The African Business Aviation Association,
AfBAA, has further strengthened its commitment to educating the African business
aviation sector by signing two significant Memos of Understanding (MoU), with
leading international aviation training organisations.
Nick Fadugba, Vice-Chair of AfBAA’s Safety and
Training Committee signed the first with Mrs. Margareth Josephath Kyarwenda,
Secretary General, Association of African Aviation Training Organizations, AATO.
Whilst the second was signed by Sascha Neusser, Chair of AfBAA’s Safety and
Training Committee alongside Mrs Paula V. de Almeida, Director of the Joint
Aviation Authorities Training Organisation, JAA TO.
The AATO agreement was signed during the 5th
Annual African Aviation Training Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, with
the JAA TO agreement being signed at the ICAO Global Aviation Training and
Trainair Plus Symposium held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April. These
agreements have been established to enable AfBAA to identify, design and develop
training offerings that can be delivered through credible training organisations
at international and continental levels.
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(L to R): Sasha Neusser, Chair of AfBAA
Safety &Training Committee, AfBAA members Michael Grueninger, MD, GCS,
Dawit Lemma, MD, Krimson Plc and Paula V. de Almeida, Director, JAA
TO. |
JAA TO and AATO are well known, active
entities in Africa, and it is anticipated the MoUs will support AfBAA’s ongoing
aim of developing the understanding by African operators, regulators and
governments about the value of business aviation. AfBAA plans to initiate a
signature Business Aviation 101 course, that will create awareness about the
specific requirements of the business aviation sector in Africa, and how it
differs from the commercial market. By communicating through education AfBAA
intends to better reach those working within the African aviation sector, and
explain to them the benefits of business aviation to nations, and the continent.
The Association of African Aviation Training
Organisations works to harmonise aviation training and create continent-wide
standards across Africa and under the terms of the MoU AATO will collaborate
with AfBAA to create standardised, continent-wide recognised AfBAA training
programmes. Delivery of the courses by JAA TO will also reinforce the value
proposition and strengthen the credibility of the AfBAA programmes. JAA TO
already delivers an extensive portfolio of regulatory training, and will now
work with AfBAA to develop specific programmes which will bridge the existing
knowledge gap on the continent.
“Training is one of our central concerns at
AfBAA. The continent’s business aviation sector is often held back owing to a
lack of understanding of its benefits, sometimes from within aviation itself.
With these new relationships in place we are better positioned to improve access
to standardised information, provide credible courses continent wide, and
encourage African professionals to be trained in, and then subsequently work in,
African business aviation,” explained
Rady Fahmy, CEO of AfBAA about the
importance of the new agreements.
AfBAA also intends to use revenues generated
from the training programmes to establish a training fund which will be used to
further support AfBAA member training. In addition, the training fund will
support training workshops held during AfBAA events. Further training
discussions are currently taking place with a number of African commercial
airlines and local national bodies, as AfBAA continues its commitment to
educating the continent about the value of business aviation. “We are in
advanced discussions with key players in African Aviation and hope to announce
further partnerships during the summer,” concludes Fahmy.
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