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.

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.

Contributed by AfBAA