At the African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) annual conference in Cape Town last month (November 17-18), the association’s leaders stressed the need to engage local regulators country-by-country to support the growth of business aviation, which they believe has huge potential on the continent. They also called for more companies to become involved with AfBAA to help enable growth and partnerships.

Tarek Ragheb, AfBAA founding chairman, reflected on the growth of the association in its first six years, and said it “cannot be NBAA, as we have a unique environment with unique challenges”—not least of which is having 54 countries. A single regulatory environment remains but a dream in Africa so he suggested the way forward is “innovation.”

A first step came earlier this year with the first “Country Round Table” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he said, where the local industry was able to help regulators understand the nature of business aviation, as distinct from the airline sector. In addition, it saw the launch of the Ethiopian Chapter of AfBAA.

The association’s CEO, Rady Fahmy, announced that its next regional symposium will take place next year in Nigeria, and will have West African business aviation as its theme. He also said the next two roundtables will be held in Kenya and Nigeria, and that at the EBACE show in Geneva next May, AfBAA’s new Access Africa concept would be promoted. It is designed to encourage and assist companies to engage with the African business aviation sector.

Several panel discussions took place over the two days. The first involved Nuno Pereira, AfBAA vice chairman and founder/CEO if BestFly Angola, Segun Demuren, who established the first FBO in Lagos, Nigeria, and Gavin Kiggen of ExecuJet. They reflected on the critical importance of having a local partner to start up in a new country, but noted how difficult this could be to find one. Kiggen said Execujet had struggled to find a suitable partner in Mozambique and Congo (Kinshasa), but said “We are going into Dakar [Senegal] as we have our first aircraft owner there—that’ll be our way in there.”

Demuren said having to deal with so many regulators in Africa was “a big problem, with 53 CAAs. Most African countries have had either wars or coup d’etats, so security is a very high priority of governments, meaning enterprise comes second.” He added, “Everything we’ve done is in spite of government red tape.”

The panel commented that regulators perceive business aviation as for the rich and for heads of state, so there is a need through AfBAA to “create awareness.” An OEM panel heard how Africa is no longer the “dumping ground for old aircraft.”

The other great hope alongside improving the African regulatory environment to make business easier is innovation, said Ragheb, especially drawing on new technology and business models. “In Africa we don’t have open skies or much infrastructure, so we should embrace technology to leapfrog,” referring in particular to new business models such as that used by JetSmarter—which has not turned to Africa yet but did give delegates an update on its rapid growth and ambitions elsewhere during the conference.

Atedo Peterside, successful entrepreneur and founder of ANAP Jets, explained how his company has successfully adopted the fractional ownership model using Embraer Phenom 300s based in Nigeria. However, he acknowledged that it will take time to change the perception of business jet usage, even though it is a smart way to fly.

The conference closed with a forum on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), including a presentation about ZipLine, which is using RPAS to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda.

AfBAA announced in Cape Town that it will hold its annual conference in the South African city every year from now on. The association has yet to come to an agreement over the North Africa region which both it and MEBAA claim to represent.