AOOA Newsletter Q2 2022
Dear Members, would-be Members, Supporters and Partners
AOOA AGM 2022
Despite a relatively low turnout due largely to the industry galvanising into action in anticipation of a “post-Covid19 boom”, the AOOA held a successful AGM by ZOOM on Wednesday 20th April, 2022 as planned.
Key outputs of the AGM are as follows (note that the formal draft AGM Minutes will be available to members once they are written up and agreed by ExCo for the next AGM).
A dynamic new Executive Committee was elected all the stronger with a number of key long-term members remaining in office.In terms of Post-Holders, a new President Capt Josias Walubita was elected, supported by Richard Jeffery as Vice-President, Gareth Bentley as Secretary and Lindsay Campbell as Treasurer.
The full Executive Committee Membership is thus made up of:
Post-Holders:
Josias Walubita - President
Richard Jeffery - Vice-President
Gareth Bentley - Secretary
Lindsay Campbell - Treasurer
ExCo Members:
Rob Stacey (Aviation Industry oversight, Events & Fund-Raising)
Andrew Woodley (Private Aviation oversight, Events & Fund-Raising)
Veronica Nkunde (Youth & Gender Development)
Edmund Farmer (Airports & Aerodromes)
Krestah Hanongo (Zambian New Pilots)
Peter Ndhlovu (Training & Medicals)
Additional co-opted members may be appointed on an as-needed basis according to particular areas of interest or skills required to promote the AOOA and Zambian aviation in general.
Outgoing AOOA President Richard Jeffery’s AGM report is posted on our website, and we thank him for his service and acknowledge his strong commitment to developing the Association and putting it back on the map over the past 3 years.
Congratulations to the new ExCo on its appointment, and we look forward to strong membership support as it goes forward with a host of issues to deal with in the year to come. Lutangu Wasilota will continue to serve as an Administrative official with the Association, and we thank him for his hard work over the past year.
AOOA Agenda for 2022/23
We have already set an ambitious agenda for the AOOA to pursue for the remainder of the year and into 2023, and some of these initiatives may be accessed on our website and related platforms.
Our new ExCo will therefore pick up and build on these, particularly with our principle partners including the Zambia Civil Aviation Authority and Zambia Airports Corporation Ltd., with both of whom we have enjoyed excellent relationships and achieved a number of successful resolutions.
We are already planning on arranging a series of “working breakfasts” (or the like) with Senior Executives of these institutions, as well as strengthening connections with their host Ministry and its GRZ and Political leaderships.
We are especially interested in setting up policy clarification working groups with both CAA and ZACL to tackle issues that we believe are critical to the smooth functioning and development of aviation in Zambia, but which may be neglected or even suppressed due to insufficient clarity of policy or misrepresentation.
Tourism Council of Zambia Membership
We have recently begun discussing further ways of strengthening the effectiveness of AOOA. We note that aviation is the driver of business, commerce and industry in all its forms (including tourism) in Zambia, and including its interface with GRZ transport and communications policies, and as such must be recognised as a nationally strategic industry of international significance.
Simultaneously, there is a considerable effort in conversations with GRZ to reconstruct and reaffirm the Tourism Council of Zambia (TCZ) as the voice of the Private Sector Tourism Industry under one umbrella.
While the Aviation Industry in its diverse forms falls under the Ministry of Transport which looks to the AOOA and BAR (Board of Airline Representatives) to represent the Private Sector Aviation Industry in Zambia, we are also closely associated and work with the Tourism Industry at a number of levels.
We believe therefore that AOOA's membership of TCZ would be in our best interest in terms of strengthening our related platforms promoting both tourism and aviation in the nation, joining BAR which is already a member of the TCZ.
We note that we have already, in collaboration with TCZ, submitted an appeal to the Ministry of Finance to reconsider the application of WHT on offshore premium payments for aircraft insurance in Zambia (our submission is available for members to see upon request).
The AOOA is your Aviation Platform in Zambia!
We have made a good start for 2022, and there is no doubt that aviation and Zambia’s overall economic activity is stirring into action. But we are nearly half way through the year already, so please continue to support us as we look forward to welcoming more and more of you as renewing or new members, joining us in promoting a bright future for Zambia’s aviation sector and the nation as a whole.
Blue Skies
Josias Walubita
AOOA President
On behalf of the AOOA Executive Committee and Members