ECAir, the national airline of the Republic of the Congo, headed by Ms. Fatima Beyina-Moussa, who is also President of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), is attending the 71st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is combined with the World Air Transport Summit, from June 7-9 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida, United States.

IATA’s AGM gave airline executives a chance to exchange information and a respected platform to share their vision for aviation around the world. A large number of CEOs of African airlines, such as Driss Benhima, CEO of Royal Air Maroc; Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines; Captain Sameh El-Hefny, CEO of EgyptAir; Ben Dahwa, CEO of Air Botswana; and Fatima Beyina-Moussa, Managing Director of ECAir and also the current 2014/15 President of AFRAA were present at the IATA AGM.

Several of the CEOs and representatives of African airline companies were able to speak with Tony Tyler, Director General of IATA, in the presence of Dr. Elijah Chingosho, Secretary General of AFRAA. IATA’s Tony Tyler once again called on African airlines and their respective governments to unite in order to develop the air transport sector on the continent.

Ms. Fatima Beyina-Moussa reiterated at the meeting that ECAir plans to play its part in implementing a real strategy of cooperation between African airlines when she said: “Last week we launched our third intercontinental route between Brazzaville and Beirut, in partnership with Trans Air Congo (TAC). We are now finalizing codeshare agreements with South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines. I am confident that African airlines will be able to develop their connectivity on the continent and reconquer the air transport market. But in order to get there, we need to cooperate. The era of national airlines acting alone in their own territory is clearly behind us, and the sector is facing tougher competition than ever.”

It is this level of continental cooperation which will be at the core of the 47th Annual General Assembly of AFRAA, which will be hosted by ECAir. The event, under the patronage of His Excellency Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo, will take place from November 8-10, 2015 in Brazzaville.