Thank you. First, I would like to wish a very warm welcome members here this evening – even though we have a small turn out it is great that we are finally able to welcome you back in person. Over the past 12 months the ongoing impact of Covid and associated logistical difficulties has continued to prevent us from hosting physical events. On behalf of the Hong Branch I apologise for the limitations this has placed on our events programme again this year and thank our members for their understanding during these difficult times.
I would like to start by taking this opportunity to say thank you to our committee for their ongoing contribution. Our Committee members have generously volunteered their time and their energy to provide support and guidance to the society and our members. I would like to say special thank yous to Dr Eric Wong, Mr Mark Hayman, Mr Ken Kwan, Mr Tommy Au Yeung and Mr KS Fung who are all stepping down this year after many years of service to the Society. Their dedication and support is highly appreciated.
Events summary
Covid 19 continued to impact the ability of the Society to deliver events over the last 12 months and this evening marks the first time we have been able to host a public event for a very long time. In the interim we have again been limited to a small number of well-attended, virtual, events.
In December 2021 Frank Siegers from GE presented a lecture on Optimal Navigation Procedure Design for a Sustainable Future, using Queenstown in New Zealand as a fascinating example of the improvements technology can make to landing approaches and the associated sustainability benefits.
And in May 2022 we welcomed Olivier Richaud from Airbus to present a lecture entitled “CEO to NEO – Evolution of the A320 family”. This was a very comprehensive and informative lecture covering details of developments to the airframe, and engines and operational capabilities of these aircraft.
We are, of course, now very excited about the prospect of holding physical events once again and being able to interact with our membership in person. We are looking forward to returning to a full calendar of regular events and tonight we are delighted that Steven will shortly be presenting on the exciting topic of Urban Mobility.
The Society and its lecture programme provides a great opportunity to promote and advance aviation in Hong Kong and around the world - raising awareness, helping people understand the industry and the many opportunities it offers. The Society provides the chance to share knowledge and experience amongst our membership, promote the highest professional standards and provide a forum for people in our industry to talk about the work they do, the things they are passionate about explain why it means so much to them.
The aviation industry been hit hard in recent years but it continues to have a bright future and continues to offer fantastic opportunities for people in Hong Kong. We will be aiming, as we kick-start our events programme, to ensure that we show-case as many of the exciting elements of Hong Kong aviation as possible. And we will continue to find subjects and speakers that will inform and inspire our membership.
And that brings me nicely to the next agenda item, the membership report.
Membership Report
Unsurprisingly the impact of the Covid pandemic and the restrictions this has placed on us hosting events has resulted in a decline in our membership.
Currently we have a total of 214 members, which includes 47 student members.
This year there have been 24 new joiners and 3 upgrade from student to full members.
I would like to see a significant increase in the membership of the Society over the next 12 months and ensure we have a vibrant, diverse and thriving community. I understand our ability to attract and retain members will be heavily predicated on us delivering an interesting and educational range of lectures and events for our membership. We will be very focused on doing this and as our forward events programme comes together we will be sharing details with the membership.
Please keep an eye out for the new events being advertised. We are planning to organize at least one more lecture event before the end of the year and as an important first step in re-invigorating our events calendar I am delighted that we are able to host our annual dinner again this year on November 18th - this has always been a very enjoyable event and I hope you will be able to join us there.
In closing I would like to thank you all again for your support this year. I look forward to much busier 2023 for the Hong Kong branch and to interacting and engaging with our membership on a more regular basis.
Thank you.
Membership Report
Since the last report our membership has increased by 3% to 220 members – comprising 181 full members and 39 student members.
We have seen a healthy number of renewals this year, demonstrating a sustained level of interest amongst our existing members.
During the period from the last AGM we have been delighted to welcome 18 new members to the branch from across Hong Kong’s aviation industry.
We have however noted a decline in our student member category and this is an area that my committee and I plan to address in the coming months.
We will target to continue to steadily increase the membership of the Society over the next 12 months to ensure we have a vibrant, diverse and thriving community. We recognize that our ability to attract and retain members will be heavily predicated on the value they place being a member and in turn on us delivering an interesting and educational range of lectures and events for them. We are determined to do so and please keep an eye out for the new events being advertised. We are planning to organize at least two more lecture event before the end of the year. In addition we will be holding our annual dinner again this year on November 10th - this has always been a very enjoyable event and I hope you will be able to join us there.
In closing I would like to thank you all again for your support this year. It is great that we have been able to enjoy a much busier 2023 and we look forward to continuing to interact, engage, inform and entertain our membership over the remainder of the year.
Due to difficulties in logistic, health and safety protocol execution, young member activities have been again paused since the pandemic of the COVID-19. Health and safety are our top priorities when we organise an event, and now with the current social distancing measures, we are hopeful to bring back out two flagship young-member events.
To inherit the tradition, it is proposed to have the Aviation Quiz brought back in Christmas time this year. There are a few ideal venues for this event, but we will study carefully. We hope to meet our young member very soon.
If we bring back the Aviation Quiz successfully this year, we are confident that getting back AeroChallenge in early next year should n be an issue providing that there is no more tightening of social distancing measures.
To boost the number of young members, we are planning to start a small reach-out program that serves the first wave of RAeS HK branch promotion towards local universities. We will seek younger volunteers from various companies to have career talks or maybe some sharing session with local university students. Details will be discussed in the coming committee meeting.
Hope to see you all soon.