African Airlines Association

The African Airlines Association (French: Association Aérienne Africaine), also known as the Association of African Airline Companies (French: Association des Compagnies Aériennes Africaines) and by its abbreviation AFRAA, is a trade association of airlines which hail from the nations of the African Union. Founded in Accra, Ghana in 1968, and today headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the primary purpose of AFRAA is to establish and facilitate co-operation between African airlines.

The formation of the African Airlines Association was the result of historic developments and economic imperatives.In the early 1960s, a great number of African States acceded to independence and created their own national airlines. Most of these airlines became members of the International Air Transport Association.

AFRAA has its conceptual beginning in 1963, when a number of African airlines, taking the opportunity provided by the IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) began holding consultation meetings prior to the IATA AGMs to discuss matters of interest to African airlines and to adopt common positions. This was the first step towards the creation of AFRAA.From that first step in Rome in 1963, the establishment in 1968 in Accra, of a regional organisation for the articulation of regional views and promotion of co-operation was undertaken by 14 founding members.

AFRAA's current management include Dr. Elijah Chingosho (Secretary General), Dr. Koussai Mrabet (Director, Commercial, Corporate and Industry Affairs) and Mrs. Juliet Indetie (Deputy Head, Corporate Finance and Administration)

The General Assembly

The highest policy making body of the Association is the Annual General Assembly composed of Chief Executives of member airlines. The Annual General Assembly is presided over by the President of the Association. Mrs. Siza Mzimela, Chief Executive Officer of South African Airways, is the President of the Association for 2012. In this capacity, Mrs. Mzimela and South African Airways will host the 44th AGA in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2012.

The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee, composed of 9 members elected on a sub-regional basis among Chief Executives and ex officio members with voting rights who are members of the IATA Board of Governors, exercises executive authority. The current Chairman of the Executive Committee is Captain Hossam Kamal, Chairman & Group CEO of EgyptAir. Its function is to ensure supervision of the affairs, funds and property of the Association and formulation and determination of policies within the framework of Articles of Association, By-Laws and Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly.

The Secretariat

The Secretariat serves as the administrative, co-ordination and research centre for the Association. It is headed by a Secretary General who is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the Association.

Objectives
- To facilitate the establishment of industry best practices in safety and security
- To be the repository of data and its analysis focusing on key issues in the aviation sector.
- To provide a platform for consensus building among member carriers.
- To facilitate joint projects between member airlines aimed at reducing their costs and increasing their revenues.
- To actively contribute in human capital development.
- To interact with the regulatory bodies to support and protect the common interests of all African airlines.
- To provide forums for members and industry partners to enhance their knowledge base and enhance mutual cooperation.
- To facilitate the development of environmental policies in keeping with industry best practices
- To reflect the positive image of the African airlines worldwide.
- In over 4 decades, AFRAA has been instrumental in developing and articulating air transport policies in Africa. Towards this end, it has been in the fore-front of major initiatives in the air transport field in Africa in sensitizing African airlines to take concrete actions for cooperation in Operational, Legal Commercial, Technical, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Training fields.

It has also been instrumental in sensitizing African Governments, the African Civil Aviation Commission and other regional and sub-regional organizations on actions to be taken for the development of an efficient air transport system. AFRAA has been a catalyst for all major aviation policy decisions in the continent.

In fulfilling its role as an effective trade Association, AFRAA ensures that its member airlines are kept abreast on the latest developments and trends in the industry. Currently, the following areas are drawing a lot of interest:

- Safety, security, technical and operational issues
- Airline finance, economics and cost reduction
- Skills/Management Training and Human Resource Development
- Environmental issues
- IT, E-Commerce and StB
- Market Intelligence and statistics
- Liberalization, privatization, cooperation and alliances
- Regulatory and aero-political developments

Steering Committees & Task Forces
AFRAA provides a forum through which member airlines meet to develop and consolidate common approach to key issues in the aviation industry.

To accomplish the objectives stated earlier, the Association has the following Steering Committees:

- Joint Fuel Steering Committee
- Training Steering Committee

The Task Forces through which the Association seeks projects of economic value to members are as follows:

- Route Network Coordination Task Force
- Airline Taxes and Charges Task Force
- Environmental Task Force
- IOSA Audit Task Force
- MRO Task Force

AFRAA Partners
Besides Membership contributions to the Association, AFRAA has Partners who also support the activities of the Association through financial contributions and sponsorship of specific projects and programmes. Currently there are a number of companies including aircraft and engine manufacturers and other airlines service providers registered under the Partnership programme. The aim of the Partnership programme is to pool together the much needed additional support from industry-related organizations whilst enabling the Partners to benefit from a relationship with an efficient, knowledgeable and influential air transport trade association in Africa.

The AFRAA Partnership programme is open to all industry related organisations that are interested in participating in the development of air transport in Africa. The programme aims to pool together resources and support from industry service providers while enabling partners to benefit from a relationship with a continental air transport trade organisation. Interested companies may apply for either Full Partnership of Associate Partnership of AFRAA.

- ACS
- Aero Industrial Sales
- Air Transportation Support Group
- Airbus
- Amadaeus
- American General Supplies
- ARINC EMEA
- Atlantic FuelEx
- ATPCO
- AWAS
- Boeing
- Bombardier
- CFM
- Embraer
- FLYHT
- GE Aviation
- HADID International Services
- Hahn Air
- Ilyushin Finance
- Linkham Services
- Lufthansa Consulting
- Lufthansa Systems
- Marsh Limited
- mercator
- Mitsubishi Aircraft
- MTU Maintenance
- Nahco Aiance
- OAG Aviation
- Pratt & Whitney
- Rockwell Collins
- Rolls Royce
- Sabre Airline Solutions
- Seabury
- Servair
- SITA
- TAV Tunisie
- Travelport
- UAS International Trip Support
- Wirecard