Ethiopian Government's Minister for Transport to be keynote speaker at AfBAA

With just over a week to go until this year's African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) symposium, to be held on the 24th and 25th September, the organisers have announced that the Minister of Transport for Ethiopia, Workneh Gebeyehu will be attending as a keynote speaker.

Gebeyehu is expected to talk about the emergence of Ethiopia as a leader in aviation in general. The national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, was ranked in 2014 by IATA as the largest airline in Africa in terms of revenue and profit. He will also talk about the potential in Ethiopia for Business and General Aviation, and how changes in infrastructure could support this growth. As legislation is adapted and changed he will reflect on the country’s ambition to become a major hub for Business Aviation in Africa, so reflecting the success of its national carrier, which serves 49 African destinations through connections at Addis Ababa. 

“This year’s agenda brings an array of new speakers and debut topics to the event making it the most exciting yet. We are honoured to host the Minister of Transport from our host nation and it exemplifies Africa’s commitment to improving its aviation structure,” commented Tarek Ragheb, founding chairman of AfBAA. With topics including Medevac operations, the use of Unmanned Aerial vehicles within Business Aviation, the affect of changing oil prices, and a tracking technologies panel, joining the more familiar subjects of operational challenges, improving safety and training, the symposium is anticipated to appeal to wide range of delegates from across the continent. 

Over the two days of the event delegates will also attend networking opportunities at coffee breaks, lunches and during a gala dinner. Sponsors for this year’s event include Training company CAE as a silver sponsor whilst aviation charter, maintenance and medevac company FAI, security company Trident, maintenance programme provider JSSI, and flight support services Universal Weather and Aviation Inc., are all supporting as sponsors of the event. Ethiopian Airlines also features as a key sponsor. 

“We thank our sponsors for making this event possible and believe that we have outlined the most interesting event yet from AfBAA,” added Rady Fahmy, executive director of AfBAA.