Safety and security have become the major concerns to the African aviation industry struggling to come out of other challenges, a regional body said on Thursday.

The African Airlines Association (AFRAA), which is convening its third regional ministerial conference here in Addis on air transport, said urgent action was need to by all stakeholders to rescue the industry from the precarious situation it now finds itself.

Presenting a report on the current status of the air industry in the continent, Christian Folly-Kossi, Secretary General of the Association told African transport ministers and aviation experts that the recent air crash of Kenya airways was reflective of the fact that Africa needed to continue to uphold aviation safety as top priority than ever before.

"It is my duty to appeal to our countries to seriously consider the upgrading of their safety and security as well as search and rescue resources and capabilities, and from time to time conduct mock rescue exercise to assess their readiness to respond to such disaster," Christian said.

On top of security and safety issues, the African aviation industry has to grapple with the challenges of brain drain, globalization, and poor financial resources.

"Brain drain is seriously depleting our industry of its most experienced and qualified human resources. Airlines from the Gulf and Asia are busy poaching our pilots, cabin crew, management staff and air traffic controllers. At this stage, only your vigorous governmental, political and diplomatic intervention can help stem the hemorrhage," the Secretary-General appealed.

The ongoing ministerial conference, which is being held following the recent tragedy of Kenya airways, is discussing issues related to air transport liberalization, aviation safety, security and other pertinent subjects of civil aviation in Africa.

"Liberalization of African skies for Africans is not a new idea to be discussed in our continent," EFDRE President Girma W.Giorgis told African ministers.

"Three decades ago your predecessors seen a reason to raise this issue mainly because the air transport system of individual states can not stand the future challenges of the industry unless a continent-wide effort had been made to pull resources together to strengthen it," President Girma added.

The president also indicated that despite improvement for the safety and security of the aviation industry, there still was a need to remove the negative image created in various non African forums regarding the safety and security levels of African air transport.

The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) was established in April 1968 in Accra, Ghana as a Trade Organization.

Currently, there are over 40 members from African Union member States, including the 60 YEAR OLD Ethiopian Airlines.