National Aviation Authority (Arab Union)

The National Aviation Authority (NAA; Arabic: سلطة الطيران الوطنية sulṭat aṭ-ṭayarān al-waṭanīyah) is an agency of the federal government of the Arab Union, subordinate to the Ministry of Transportation.

The NAA's two primary responsibilities are 1) regulating air traffic and the civilian aviation industry by developing and enforcing safety policy, standardising aviation professions by accrediting flight schools and other training programs and licencing businesses in the aviation industry, and investigating all accidents, from minor systems failures to mass-casualty crashes; and 2) operating and maintaining all civilian airports in the Arab Union, both domestic and international, as well as all related air transport infrastructure and technologies, such as air traffic control and navigation systems, weather stations providing realtime data, and airspace and geographical radios and beacons.

The NAA is headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, and also has an office attached to the Ministry of Transportation headquarters in Suez as well as smaller administrative offices in Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Amman and Tripoli.� Outside of these ten locations, the NAA operates field offices or supervisory projects attached to the various facilities and programs for which it is responsible; for example, all airports have an attached administrative office staffed by NAA civil servants. The NAA employs around 11,000 personnel; this figure does not include airport staff, who are hired directly by airport management and therefore not considered employees of the NAA. All funding for airports, however, comes through the NAA via federal and republican taxes.

Bassel Abu Abbas has served as Chairman of the National Aviation Authority since September 2019.