Panellist

Former Deputy Director General, Turkish DGCA · Former President, EUROCONTROL Council

Haydar Yalçın holds an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Middle East Technical University (1988). He began his career as an Aeronautical Engineer at the Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 1989 and went on to serve as Deputy Director General from December 2004 until his retirement from the DGCA in September 2021 — a career spanning more than 32 years.

Over that time he held numerous senior international positions, including as former:

• National Continuous Monitoring Coordinator (NCMC) to ICAO
• Member of the ICAO Safety Management Panel (SMP)
• Vice- and Acting Chairman of the European/North Atlantic Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG)
• Member of the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) Working Group
• Member of the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Oversight System (GASOS) Working Group
• Vice-President of the EUROCONTROL Provisional Council for three years
• President of the EUROCONTROL Council for four years (two terms), following unanimous election
• Member of the Board of Governors of the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF)

Following his retirement, he served as Senior Advisor to the Director General and Senior Expert at EUROCONTROL from September 2021 to May 2024, and has since worked with a range of companies as a freelance consultant. He is currently Vice President, Middle East, of the International Federation of Airworthiness (IFA).