African Airlines Association  The African Airlines Association (French: "Association Aérienne Africaine"), also known as the Association of African Airline Companies (French: "Association des Compagnies Aériennes Africaines") and by its abbreviation AFRAA, is a trade association of airlines which hail from Africa. Founded in Accra, Ghana in 1968, and today headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the primary purpose of AFRAA is to establish and facilitate co-operation between African airlines. The formation of the African Airlines Association 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. 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. AFRAA's current management includes Abdrahmane Berthe, the Secretary General, Koussai Mrabet, the Director of Commercial, Corporate and Industry Affairs, and Juliet Indetie, the Deputy Head of Corporate Finance and Administration. The general assembly  The highest policy-making body of the association is the annual general assembly, composed of chief executives of member airlines. The annual general assembly is presided over by the president of the association. Siza Mzimela, chief executive officer of South African Airways, is the president of the association for 2012. In this capacity, Mrs. Mzimela and South African Airways will host the 44th AGA in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2012. The executive committee  The executive committee, composed of 9 members elected on a sub-regional basis among chief executives and "ex officio" members with voting rights who are members of the IATA board of governors, exercises executive authority. The current chairman of the executive committee is Captain Hossam Kamal, chairman and group CEO of EgyptAir. Its function is to ensure supervision of the affairs, funds and property of the association and formulation and determination of policies within the framework of articles of association, by-laws and resolutions adopted by the General Assembly.