The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will convene the 2026 edition of the IATA Focus Africa Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 29 to 30 April under the theme “Elevating Aviation Safety, Connectivity, and Operational Efficiency in Africa,” with Ethiopian Airlines serving as host.
Announcing the event, Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, said aviation can play a far greater role in enabling Africa’s economic and social development if key structural challenges are addressed. “Improving safety, harmonizing regulations, and reducing costs while increasing operational efficiency are at the top of the agenda for this edition of the IATA Focus Africa Conference. The demand to support 3–4% growth annually is there. Focus Africa aims to align the continent’s aviation stakeholders in taking the pragmatic steps needed to turn potential into a sustainable reality,” he noted.
Ethiopian Airlines also hosted the inaugural Focus Africa Conference in 2023, and since then IATA’s Focus Africa initiative has driven a series of sector-wide developments. These include supporting the roll-out of Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record (API-PNR) programmes in 12 African countries, launching numerous safety initiatives across the region, establishing new Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) operations in Sierra Leone and South Sudan and Cargo Accounts Settlement Systems (CASS) in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, and introducing IATA Easy Pay in markets such as Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Congo, Mauritius, and Sierra Leone to ease payment bottlenecks and cash-flow constraints.
The 2026 conference will take stock of this progress and define next steps for advancing Africa’s aviation sector, with a strong focus on safety performance, intra-African connectivity and operational efficiency. Confirmed speakers include Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport and Logistics, Alemu Sime; Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer, Mesfin Tasew; Airlink CEO, de Villiers Engelbrecht; Kenya Airways CEO, Capt. George Kamal; African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) Secretary General, Adefunke Adeyemi; African Airlines Association (AFRAA) Secretary General, Abderahmane Berthe; Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) CEO, Aaron Munetsi; and Saudi Ground Services (SGS) CEO, Mohammed Mazi.
Over two days, the conference will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions and technical sessions examining how to enhance safety oversight, strengthen intra-African route networks, harmonise regulations and support implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Delegates will also explore ways to streamline operations, accelerate digital innovation and improve cost-efficiency across the aviation value chain in order to unlock the continent’s full air transport potential.
