on both commercial and defense operations and programs. The aviation industry has been slowly recovering from coronavirus pandemic-induced downturn starting from 2021. How and to what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic affected Honeywell’s High Growth Regions, Turkey, Israel & Central Asia Branch? When do you expect to return to pre-pandemic levels?

Uygar Doyuran: All over the world, the aviation industry has been one of the sectors that was worstly affected by the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In parallel, our after-market business were particularly affected as the airplanes remained on the ground, so we had to stop the shipments of some parts that we would receive from our own suppliers. We took precautions against this situation by making the right planning and adjusting our stock levels accordingly. As of January 2020, we started to take our measures. We talked to all our customers and learned their plans, and we ensured constant coordination with our customers through weekly meetings. 

Domestic flights started slowly in the 3rd quarter of 2020 and all operators thought that 2021 would start very quickly thanks to the vaccine. However, this did not happen when new variants emerged. This situation continued until June 2021. As Turkey was considered a high-risk region at that time, flights to and from Germany and England were especially suspended or minimized. Russia also opened flights later than expected - only at the end of August 2021. However, as a result of the rapid increase in Covid-19 vaccination rates in Turkey and the vaccination of all tourism workers, flights started to increase again and capacities were filled up to 60 % during the third quarter of 2021. 

As of this date, flights have continued to increase, capacities have returned to normal levels and our deliveries have started to return to normal. Airlines in our country have reached pre-pandemic levels, and in the same way, our business have reached pre-pandemic levels.

Aviation Turkey: What are your predictions for Commercial Aviation in High Growth Regions, Turkey, Israel & Central Asia in terms of growth, challenges and opportunities?

Uygar Doyuran: As we recaptured 2019 figures, all of our major customers are targeting growth. Turkish Airlines opened multiple new lines, Pegasus and Sun Express bought new planes and enlarged their fleets. Turkey is a very attractive country in terms of tourism and has become a transit hub. Therefore, airlines are constantly on the path of growth. All airlines in Turkey such as Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and Sun Express use Honeywell components to a very large extent. All airline companies in our country have very high service quality. They fly to many different destinations, including small cities, and offer the best service in their category at competitive prices. Turkish Technic is our solution partner and has the "Honeywell channel partner" license. As this is also has a global license, Turkish Technic is authorized to serve all airlines on behalf of Honeywell. In addition, although passenger transportation was reduced during the pandemic, Turkish Cargo and other airlines quickly adapted to cargo transportation and Turkish Cargo became the number one cargo company in Europe. These market dynamics put our airlines ahead of the competition. For all these reasons, we aim for a rapid growth with our strategic partners in Turkey.

Aviation Turkey: What are Honeywell’s core capabilities, technologies, products that are focused on aviation sector? What makes Honeywell’s products and services stand out in the field of aviation?

Uygar Doyuran: From nose to tail, our products and services are found on virtually every commercial, defense and space aircraft in the world. We provide one of the industry’s broadest and most advanced portfolios from weather radars in the nose cone; avionics, recorders and transmitters in the cockpit; satellite communications on the fuselage that provide enhanced connectivity for both cockpit and cabin; to world-class engines, wheels and brakes; to environmental control systems; through to the auxiliary power units in the tail and other solutions in between. 

Aviation Turkey: What kind of new products do you see a demand for in the coming years? Honeywell is a company that specializes in “industry-specific” solutions to aid in developing sustainable aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers. How would you summarize Honeywell’s ongoing sustainability projects in the field of aerospace industry with global partners?

Uygar Doyuran: We were the first to commercialize the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2016, providing our customers a simple solution today and one that we expect will continue to be scaled at pace in the coming years. Honeywell Green Jet Fuel meets or exceeds critical specifications for flight and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65-85% compared with petroleum-based fuels. It allows aircraft to fly farther on less fuel and can be used as a drop-in replacement requiring no changes to aircraft technology or fuel infrastructure. 

Solutions like our hydrogen fuel cells, which are already available for use in the urban air mobility space, enable greater range than typical battery or gasoline-based propulsion systems. And while the scalability of technology like hydrogen is not there today, we believe that this technology will continue to have a big impact to the industry in the future.

As bandwidths increase, Honeywell Anthem is another exciting solution that can be brought into almost anything that’s currently flying or will fly in the future. Anthem’s smartphone-like, easy-to-use interface is more intuitive than any other cockpit available today. Aircraft, helicopters and new electric and multirotor vehicles of all shapes, sizes and missions can benefit from safer, smarter, and more connected flights. It’s already been selected by Vertical Aerospace and Lilium for their vertical take-off and landing, all-electric aircraft, the VA-X4 and 7-Seater Lilium Jet, respectively.

We also work with airports to improve the safe and efficient routing of planes. Honeywell’s NAVITAS™ software suite is a collection of task-oriented systems that enable airports to more seamlessly digitize, visualize and automate everyday operations such as orchestrating an aircraft’s final approach, landing, taxi-in for arrivals, turnaround, pushback, taxi-out, line-up and take-off for departures.

We also anticipate airports themselves will evolve to provide passengers with a seamless curb to curb experience with a greater deployment of frictionless technology to make it easier to go from security to boarding, without even having to take out your phone.

Aviation Turkey: What can you tell about Honeywell’s digital transformation (from hardware to software-focused) strategy? Honeywell is extremely active in the aviation sector. Can we get your personal assessment on the potential applications of Honeywell Forge in the Commercial & Business Aviation? Thanks to its ability to manage and process terabytes of data from a flight Honeywell Forge can be a difference-maker when it comes to flight management and predictive maintenance of commercial/business aircraft?

Uygar Doyuran:  While we have a history that is rooted in hardware, software has become another integral part of our value proposition. Around 50% of our 18,000 engineers are software engineers. We are proud to solve big, complex problems to help shape the future of industries, including aviation. Particularly, we add our strong domain knowledge and expertise to our software-based solutions, and that make a difference.

A major part of our digital transformation story is the success of our Honeywell Forge enterprise performance management software solution. For aviation, our solution helps improve the connectivity and efficiency of the aircraft. 

Modern aircraft generate a lot of data. Commercial aircraft generate terabytes of data each day. Honeywell Forge allows operators the benefit of capturing, analyzing and applying the data in a purposeful and meaningful way, utilizing this business intelligence to reduce downtime and improve operations while also enhancing flight safety and passenger experience. Thanks to improvements in air-to-ground connectivity our Honeywell Forge analytics can optimize aircraft operations and routing, saving up to five percent of energy use per flight.

With Honeywell Forge, operators can access a single system of record and use advanced analytics to plan more efficient routes at the fleet level. They can also identify maintenance issues in the air while managing usage and security permissions. Passengers can access the connectivity they need while keeping costs to operators low. 

Aviation Turkey: How has Honeywell assisted airports to keep their systems operational amid the COVID-19 crisis when access to most sites was difficult? 

Uygar Doyuran:  At Honeywell, we enable the digital transformation of airports and have helped them become healthier and more efficient through solutions that increase operational efficiency, reduce energy use and improve the passenger experience. As the airport industry works towards a sustainable recovery, Honeywell is working with airports to support three major trends that were accelerated during the pandemic:

-Passenger experience: the need to create healthier, safer environments to restore traveler confidence and mitigate risks;

-Sustainability: the imperative to commit to sustainability strategies that are embedded in the business model; and

-Operational efficiency, cost control and new revenue streams that help enable long-term business continuity.

With IATA and its members committing to an ambitious target to make flying net zero by 2050, there is also pressure to deliver on sustainability. We help by deploying advanced, connected building solutions that drive energy efficiency and support sustainability outcomes such as reducing overall energy consumption of airport operations.

Honeywell has deployed dedicated solutions to help airports improve energy efficiency and accelerate their sustainability goals based on real-time analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). In the complex airport eco-system, technology can help streamline the use of existing airport assets such as gates and runways, improving the real-time readiness of the terminal for flows of passengers, baggage and aircrafts, and by using intelligent energy management throughout the airport. Integrated airport technology solutions can leverage airport operational database information, which can improve aircraft ground movement management and turnaround for on-time departures, decrease CO2 footprint, and improve terminal preparedness. Integration can aid efficiency in optimizing airside runway systems, offering the ability to control, and send aircraft on the most efficient route, for easy and safe docking.

Aviation Turkey: Can you elaborate on Honeywell’s state-of-the-art technology solutions that are required for safer and more efficient flight operations for the business aviation industry? 

Uygar Doyuran:  At Honeywell, our commitment to safety extends across business aviation, commercial airlines and defense. With the rising number of arriving and departing aircraft, we can see increased importance on air traffic management systems and utilizing air space capacity, with improved communication between air and ground. We are proud to create technologies that support these areas.

Technology will help optimize routes, making airline travel faster and more efficient, improving on-time performance and reducing fuel consumption. Essentials like hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels will be readily available worldwide to support sustainable flight operations. Our latest updates enable automation and digitalization of air traffic services to help achieve efficient ground movement, improve situational awareness, control and monitoring of airside and Air Traffic Management (ATM) equipment, information management and integration.

Aviation Turkey: Would you like to add anything as a message to our readers?

Uygar Doyuran:  This year, as Honeywell Turkey, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary. In these 30 years, we have brought the most advanced technology to our country with our experienced staff and engineers and we have always stood by our customers. We will continue to support our customers in the same way in the future, while sustainability and digital transformation will be our top priorities.

Sustainability is the top of mind for us and we attach great importance to it along with digital transformation. Our pledge to become carbon neutral in our operations and facilities by 2035 is just the latest milestone in a long-standing commitment to improving our own environmental and sustainability profile while providing innovative products and services that improve our customers’ profiles as well.

For example, since 2004 we have reduced our greenhouse gas intensity by 90%, between 2004 and 2011 we exceeded our goal of improving energy efficiency by more than 20% and since 2010 have deployed more than 5,700 efficiency projects, including building automation and controls, lighting, and mechanical upgrades at our facilities. 

We have been able to achieve these milestones in part through the deployment of our own technologies, which are already on the market and available today, across our facilities and operations – from intelligent building systems to cloud-based data analytics that we, and our customers, can use to find new efficiency gains across our processes.

We are bringing the advanced technologies we developed for Sustainable Solutions to Turkey with key customers. These include producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Advanced Recycling of Plastic Waste, capturing carbon in industries like steel and cement, advanced battery storage solutions for renewable energy. Each of these technologies are transformational in reaching a greener world