Mr. Kilavuka is the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Airways Plc. He’s also a Non-Executive Board Member of two Kenya Airways subsidiaries, the regional operator Jambojet and the Tanzanian operator Precision Air.
Allan took over this role right at the beginning of a very difficult time for Kenya Airways and the aviation industry in general. He has managed to navigate the airline through turbulent times and kept the planes flying through a string of measures and initiatives.

He is the former Managing Director of Jambojet Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Kenya Airways Plc. With over 23 years’ experience in leadership and management, and extensive knowledge and experience in the Africa business environment, Allan has proven success in new organization set ups, change management, financial planning, integrations, process improvement and company compliance and responsible strategic leadership. He was also integral to the turnaround of two GE Africa businesses: GE Power Services Africa and GE Industrial Solutions, both based in South Africa

Allan started his career at Deloitte East Africa in Nairobi, where he specialized in Audit, Accounting, Outsourcing and Custodianship. He later joined GE as the Africa share service leader and held various senior leadership roles in GE businesses and in GE Corporate both in Kenya and South Africa.

Allan has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Nairobi and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychology from the University of Liverpool. He has trained at GE’s world class Crotonville Leadership Institute in New York, USA in Executive Leadership, Advanced Management and Financial Planning. He is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).

Thabani joined CANSO as Director for Africa Affairs in January 2022. CANSO is the Global voice for air traffic management (ATM) and is shaping the future skies.

Prior to joining CANSO Thabani worked as Executive for Commercial Services at Air Traffic & Navigation Services (ATNS). In this portfolio, he was charged with driving the AFI growth strategy implementation for the organization. He has extensive experience in developing and implementing growth and new market strategies including establishment of start-up operations in the region. Thabani has previously worked for multinational businesses such Vodafone, General Electric, Tata Africa and SembCorp Utilities where he focused on managing regional policy and regulatory issues, understanding their impact to the business, creating alignment with the operating environment and packaging new opportunities.

Thabani’s career transcends diverse industries. He co-led the establishment of commercial businesses in the region and was part of the team that set up Vodacom/Vodaphone business in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thabani’s core strength lies in working with initial concepts, aligning these with strategy and actualizing implementation.

While working on various projects/initiatives he has gained exposure to regional/international organizations such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, NEPAD Agency and the World Economic Forum.

Thabani holds a B Com degree (Accounting) from the University of Zululand and an MBA in General Management from Texas Southern University.

Mr. Somas APPAVOU is currently the Regional Director External Affairs & Sustainability at IATA and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Before joining IATA in 2022, Somas was the Project Leader at Airborne Capital Ltd supporting both the Conversion and Financing of Passenger Aircraft into Freighter (P2F).

From 2017 to 2020, Somas was the CEO of Air Mauritius. He has more than 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, having worked in key global markets. He holds a M.Phil. Degree in Aerospace and Air Transport Economics from l‘Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile’ and University of Toulouse (France) as well as a Master Degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Bordeaux (France).

Somas started his career in the Strategic Planning department of Air Mauritius. He then joined Airbus where he held several strategic positions including Director of Supply Chain in Hamburg, Germany and Regional Sales Director for Subcontinent-India and Africa. From 2009 to 2017, he held the position of Senior Sales Director, Middle East and Africa at Airbus. In this capacity, he contributed largely to the growth of Airbus commercial reach by expanding market presence and supporting the evolution of established airlines as well as the development of new airlines in Africa.

Somas was appointed Member of the Executive Committee of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) following the election of Air Mauritius to represent the East African region for a period of three years. He has also been elected on the Board of Governors of the International Air Transport Association in 2020 (IATA).

Somas has led both Airbus and Air Mauritius to growth and market differentiation with a record of generating new business opportunities and developing lucrative partnerships. Holder of multiple awards in Innovative Aircraft Financing Structure, Process Improvement and Aircraft Economics, Somas is also a passionate Pilot.

Deepak Garg is a senior executive with over 20 years of experience of P&L, Sales, Business Development, and Operations. He is passionate about the aviation industry and an enthusiastic advocate of the digital transformation and new ways of working enabled by the connectivity across fleets, between solutions, and among people.

As a Business Development for Aircraft solutions, Deepak works with customers and sales to ensure that SITAONAIR is maintaining its market leadership by creating added value for the customers through SITAONAIR nose-to-tail aircraft connectivity portfolio.

Before joining SITAONAIR Deepak worked at Sabre providing sales leadership in all pursuits with the objectives of expanding Sabre’s solution footprint at the customer airlines and build compelling partnerships with them. Prior to joining Sabre, as the Regional Head of IBS for Middle East & Africa region.

Fadimatou NOUTCHEMO SIMO is Country Director of AFRIJET BUSINESS SERVICES for Cameroon and Founder of the YOUNG AFRICAN AVIATION PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION (YAAPA) .She founded YAAPA in 2014 a nonprofit organization to educate youths through communication on aviation careers, as well as create a platform of exchange between the aviation stakeholders and the next generation of aviation professionals in Africa to meet up with the future demand of skilled workers in the industry.

Fadi is second vice president of the African women and youth in aviation association of AFCAC and is a member of the women in Aviation International Organization and actively promotes gender equality across the continent by advocating for stakeholders to invest more on human capital development through innovative methods in Africa to ensure a safe and secure aviation for the next generation. Her message for gender equality in the African aviation industry is for each male professional to identify a woman they will Inspire, Mentor and Empower to have more women in Aviation.

Her team and her work to support all aviation related projects from industry organizations as the African Union, ICAO, IATA, AFCAC,AFRAA, AATO in raising awareness to ensure continuity and involvement of all .YAAPA looks forward to launch its Youth Aviation Tech Africa Program as well as its community centers to promote aviation to facilitate tourism amongst the Next generation of Young Africans to ensure no country is left Behind.

Jason is Rolls-Royce’s Regional Marketing Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia, based in the UAE, where he has lived since 2017.

He joined Rolls-Royce in 2006, initially as a Fleet Planner in the newly formed Operations Centre in Derby, UK. After three years and following a one-year secondment with Singapore Airlines, Jason undertook a position in East Hartford, USA as the Customer Fleet Director with International Aero Engines (IAE), where Jason was responsible for the day-to-day management of the V2500 engine fleet in the Middle East.

In 2012 he returned to the UK to take up the position of Marketing Director for Rolls-Royce, playing a customer relationship role in both the Target and Sales phases.

Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, Jason spent 19 years in the British Royal Air Force as an Aircraft Engineer.

Lucy Mbugua was appointed to the position of Regional Director, Eastern and Southern African (ESAF) Office effective 19th June 2023.

MS. Mbugua is a Kenyan citizen with over 25 years of experience in civil aviation.

Ms. Mbugua holds a Masters in Aviation Strategy and has held leadership roles in the industry. She was the Managing Director of Kenya Airports Authority as well as General Manager of Marketing and Business Development in the same institution for a total of 11 years, from 2004 to 2015, where she made significant changes to improve the airport infrastructure and revenue generation, leading to enhanced air transport development and aviation safety and security standards in Kenya.

Ms. Mbugua also served as Head of Marketing and Revenue Management at Kenya Airways, where she contributed to the development of the Kenya Airways brand and implementation of a dynamic pricing and capacity management system at a time when the airline was one of the most profitable in Africa, from1998 to 2004.

Ms. Mbugua has considerable experience in International Civil Aviation. In 2008, Ms Mbugua served on the Airports Council International World Standing Committee on Environment for two years, as one of two members representing Africa.

In 2010, Ms Mbugua served on the Airports Council International World Standing Committee on Economics, for four years, again representing Africa as one of the two members.
Ms Mbugua is well known to the African Indian Ocean Region and ICAO Eastern and Southern African (ESAF) Office staff, to the region, and to cooperating partners in ICAO and the aviation industry.

Aaron Munetsi currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at AASA. Prior to joining AASA, he held several commercial management positions at South African Airways, including as Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East and as its Acting Chief Commercial Officer. For 10 years, he served on the board of the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Business, and after leaving SAA in 2018 he joined the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) for a stint as its Director: Government, Legal, and Industry Affairs. For the past year, he has been working as an aeropolitical and business strategy advisor to airlines.

Aaron holds diplomas and certificates in marketing, strategic management, and leadership from the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Witwatersrand Graduate Business School, and the Gordon Institute for Business Studies.

Adefunke Adeyemi was elected and appointed the Secretary-General of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) resuming office on 1st September 2022. AFCAC is the Specialized Agency of the African Union (AU) on all Civil Aviation matters and the Executing Agency of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Her role is to promote Safety, Security, Air Transport Liberalization, Environmental protection, and overall sustainability of the African Air Transport sector across the continent.

With an international career spanning over 20 years, Adefunke is recognized as one of the 50 Most Inspirational Nigerian Women. She was recently honored as one of the 200 globally Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in affiliation with the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent. She is also the 2021 Recipient of the Ato Girma Wake Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to African Air Transport and Trade Development.

She studied Law at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court in 1998, holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the prestigious University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Nanyang Business School, Singapore in collaboration with Wharton Business School, Philadelphia and Berkeley Hass Business Business School, California.

Romesh is currently working for ACI Africa spearheading the strategy, business development, and the African Airports Development Program.

Previously, Romesh was the Chief Executive Officer of Airports of Mauritius as well as Board Director of Airport Terminal Operations Ltd, Airport of Rodrigues, Mauritius Duty-Free Paradise Ltd, and ACI Africa.

During his professional career spanning over 30 years, he has occupied several key positions in the fields of aviation and engineering, including executive management, project management, airport design, construction, development and operations.

Romesh is a Professional Civil Engineer and holds a Master's in Business Administration.

Maureen Kahonge is the Senior Manager Business Development and communications at AFRAA, a position she has held since February 2016. Prior to her appointment, she held the position of Business Development Manager at the Association.

Maureen is an aviation enthusiast with 12 years of aviation experience at the African Airlines Association – AFRAA, the leading trade Association of African airlines. She has coordinated various initiatives that facilitate beneficial cooperation among African airlines with the view to adopt and implement cost-effective common solutions to address market needs.

An analytical thinker with a commercial orientation and strong customer focus, Maureen is well-versed in air transport industry trends and dynamics. Her role at AFRAA covers the development and management of beneficial working relationships with member airlines and partners, marketing, events, PR, and communications.

She is a holder of a Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree in Business Administration and French from Kenyatta University and a Masters in Business Administration Strategic Management and Finance at the United States International University, Kenya. She is a Member of the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK), a Kenyan in nationality and is fluent in French and English

Ms. Jenifer Bamuturaki is the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Airlines.

She has served as the Commercial Director of Uganda Airlines, responsible for Commercial, Sales and marketing, scheduling and network planning end-to-end management, and sales and service support to all markets and Countries of operation. Previously, she worked for Air Uganda as Head of Sales & Marketing as well as East African Airlines as Country Manager in Uganda.

As she is widely called, Jenny has over 20 years of experience in Commercial, Sales, and marketing direction in the Airline, Travel, and Hospitality industries. Her wealth of expertise is rebuilding organizations, building teams, developing strategic plans, relationships, negotiations, and route development. Jenny has also served as Sales and Marketing Director of International Hotel Brands.

Jenny is a Social Scientist and currently pursuing her Master of Art in Public Administration and management at Makerere University and has certifications from IATA of Sales & Marketing, Starwood, and other leadership and professional training.

Gaoussou is an aviation professional who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer in 1979 at the “Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon,” in France. A citizen of Burkina Faso, he is married and the father of three children. Currently, he is serving AFRAA as consulting Director, Technical and Operations since January 2019.

Prior to AFRAA, he completed a nine-month contract with the African Development Bank and contributed to the development of the Bank Framework and Guidelines to Support the Aviation Sector in the Region. His corporate experience covered Air Transport and Civil Aviation in Africa in 35 years which ended in 2016 at the International Civil Organization, where he was Deputy Regional Director of the Western and Central Africa Office (WACAF). During his career in the sector, he worked at Air Afrique for just over a decade, where he started as a project engineer in charge of new aircraft specifications; he subsequently held managerial positions relating to engineering and corporate planning.

From 1990, Gaoussou then spent 11 years with the African Airline Association as AFRAA's Technical Director, where his assignments included airline operations, engineering, training, and technical co-operation among African carriers. He managed pooling of to support line maintenance operations and initiated joint procurement of B737 tires and fuel.In 2002 he moved to IATA where he joined as Manager Safety and became Regional Director Safety, Operations, and Infrastructure by the time he left the international association.

For ten years, his responsibilities included the enhancement of safety, operations, infrastructure and security in Africa. Important achievements of his tenure were the implementations of Reduced Vertical Separation Minima – RVSM in Africa and random routing operations in South Atlantic.

Liz is a forward-thinking and results-driven aviation professional with a well-established track record of shaping strategies, fostering business expansion, and implementing process enhancements. She excels as a catalyst for transformational change, consistently showcasing her ability to improve operations across a variety of environments, spanning both the public and private sectors. She is deeply committed to nurturing customer-centric cultures and cultivating collaborations among stakeholders, departments, and teams. She possesses outstanding leadership qualities, adept problem-solving skills, and a keen aptitude for negotiation.

Throughout her career, she has been engaged in various domains, including project management, strategic communications, business process management, stakeholder engagement, and budget oversight.

Liz is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Association of Air Operators, a registered National umbrella body that is the authoritative unified voice of advocacy for the Kenyan aviation industry. She also serves as a Director Board of Directors of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.

Liz has worked with Kenya Airways as a fleet development engineer, which has a network of over 50 Destinations across Africa and the World. She has also worked as an Air Transport Officer in Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, which is the regulatory body responsible for oversight of Aviation Safety & Security and Development of Civil Aviation

Yvonne Manzi Makolo is an accomplished business leader serving as the CEO of RwandAir, Rwanda's national flag carrier, since 2018. With a rich professional background, she embarked on her journey with RwandAir in April 2017, initially joining as the Deputy CEO in Charge of Corporate Affairs. Before her tenure at RwandAir, Yvonne held prominent roles at MTN Rwanda, the largest telecommunication company in the country, where she notably served as the Chief Marketing Officer and briefly acted as the CEO.

Yvonne's expertise is further strengthened by her educational background, including a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Information Technology. With over 11 years of valuable commercial experience, she has proven her aptitude for strategic decision-making and driving organizational growth.

As a visionary leader in the aviation industry, Yvonne Manzi Makolo continues to guide RwandAir towards new heights, ensuring its prominence as a symbol of national pride and excellence in Rwanda.

Yvonne currently serves as the 81st Chair of the IATA Board of Governors, marking the first time a woman has taken on this role.

Amos Wekesa, Founder and CEO of Great Lakes Safaris Ltd. and Uganda Lodges Ltd, comes from an inspiring and humble background that reflects the person he is today.

He has been promoting Uganda for over 20 years and is privileged to have seen a lot of changes in Uganda and East Africa as a whole.

Today, the aspiring business leader oversees Great Lakes Safaris, one of the largest tour operators in the region, and Uganda Lodges a collection of four unique safari accommodations located in Uganda’s most popular National Parks.

Even though his days as a full-time tour guide are behind him, he still manages to regularly introduce clients to the splendor Uganda has to offer, whether taking them on exciting game-viewing drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park to allowing them to get close to the habituated chimpanzees in Budongo Forest, Murchison Falls.

Amos is a well-known advocate for social and economic development through tourism initiatives. He is frequently invited as a keynote speaker at international and national conferences and events on topics ranging from economic investment to sustainable tourism, entrepreneurship, and youth development. He continues to be a leading consultant on all matters of tourism and an ambassador not just for Great Lakes Safaris and Uganda Lodges but for Uganda as a country.

Wekesa has received countless awards and has sat on multiple boards. He was a previous President of the Uganda Tourism Association and a member of the Uganda Tourism Board of Directors, representing Tour Operators and as the Chairman of the Marketing Committee. He is the Chairman of the Presidential Investment Round Table – Tourism Technical Working Group (Phase V). He has addressed

Sharon has been an Associate of Envisa since 1st October 2021, working principally with Envisa a specialized consultancy based in Paris that has been at the forefront of aviation sustainability solutions since 2004. At Envisa Sharon is developing training and customized consultancy services for the aviation sector and is a World Business Partner for ACI Africa and Asia Pacific & Middle East.

She brings with her extensive multi-stakeholder experience from EUROCONTROL’s Aviation Sustainability Unit.

During her career at EUROCONTROL Sharon drafted the Collaborative Environmental Management (CEM) Specification and led its implementation across Europe. This involved close collaboration and engagement with operational stakeholders at Airports, industry partners, and European Organisations. Sharon represented EUROCONTROL on the ACI Environmental Strategy Committee.

In addition, Sharon developed and led EUROCONTROL’s Aviation Sustainability training portfolio. She previously worked in Human Resources and the Central Route Charges Office. Sharon started her career in the private banking and industrial insurance sector. Through this, Sharon has gained a unique experience and insight into both support and operational roles in the aviation world.

Outside of her aviation work, Sharon is actively involved with Femmes d’ Europe (FdE) a non-political, independent organization based in Belgium and Luxembourg focusing mainly on education, training and health programs for women and children globally. It finances small-scale projects aiming to reach those who do not get government subsidies nor helped by large NGOs. Sharon teaches English and environmental awareness to young people.

Sharon holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology and an MA in Environment, Politics and Globalisation from King’s College London (2017). She graduated in Plastic Arts from the Ecole des Beaux Arts Bruxelles. Sharon is also qualified as a Business Coach and Facilitator and Climate Fresker.

Sharon speaks English and French and lives in Bruxelles, Belgium.

Paula has a passion for the airline business with 27 years of airline experience. She started her career in South African Airways. During this time, she gained a wide breadth of experience in various areas from performing active roles in the business evaluation, negotiation, and overseeing the implementation of strategic projects. Paula was Head of Passenger Services Systems and responsible for the areas of inter alia Reservations, Inventory, Ticketing, Revenue Management, Loyalty and Revenue Accounting. She played a key role in the outsourcing and re-insourcing of SAA’s entire IT department as well as the evaluation, negotiation, and migration from SAA’s legacy PSS environment to the Amadeus Altéa community platform.

Paula further expanded her experience by joining a locally based startup regional carrier as the Chief Information Officer responsible for fully establishing its IT strategy and environment.

Paula joined Amadeus in 2017 and currently is the company’s Head of Airline Sales and Account Management for Sub Saharan Africa, based in Johannesburg.

Mesfin Tasew Bekele is an Ethiopian businessman, and electrical and communications engineer, who has served as the group chief executive officer of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, since 24 March 2022.

As CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, he will lead over 17,000 employees, replacing Tewolde Gebremariam, the previous CEO, who retired on 23 March 2022, due to health reasons.

Before that, between 2021 and March 2022, Mesfin T. Bekele was the CEO of Asky Airlines, a private Togolese airline, in which the Ethiopian Airlines Group is a strategic partner, maintains a 40 percent ownership, and is the largest shareholder.

Bekele is an Ethiopian national. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, obtained from Addis Ababa University. His second degree, a Master of Science in Communications Engineering was also awarded by Addis Ababa University. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree, obtained from the Open University, in the United Kingdom.

For the 11 years between 2010 and 2021, Bekele was the chief operations officer (COO) of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, based at the group headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city. Having joined the airline in 1984, he has served in various roles, including in airline engineering, maintenance, and management. Other areas include "aircraft procurement, flight operations, and strategic development".