An interview with SkyArt on ApronMedya.com

A popular Turkish aviation news portal, apronmedya.com has published an interview with Mr. Emre Özkul, the founder of SkyArt

Serkan Ugur : Hello Mr. Özkul, could you please briefly let us know about yourself and the SKyArt project?
Emre Özkul : Hello, My name is Emre Özkul and I am originally from tourism background. I am the founder of Navigator Yachting and my company is serving VIP clients with private yacht charter and luxury jet rental services. SkyArt idea came to me when looking for a new venture to fill the less busy winter months. It has now been five years and the is is growing ever so fast.
Serkan Ugur : As far as I know# you are a "first" in Turkey. Who are your customers?
Emre Özkul : You are right. We are the first company in such area in Turkey and also we are a leading brand in the world as well. We can say that we do not have many global competitors. Therefore most of our customers are abroad and we export a lot. In Turkey, we do have a variety of customers. For example we build aircraft cabin trainer mock-ups for cabin crew training institutions and airlines. Other than that we do design and build decorative home and office furniture using old aircraft parts. In addition to all these, we do provide aircraft decor to national and international movie industry. We do all of the above, using genuine aircraft parts.
Serkan Ugur : It sounds great, when manufacturing your products, you have to put many parts together and deliver the finished product on time. What are the difficulties you face when doiung this?
Emre Özkul : Actually what you have just mentioned general issues for the all manufacturing processes. I mean the delivery times, the manufacturing challenges etc. The real problem for us at the beginning was that, this was never done before. Therefore we had to learn on the job and train ourselves at the same time. At the beginning there was no qualified personnel to work with and nowadays we know the materials better and I can proudly say that we have a strong team. We did establish a system and we continiously work on getting better. As you know, the success comes only and only with hard work. Serkan Ugur : What is in your sight and plans for the near future?
Emre Özkul : For SkyArt, the sky is the limit really. We keep growing using the opportunities along the way. We have plans to build the very first national cabin crew trainer with an international certification.
Serkan Ugur : Well, good luck and thanks for your time answering our questions.

http://www.apronmedya.com/skyart

Studio SkyArt was internet news in February 2015.

TAFF Pictures is getting ready to release their new comedy title 'Güvercin Uçuverdi - The Pigeon Has Taken Off  on March 27th, 2015, which will be the very first motion picture for Atalay Demirci, a Turkish talent show winner and now a stand-up comedian. The movie is about a city bus driver whose biggest ambition is to become an airline captain.

But where do you think the aircraft scenes were filmed? The answer is Studio SkyArt, Turkey's first and only purpose built airplane decor studio located at SkyArt HQ in Istanbul.
Emre Ozkul, the founder and the managing director of SkyArt has told us that they started 6 years ago with refurbishing old aircraft parts into home and office furniture. "Over the time, we have spotted a gap in the market and now we are a global company supplying aircraft cabin mock-up units to cabin crew training institutions, airlines and Hollywood movies." he added.
Mr. Ozkul also said that they work hard to deliver the highest quality at every project. They are building the cabins at a convenient price otherwise imported from abroad at a cost that can reach up to $ 5 Million US Dollars. SkyArt also helps to re-cycle the used aircraft parts into decorative home and office furniture.

http://kokpit.aero/guvercin-burada-uctu

SkyArt was was very popular at IFTE 2014, The Istanbul Flight Training Exhibition.

The aircraft cabin mock-up installation drew great attention at the exhibition. Visitors asked many questions and they had the opportunity to find out all about SkyArt's state of the art airline cabin crew training simulator.

The Airbus cabin mock-up was so realistic and at some point, a group of students from a leading civil aviation cabin crew training school have had a brief lesson from their tutor inside the cabin.

http://www.airporthaber.com/havacilik-haberleri/iftede-skyarta-yogun-ilgi.html

There is a private room for Mr Erdoğan, Turkish Prime, in each one of Ak Parti's election buses. The seat used in this room comes from a Turkish Airline's Airbus 340 aircraft First Class.

SkyArt is a company that brings scrapped aircraft parts back to life as home and office furniture in different forms and designs. The founder, Mr Emre Özkul comes from tourism background. One day he received a phone call from a VIP vehicle design company telling that they are refurbishing 8 coaches for a special passenger. They were interested in aircraft seats. Mr Özkul suggested the Airbus A340 First Class Seats.

Aircraft parts are re-cycled

The company was happy with the offer and they placed the order right away. First of all the seats have been converted into singles. Then they hev been re-upholstered into a different color for each bus. The electric systems have been converted. At the delivery day, Mr Özkul has found out that the 'special passenger' was the Turkish Prime minister.

The lightweight and corrosion resistant seats are built to last. Özkul explained to us that the material is very popular with automotive industry. He says 'our job is recycling. Aircraft cabin interiors become unserviceable after a while or sometimes the airline decides to refurbish the cabin. We buy this surplus aircraft material and we use them outside the aviation industry, turning them into aviation themed decorative items.'

The most popular items are the aircraft seats. They are being refurbished to your taste with new upholstery, new lighting and head-rest covers with logo. In that way the customer's preferences that make the price.

Besides the passenger seats, there are also pilot and cabin crew jump seats as well as a Martin Baker MK2 ejection seat. The range is not limited to seats only, at the corner I see a reading lamp made with hydraulic flap arm, an engine stator turned into a wall mirror. Many people choose to have objects made with old aircraft parts in their homes. - Tolga ÖZBEK

Seat Belt for Fun Fairs, lavatory for campers

* Lavatories are popular with camper caravan owners. They can be easily fitted to camper vans.

* Fun Fairs buy the seat belts. Pilot seat belts are used by off-road riders.

* Many boat owners prefer aircraft seats on their boats as the material is light-weight, durable and corrosion resistant.

* Turkey's fast ferries operator IDOuses SkyArt's own design aircraft trolleys on their feries.

* Movie prodcution companies rent the aircraft cabin mock-up for their projects. The seats can also be rent for events.

* Some customers fit aircraft cabin mock-up units in their homes for decoration. The units are equipped with genuine aircraft galleys and overhead bins.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/20052057.asp

Can you turn an aircraft door into a coffee table, an airplane wing into a dining table? Mr Emre Özkul turns old aircraft parts into home and office furniture.

Have you ever had your food sitting around an old aircraft door, ever thought decorating your home with aircraft seats. If you are an aviation fan and if your like out of ordinary design, what you are about to read is just for you. Emre Özkul, the founder of SkyArt refurbishes old aircraft parts to decorative household items and sells then online.

High demand for aircraft memorabilia

Mr Özkul says that the most popular aircraft parts are the seats and adds' in addition to the seats many people go for the pilots' clothes hanger cabinets. The are made with lightweight and fire proof composite material. Each aircraft has a distinct history, this makes every piece we sell unique'.

Economy or business?

'Many people buy aircraft parts as they like all about the aviation. It is difficult to fing something different these days and I think SkyArt fills this gap in the market. Some people want to decorate their whole house with aircraft parts, we use aircraft cabin interiors to achive that. We also use economy or business class seats as seating solutions. We refusrbish the seats to any color genuine leather. Many people us the seats in their VIP vans, boats, home theatres, These days we are working on converting an aircraft wing into a dining table.

6,000 Lira for a coffee table

The cost of decoration your home with aircraft parts depends on what piece of the aviation history you want. The seats start from 350 Lira and go all the way to 4,000 Lira. You will have to spend roughtly 6,000 Lira for a coffee table.

http://www.stargazete.com/pazar/ucak-mobilyalari-evinize-tasindi-haber-344592.htm

Mr Emre Özkul, founder and managing director of SkyArt, is creating various home and office furniture using the unserviceable aircraft parts such as, aircraft galleys, storage cabinets, wing flaps, old tyres, landing gear etc. One of the most interesting designs is the dining table made out of an old Boeing door.

Muzaffer Emre Özkul is a young entrepreneur running yacth operations on Turkey's south coast. He is also an aviation enthusiast. He buys old aircraft as scrap, takes them apart and refurbishes distinctive aircraft parts as home and office furniture. His designs are for sale in his shop and also online

“I started doing this purely by luck” he says, and continues "I was visiting my friends at Turkish Airlines Maintenance department and noticed the old aircraft seats piled up at a corner. When I asked what they were for, I found out they were struggling to store the old seats and they have no other use. I saw the opportunity in the business and bought all seats from Turkish Airlines. They were happy for clearing some space and I was happy to start a new adventure. I took a risk and now it started to pay back. Many people have our aircraft seats in their homes and offices."

Restaurants with aircraft seats

'We mainly sell aircraft seats. First Class Aircraft Seats are the most popular. Some restaurants have decorated their premises with aircraft seats. Their customers dine at the first class comfort. We stock Boeing 737, Airbus 340 and 310, RJ-100 and also DC-9 parts. The aircraft seats are built to last to an excellence. Some seats have 6 electric motors to assist the recline. There are also economy class seats and they come in 3 seat or 4 seat configuration. The first row seats have hidden service tables inside the armrests. Our work is a real contribution to the Turkish economy as we up-cyle old aircraft parts that would end up in landfill otherwise. Many people use aircraft seats at the comfort of their homes for a fraction of fırst class travel cost. Other than Turkish Airlines, we have long-term contracts with other airline companies and we buy parts from them too.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/pazar/17256417.asp?gid=59

You probably think of 'discount airline tickets' when you hear 'aircraft seats'.

Would you like to buy used aircraft seats for your home or office?

This wouldn't be possible until a year ago. But not anymore! Now you can buy used aircraft seats, thanks to Navigator Yachting & Air, a young company that runs yachting and air operations. Aviation fans, interior designers and pretty much anyone who is looking for unusual decoration ideas for homes and offices, can now use aircraft seats taken from various aircraft.

The aircraft seats that completed their flying life are being up-cycled by SkyArt. It is not only the seats that are being refurbished. Other aircraft parts, such as engine cowlings, wings, wing flaps, landing gears, tyres are also being used to design 'out of ordinary' home and office furniture. This project gets the support from not only aviation fans, but also from environmental campaigners. Navigator Yachting & Air is has also registered the brand SkyArt and sells its designs all around the world.

We met Mr Emre Özkul, a young entrepreneur, at the bi-annual Airex Air Show 2010. His display was very interesting to me as well as to the exhibition visitors. His business is refurbishing and selling used aircraft seats acquired from Turkish Airlines to aviation enthusiasts. My first question was if anyone was buying those. He answered "we have a very high demand". During my short visit he sold a few more seats. I asked Mr Özkul a few more questions.

Who are you? Can you tell us more about yourself?

My name is Muzaffer Emre Özkul, I work in yacht travel industry in Southern Turkey. I have a team in the south coast who deals with my yacht business. We have a serious charter operation down there.

What you do here looks very interesting. Can you tell us more about it?

As I said, my main business is yacht travel in the south coast. I have a company called Navigator Yachting & Air. Other than yachting, I always had an interest in aviation. Over the time this interest led us into a new venture. For example we started the aviation side of our business by renting private jets. I had very distinctive customer portfolio in my yachting business; ministers, celebrities, members of the parliament and especially Russian businessmen who were looking to rent private jets. This is how we started the aviation operations. At first we didn't even know who to contact for a private jet, but I can tell that we lead the market for the last 3 or 4 years. I started to visit aviation exhibitions. This is how we entered the aviation industry.

Very interesting, what happened next?

I noticed that there was need for such things in aviation.

Is this how you started selling old aircraft seats?

I had friends working at aircraft maintenance and during my visits to them, I found out that there are many old seats that the airline was struggling to store. I offered them to clear some space. This is how it all started. Today our seats are everywhere.

Who buys them, what do they do with these?

Well, anybody buys SkyArt products. Aviation enhousiast, interior designers, cabin crew training schools, restaurants, camper-van owners etc.

Navigator Yachting & Air is selling used seats taken from Turkish Airlines aircraft. Whether first class, business class or economy class, all seats are being refurbished to the customers' taste with new fabric or leather upholstery. The prices start from 299 Lira and can go up to 2,000 Lira. Mr. Emre Özkul who exhibits the seats in Airex Air Show sells the first class aircraft seats in double and the economy class seats in triple configuration.

http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=15919951

One of the most interesting sections in the exhibition was Navigator Yachting & Air's used aircraft seats stand. The company who has a long term contract with Turkish Airlines, repairs and refurbishes the seats before putting up for sale. The cost of having the comfort of an aircraft seat at home or work varies between $350 and $2,500.

http://pazarvatan.gazetevatan.com/yazardetay.asp?yaid=204&hid=16107