Strategic management in aviation sector: research on flight training organizations in Turkey

Abstract

The primary objective of our research was to establish a general framework for the strategic plans of the flight training organizations that have been training the pilots for Turkey's rapidly growing aviation sector and to present a perspective on how Turkey has shaped its strategic plans in line with the objectives. In this way, it was intended to provide a perspective for FTO managers and to develop solution suggestions. Within this scope, our research model was based on two independent variables that are supposed to affect the strategic planning for flight training organizations: external factors and internal factors. We have completed our research with 81 executives working in flight training organizations. Regarding the internal factors, findings indicated that strategic planning is affected by know-how, management, human resource, physical assets and profit and cash flow. The SWOT analysis based on the responses from the FTOs shows that FTOs generally focus on issues related to the internal factors rather than the external factors. They are more interested in weaknesses and strengths rather than opportunities and threats. The findings revealed that external factors especially the political, economic and marketing dimensions are significantly useful in the strategic planning of flight training organizations.