Change of name and executive team as "Safety" goes home

The committee was hosted by Oman Air with support by Nexus Flight Operations Services and MedAire/International SOS. The Gulf Flight Safety Committee (GFSC) was originally founded in Oman in 2004 by a group of Gulf based safety professionals from various aviation companies located within the GCC region. It now has more than 250 members representing 80 organisations within the region and meets quarterly to promote safety improvement initiatives, including coordination with international organisations and bodies such as ICAO and IATA.

New elections during the AGM resulted in  Saudia’s Capt. Mohammed A. Malatani, and Nexus’ Capt. William Mermelstein  being voted as co-chairmen and Capt. Mark Trotter appointed as Secretary/Treasurer.

“We are very pleased to have the support of Oman Air and the city of Muscat to host our Annual General meeting, and participation by the Royal Air Force of Oman and the Police Air Wing” said Malatani. As a result of this annual meeting the membership agreed to a slight name change to become Gulf Flight Safety Council to better reflect the mission and goals.

The meeting was followed a day later by joint ICAO and IATA event under the Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG-MID) to enhance safety in the Middle East. “The purpose of the safety management workshop is to share best practices and lessons learned for safety management systems (SMS) and state safety programs (SSP),” Memelstein said. These meetings provide break-out sessions for sharing of safety data and SMS/SSP implementation and promote safety data tools and enhance safety culture.

“The Gulf Flight Safety Council is pleased to partner with ICAO & IATA in our mutual goals of promoting safety in the region,” Malatani said.