The Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) held its first general meeting since its resurrection at last summer’s regional forum in Hong Kong in preparation for this month’s Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE). The general meeting took place in conjunction with the Zhuhai Air Show in Zhuhai City, China.
“Since last July in Hong Kong we informally gathered and discussed the future of AsBAA,” Jason Liao, the association’s chairman, told AIN. Liao, who is based in Beijing, is Raytheon’s regional sales director for North Asia. “At that time those of us who had been associated with AsBAA agreed we wanted to revitalize the organization.”
Liao said that during the Zhuhai Air Show meeting the association elected a new board of directors and developed three new subcommittees, for membership, public affairs and ABACE.
The following people were nominated to the board and accepted by unanimous vote: Cui Wei (Honeywell International); Shaun Huang (Ibis Aerospace); Toshio Iwata (ABI); Yeet Jones (Sharejet); Helena Lang (Hawker Pacific); Thomas Hung (Topcast Aviation Supplies); and Madonna Fung (Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre).
Wei and Iwata were appointed cochairs of the membership committee; Jones will chair the public relations committee; and John Marino (FlightSafety) will chair the ABACE committee to coordinate regional activities with NBAA.
In addition to Liao, the association’s new officers are vice chairman and secretary Chuck Woods of Jet Asia in Macao and treasurer Fung.
Liao said the organization is in the process of expanding its membership and is developing a Web site, an organization logo, brochures and other promotional material. “We have a booth at ABACE and will have a reception open to conference attendees,” he said.
Expanding AsBAA Membership
AsBAA’s Articles of Association define member categories as corporate, business, service and associate. However, according to Liao, for the purposes of getting AsBAA back on track and achieving early results, the association has streamlined membership categories into corporate and individual memberships. Liao said the purpose of the consolidation of categories is to simplify discussions for new members and membership dues. Individual members are defined as people interested in joining the association who are not sponsored by a company.
“Now that we have more than 20 members, we are discussing priorities for the next year or so. We’re developing a plan to promote business aviation throughout Asia,” Liao said.
“One idea is to develop a recommended standard for handling business aircraft. For instance, we have no FBOs in China, so each airport handles business aircraft differently. We would like to develop standardized procedures and promote them throughout Asia.” Liao also said the association is considering an annual award for the airport that displays the greatest professionalism in dealing with business aviation.
John Li, the association’s immediate past treasurer, presented a treasurer’s report. The association is a legal Hong Kong company with approximately $7,700 in its bank account. Li also outlined a brief annual budget, including legal, secretarial, audit and annual general meeting expenses and said the association couldn’t establish a budget until the members agreed on the uses for membership dues.
Membership dues were set at $500 for corporate members and $100 for individual members until the subject could be reviewed at the next annual general meeting to be held in conjunction with ABACE in Shanghai this month. It was also agreed that the board should develop a budget and submit it to the membership.
