Egypt Hosts ICAO AFI Summit: MENA Professionals at Africa Aviation Week

The 11th ICAO AFI Aviation Week is convening in Cairo, Egypt, from 27-31 July 2026, at the Kempinski Palace Hotel. The summit highlights how Middle Eastern regulatory and technical expertise is deeply intertwined with African aviation progress.

How Arab aviation experts are driving the agenda

H.E. Dr Sameh El-Hefny: Egypt-Qatar route shortening model

Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation will officially open the symposium and host the Gala Dinner on 27 July and  Dinner on the Nile on 29 July. He is showcasing cross-border operational efficiencies, such as Egypt and Qatar’s successful route-shortening project, as a sustainability model for African airspace.

Mr Kamil Al-Awadhi: IATA VP tackles blocked funds 

IATA’s Regional VP for Africa and the Middle East takes the stage on 28 July. He is addressing the issue of blocked airline funds and advocating for the financial liquidity of Airlines. 

According to the current IATA  top 10 countries with blocked funds list, all 10 are in Africa and the Middle East, with 3 of them being Arab countries – Algeria, Lebanon and Libya. Number one on the list is Algeria, with an estimated $258m in blocked funds.

Mr Mohamed Khalifa Rahma: ICAO on regulatory alignment

ICAO’s Air Transport Bureau Director will anchor dialogues on 28 July. His mission is to align regional regulatory frameworks with global directives as the Global South prepares a unified voice for the forthcoming ICAO Worldwide Air Transport Conference  (ATConf/7) in Montréal in November 2026.

Dr Alaa Alturki: SANS outlines jamming defences

Engineering Services Executive Director at SANS will present crucial defensive strategies on 28 July. He is sharing Saudi Arabia’s deployment of automated ground-based sensors to reduce the risk of GNSS jamming and spoofing across Afro-Arab airspace.

Raising African safety scores by 2033

The aviation week also includes parallel donor talks aimed at rescuing the remaining African states currently operating below the global average safety implementation rate. The objective is to help these nations reach an 75% Effective Implementation (EI) score by 2033.

Our MENA representatives are shaping the collaborative future of global aviation.

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