MEBAA initiated 1st Planning and Operation Committee

MEBAA has initiated to set up a Planning and Operation Committee (POC) in the Middle East & North Africa. The first POC, UAE chapter took place on February 10 in the Address Hotel, Dubai. This is the first POC meeting in the General & Business Aviation industry to be set up by MEBAA and will be replicated in the neighboring countries of the Middle East & North Africa region.

The POC has been formed with the objective of creating a platform for members to discuss issues and challenges facing the current business aviation market and establish committees per each segment of the industry and provide detailed attention to various areas of operations. MEBAA members in UAE have shown interest, and key decision makers from Airbus Corporate jets (ACJ), Arab Wings, Boeing Business Jets, Bombardier Business Aircraft, Collins Aerospace, ExecuJet Middle East, Falcon Aviation Services, Gama Aviation Middle East, Gate Gourmet Catering Arabia, Honeywell Aerospace, Jet Support Services, Inc (JSSI), Jet Aviation (AG), Jeppesen, JETEX, Lufthansa Technik AG, Royal Jet, Tarsus F&E LLC Middle East & UAS International Trip Support attended, and highly valued this initiative. At appropriate stages, representatives from the authorities will be invited to take part of the POC.

During the meeting, several issues have been tackled by the member companies mainly access to statistics, regulations, foreign aircraft registered operation in UAE and security access. MEBAA Founding & Executive Chairman, Ali Alnaqbi emphasized the importance of working together as one body in order to be heard and considered by local authorities. He said, “we need to come together, unite our voice and act as one community to make positive change in which we can shape the future of our industry”. 

The POC meeting has resulted in creating six main committees which are: Aircraft Operation Certificate (AOC) committee, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) committee, Fixed Based Operators (FBO) committee, Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) committee, Services committee and MEBAA Show Advisory Board committee. Each member company related to specific functions will nominate a representative to participate in the stated committees.

MEBAA is confident that this initiative will succeed in bringing about systemized solutions for the issues that the industry is facing currently and thereby improving the overall operational environment in the country.