Team size: Five

Can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently (cases, transactions, projects)?

Celebi Aviation, headquartered in Istanbul, has been one of the most global and well-known integrated service providers in civil aviation industry since 1958. Having provided a wide range of services including premium airport lounge management in four continents, our legal team also leads cases and projects related to all legal aspects of our business in different jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, and Africa. One of our most recent and most exciting projects has been establishing our operation in Tanzania. We were recently selected by the beautiful Julius Nyerere International Airport in the wonderful city of Dar es Salaam, to provide ground handling and cargo services. With the great support from the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority, we started to serve in Tanzania on March 1, 2021, as planned, without any project delays. Our experience and skills in managing previous global projects allowed us to successfully navigate all legal aspects of this project within the Tanzanian corporate, commercial, labour, and administrative law.

Which recent political, economic, or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

Çelebi Havacılık Holding, as an integrated, holistic, and global service provider, helped to save countless of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. We handled shipments of the Covid-19 vaccines and other critical medical supplies to ensure them to be delivered safely. Our legal team examined all local and international compliance and legal requirements to ensure the flawless operation of the shipments. In addition, our company prioritised the health and safety of every single individual including our employees as well as customers. We provided ventilators to India from Türkiye as part of our response to the global crisis when they were particularly hard hit by the second wave of the pandemic. The can-do attitude has also been key to our success. Our legal team liaised with different functions in the company. By working closely with leaderships in different departments, we managed to respond rapidly to any emerging regulatory, legal, and business challenge posed by the pandemic.

Even in the best-case scenario, COVID is likely to have far-reaching ramifications. How are you safeguarding the long-term health of the business?

Our global team consists of the most skilled, trained, and diverse professionals in our industry. For instance, our internal training centre, Celebi Aviation Academy, is globally well known for its excellent programs and equipment in our industry. In addition, when the pandemic hit the passenger traffic, we managed to mobilise rapidly and pivot our teams to address the emerging needs in global cargo handling.