The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) was established in April, 1968 in Accra , Ghana as a Trade Organisation open to membership of airlines of African States. There are currently forty members from African Union member States.
The formation of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) was the result of historic developments and economic imperatives.
In the early 1960s, a great number of African States acceded to independence and created their own national airlines. Most of these airlines became members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
AFRAA has its conceptual beginning in 1963, when a number of African airlines, taking the opportunity provided by the IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) began holding consultation meetings prior to the IATA AGMs to discuss matters of interest to African airlines and to adopt common positions. This was the first step towards the creation of AFRAA.
From that first step in Rome in 1963, the establishment in 1968 in Accra, of a regional organisation for the articulation of regional views and promotion of co-operation was undertaken by 14 founding members.
The first Annual General Assembly was held in Cairo , Egypt in February, 1969 which approved the Articles of Association among other decisions taken.
A flashback on the activities of the Association over the last three decades shows that AFRAA can modestly claim that:
- It has been in the forefront of major initiatives in the air transport field in Africa in sensitizing African airlines to take concrete actions for co-operation in operational, commercial, technical, and training fields.
- It has been instrumental in sensitizing African Governments through the African Civil Aviation Commission and other regional and sub-regional organisations on the actions to be taken for the development of an efficient air transport system. It has been a catalyst for all the major policy decisions in the Continent.