• Delegates to the 2018 AGAA summit. This year, business and individuals will be able to attend. (Steve Hitchen)
    Delegates to the 2018 AGAA summit. This year, business and individuals will be able to attend. (Steve Hitchen)
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The Australian General Aviation Alliance (AGAA) summit being planned for this year will focus particularly on the impacts of regulation on the GA community and ongoing issues with airports.

Although the exact date for the summit has not been set, organisers have said the first day will focus on regulation with the second day reserved for discussions on airport matters.

"The first day will focus on how we see regulation is impacting the sustainability of general aviation and the cost of participation," AOPA Australia CEO Ben Morgan told Australian Flying. "We'll look at the issue of airports on the second day."

"We're also hoping to put forward recommendations and proposals of what we'd like to see happen."

AGAA is planning to invite Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and members of the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT) to the summit. RRAT has already launched an inquiry into the impacts of regulation on GA, which is due to report at the end of next year.

There is no indication that there is any formal relationship between the summit and the RRAT inquiry.

"We would like the summit to complement the inquiry," Morgan said, "by allowing each of the industry associations to give summaries of their submissions and also to provide an opportunity where senators can speak first-hand with industry bodies and other aviation people.

"This is not a CASA-bashing exercise, but an exercise about what is wrong with the system and what we need to do to get it fixed."

AGAA is also attempting to get delegates from international bodies including International AOPA and the Federal Aviation Administration to address the summit to provide a comparison between the GA environments in Australia and overseas.

Unlike the Wagga Wagga summit of 2018, AGAA will open entry to any association, company or individual person who has an interest in the outcome.

The last AGAA summit was held in Wagga Wagga in July 2018, but for 2020 the location will change to suburban Sydney, with the Bankstown Sports Club touted as a possible venue.

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