Prior to yesterday’s sixth board meeting of MEBAA, the association’s chairman Ali Al Naqbi told MEBA Convention News that the biggest bottleneck at present is the lack of manpower at the association. “We are recruiting three more staff this year to help us achieve our objectives. We need to establish an executive committee, a regulatory committee to talk to governments, an operator committee to talk to operators and an engineering committee,” he explained.

“We are going to get the ball rolling now,” he added, while admitting that the association is aiming to move toward the model established by the U.S. National Business Aviation Association. Al Naqbi also said MEBAA is looking into other ways of fund raising aside from increased membership. “We want to be more active in raising funds from other sources; for example, more seminars, and by approaching governments–we hope governments will see that there is an indirect benefit,” he said.
Board member Saad Wallan of Cessna distributor Wallan Aviation, said he believes MEBAA needs to ensure its focus is on the wider GCC region rather than being too UAE-centric. Al Naqbi told MEBA Convention News that holding the show in other locations has not been ruled out, although Dubai is an “ideal location.”