The African Business Aviation Association has made two new appointments aimed at driving growth and providing increased support to AfBAA members. The new appointees are Dawit Lemma as AfBAA vice president, international, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Samantha (Sam) Keddle as AfBAA manager, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dawit Lemma is the founder and CEO of Krimson Aviation, an aviation services company based in Ethiopia and Malta. He has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Flight Technical from Purdue University, USA, and an MSc in Aviation Management and Marketing from Basel Business College, Switzerland. He has close to 20 years of experience in the aviation sector across four continents.

Dawit serves on the AfBAA board of directors and is the first African representative to sit on the International Business Aviation Council's IS-BAH standards board. He also represents Krimson in the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) Ambassadors Programme and actively engages with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) in the USA.

Nick Fadugba, chairperson of AfBAA and CEO, African Aviation Services, says: “Dawit has been an ardent supporter of AfBAA, and we are delighted that he has officially taken on the important position of vice president, international. His key focus will be to promote AfBAA within Africa and internationally, strengthen ties with government regulators and industry stakeholders, and help the association to achieve its numerous goals.”

Sam Keddle joins AfBAA from the Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa (CAASA) where she has served as office manager since April, 2016. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to AfBAA particularly in managing association affairs, addressing the needs of members and arranging conferences, exhibitions and meetings.

“We are delighted that Sam has joined the association in the critical position of full-time AfBAA manager. Her key objectives will be to enhance AfBAA's administration, interface with AfBAA's leadership team, members, industry stakeholders, supporters and sponsors, and to help to manage AfBAA's international publicity and events,” says Nick Fadugba.

The appointments of Lemma and Keddle take effect from 1st October, 2022. The vice chairperson of AfBAA is JP Fourie, executive director, Aircraft Division, NAC, South Africa.

Since its formation in 2012, AfBAA has become the pan-African voice for business and general aviation on the continent and has championed the adoption of unified safety standards across Africa in partnership with African civil aviation authorities. AfBAA has also established a close relationship with the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), an affiliate of the International Civil Aviation Council (ICAO) based in Montreal, Canada.

AfBAA and IBAC have worked closely to provide African operators and regulatory authorities with a greater understanding of IBAC's International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) and International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) programmes which are recognised as the gold standards in international business aviation safety.