AfBAA inaugurated at EBACE

At a press conference,  Tarek Ragheb, chairman of AfBAA said: “We are
very proud to announce that Africa’s Business Aviation community will have a
unified voice to relay its importance to the continent’s strive for growth and
prosperity.”

He stated that the organisation’s
vision is “to establish Business Aviation as an asset that is recognized,
valued and supported by governments, their respective civil aviation
authorities, and enterprises throughout Africa.”

Africa, an emerging
continent in the business aviation sector, is not served by a Pan-African organisation
but through two regional associations. Jack Olcott, the former President of the
National Business Aviation Association for 11 years, is serving as AfBAA’s top
advisor.

Olcott noted, “Africa,
currently has two organizations that address business aviation-the Middle East
Business Aviation Association with interests in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and the Business Aviation Association of
Southern Africa (BAASA).”

“That leaves the rest
of the continent unrepresented. Everyone has a common objective: to increase
acceptance of business aviation as a necessary and beneficial form of
transportation,” he continued. “We don’t see the African Business Aviation
Association as competition with other groups, but rather as collaboration.”

Rady Fahmy, an Egyptian
and AfBAA’s programme director said: “We initially offered 10 Founding Members the
opportunity to join our Association but due to increased demand, we have raised
that number to 15.”

He continued, “Our roster
of founding members managed to balance operators from the continent with leading
suppliers and OEM’s.”

Fahmy concluded that:
“It is truly a pleasure to be working with such a driven and goal-oriented group.”

AfBAA currently has
fourteen founding members.