The Air Transport Committee held its 46th meeting in Rabat on November 15-16, 2021. The session was attended by representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Iraq, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as representatives of the Republic of Tunisia, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Libya via video communication means. In addition, Representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Federation and the International Air Transport Association participated to the session as observers via teleconference.

H.E. Eng. Abdennebi Manar, Director General of the Arab Civil Aviation Organization, inaugurated the meeting and welcomed the participants praising the efforts of the civil aviation authorities in the Member States to revive the air transport sector, at the national, regional and international levels, as well as their distinguished contribution to the activities of the organization, since the convening of the twenty-sixth General Assembly organization in early July.

In accordance with the committees' work system approved by the General Assembly, Mr. Salem bin Hamad Al-Husseini, representative of the Sultanate of Oman, was elected as Chairman of the Committee, and Dr. Muhammad Jawdat, representative of the Republic of Iraq, was elected as his deputy by acclamation.

Following the different discussions held, the committee stressed the importance of urging member states to provide facilities to airlines in the field of air cargo, while adhering to air safety and security standards. This comes in order to contribute to the revival of the economic activity and the transfer of medical equipment and vaccines during the Corona pandemic and to overcome the economic effects resulting from it.

The committee also discussed the status of the agreement on exchanging exemptions from taxes and customs duties on the activities and equipment of Arab air carrier, and the follow up on the amendments introduced to the main agreement so that these latter’s can be approved during  the agreement review committee meeting under the umbrella of the League of Arab States.

The committee urged member states to be guided by the general Arab principles adopted by Resolution No. 2319 d. P - 108-2/9/2021 issued by the Economic and Social Council of the League of Arab States to standardize procedures for approving and registering vaccines and their use during the Corona pandemic.