■ CAMEROON: Parliament ratifies new Civil Aviation Regulations bill.

The Cameroonian parliament has adopted a Civil Aviation Regulations Bill following a plenary sitting of the Upper House in Yaoundé on July 16. The bill is based on recommendations made by the ICAO following a September 2006 audit of the country's civil aviation structures which revealed several shortcomings both in terms of legislation as well as implementation.

► CAMEROON: Airbus Military delivers a CASA CN-235 transport to the Cameroonian Air Force.

Airbus Military has delivered one of its CASA/IPTN CN-235 medium-range transport planes to the Cameroon Air Force. The handover makes Cameroon the sixteenth sub-Saharan nation to operate the Airbus Military family of aircraft.

►► KENYA: A look at Kenya Airways' updated Summer 2013 Schedule, codeshare plans with Air Burkina.

[UPDATE 2 MAY 2013] AirlineRoute writes that as per the 27MAR13 GDS timetable and inventory display, the latest changes to Kenya Airways’ (KQ) planned Summer 2013 operation, effective 31MAR13, is as follows. Further changes remain possible.

► CAMEROON: Camair-Co outlines Summer 2013 schedule changes; starts Abidjan from June.

CH-Aviation reports that, as part of its Summer 2013 schedule, Camair-Co(QC), the Cameroonian national carrier, has announced it is to start flights between Douala and Abidjan effective 04JUN. Additionally, the carrier has been awarded 5th Freedom rights on the Brazzaville - Kinshasa sectors of of its Douala - Brazzaville - Kinshasa flights, along with Lagos - Cotonou on its Douala - Lagos - Cotonou flights.

►► KENYA: First of four Kenya Airways Boeing 737-300s set for Cargo conversion.

[UPDATE 18 MARCH] Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced plans to convert four of its six Boeing 737-300s into regional cargo freighters in a move that will see the carriers' cargo division, Kenya Airways Cargo, increasing its presence in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa.

► CAMEROON: Camair-Co boss Boertien announces new domestic routes; gets robbed.

On 23 January, Matthijs Boertien, the newly appointed CEO of Cameroonian carrier, Camair-Co (QC), announced the launch of several new domestic routes, last served by Camair-Co's predecessor, Cameroon Airlines (UY).

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Air Côte d’Ivoire announces Pointe Noire, Ouagadougou, Yaounde; various timetable changes.

AirlineRoute states that Air Côte d’Ivoire from 01FEB13 is adjusting its operations, which includes the launch of 3 new destinations in west Africa - Pointe Noire (Congo Brazzaville), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Yaounde (Cameroon).

► BELGIUM: brussels airlines announces changes to its West & Central Africa network for Summer 2013.

Belgian carrier brussels airlines (SN) has announced various frequency fluctuations on its West and Central African route networks, effective late-February 2013.

► CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Karinou Airlines to go regional in early 2013.

Amidst a turbulent political climate, Karinou Airlines (KRN), formerly Africa Airlines, has outlined plans to launch scheduled regional operations out of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, possibly in early January.

► CAMEROON: Turkish Airlines to start 4x weekly Yaounde, Douala flights from late December.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has announced another route into Central/West Africa; this time to Cameroon. The Turkish carrier, which recently celebrated adding its 200th aircraft to its ever growing fleet, will serve the cities of Yaounde and Douala 4x weekly with a Boeing 737-900ER effective 21 December 2012.

■ CAMEROON: Ex-minister accused of embezzlement in "Albatross" Presidential Jet fiasco goes on trial in Yaounde.

Former Cameroonian Interior Minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya, the politician at the centre of the Cameroonian Presidential Jet scandal, is currently on trial in Yaounde facing charges of embezzling USD$31million that should have been used to buy a new Presidential Jet sourced from the Boeing Company for President Paul Biya. 

The story goes, in 2001, Yaya, then Secretary General at the presidency, and his co-accused, amongst whom are the ex-head of the now defunct Cameroonian flag carrier Cameroon Airlines Yves Michel Fotso, Chief Ephraim Inoni, a former Prime Minister and head of government under Biya, Nkounda Julienne, and two others, were mandated by the Cameroonian Government to secure a Boeing Business Jet Second Generation (BBJ-2) for USD$31million for use by the President. It is then alleged that in early 2004 they instead colluded to hire a used Boeing 767 - The Albatross - for USD$2.6million and pocketed the remainder of the money for themselves.

But, as fate would have it, with the President and his family on board, the Boeing 767-216ER (TZ-AAC) developed technical problems on its maiden flight to Paris, France on 24 April 2004 and was forced to make an emergency landing. So irate was Biya at this embarrassing scenario that he launched a full investigation into the mishap, which culminated in Marafa's arrest along with that of the other five co-accused.

"The Albatross" (Stephan Gimard)

Since the story broke in April 2004, there have been numerous wild allegations in the Cameroonian press that the aircraft itself was 'totally unsafe' and was in reality "a flying coffin" thereby putting the President and his family at risk each time it flew; some even claim that the purchase of the defective plane constituted an "attack on the nation of Cameroon itself".

 

Deeper investigation reveals that official testimony seems to dispute the claims that the President's life was in danger and that the situation was so dire as to warrant the emergency landing, though ironically, had this not happened, then perhaps Marafa and his associates could have gotten away with it all.

Presiding Judge Pascal Magnaguemabé, in his Order Instituting Separate Proceedings of January 2010 stated:

"[The "Boeing 767-200 ER" known as "Albatross"] was transported to Cameroon in a flight leaving from Atlanta in the United States on 04/22/2004 and landing in Yaounde on 04/23/2004.     

It departed again from Yaounde on 04/24/2004 for the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, with the President of the Republic and his family aboard, as well as a large delegation of important persons from Cameroon travelling to attend a summit planned for the following days in the French capital. Only, the plane had barely taken off from the Yaounde-Nsimalen airport with the illustrious person and his delegation aboard, when it experienced an incident while it was crossing the "Foumban" area.      

This incident made it necessary for the pilots to turn back to Douala. It was described as purely technical, in which "the leading edge flap was not retracting" and the plane could not reach cruising speed. While the plane was turning back to Douala, the onboard mechanic was called upon "to go down into the fuse room." While he was there, the mechanic "reset the circuit" and, after another try by the pilot, the flaps retracted and the situation returned to normal. The plane then resumed its heading toward Paris."

Then, the captain made an unwise move which turned an otherwise simple malfunction into a political debacle:

"When the problem (with the flaps) occurred, the pilots (Lieutenant Colonel Ndongue and Colonel Babodo Lewono) should have called for the mechanic seated at the end of the aircraft. All they needed to do to rectify the problem was to refer to the flight manual and to call for the mechanic. Instead, flight captain Betham chose to inform the President of the Republic that there was a problem with the aircraft and that it had to return to Douala for a checkup. He reassured the Head of State that this would not take long. In my opinion, the captain demonstrated a lack sang-froid by rushing to alert the President. He should have tried to solve the problem first."

Source [Dibussi Tande]

Subsequently, the Cameroonian Government returned the aircraft to Boeing who disputed their claims that the aircraft was in terrible shape. Eventual litigation led to the Cameroon Government being forced to pay Boeing USD$2.6million for breach of contract.

But, at the end of the day, the case is not about the overall airworthiness of the Boeing 767, its about 5 high ranking government officials who were tasked with the responsibility of buying a brand new BBJ but instead hired a second hand 767 and whose actions, by a strange twist of fate (had the Captain kept a cool head and treated the flap malfunction as routine instead of informing the President then this whole incident may never have come to light), were exposed for what they are - fraudulent.

At the beginning of May, a former Cameroonian ambassador to the United States, Jerome Mendouga, was jailed for 10 years in connection with the case.

For more on the case:

• Was The Albatross A Flying Coffin? I
• Was The Albatross A Flying Coffin? II

►► BELGIUM: Brussels Airlines announces Africa schedule changes from October onwards.

Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines (SN) has announced sweeping changes to its African network effective 1 October 2012.

Brussels Airlines' Africa Route Network.

● Brussels Airlines Africa Timetable ●

►Destination Summary: 

Airbus A330-200 replaces -300 on service to Abidjan (1 weekly only), Bamako, Lome, Ouagadougou from 1 October 2012.

• Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire: Reduces from daily to 6x weekly with some operational routing change 
• Banjul, Gambia: Reduces from 4x to 3x weekly from 01 February 2013 
• Conakry, Guinea: Service remains 2x weekly 
• Cotonou, Benin: Service remains 2x weekly 
• Dakar, Senegal: Service remains 4x weekly 
• Douala, Cameroon: Service remains 5x weekly 
• Freetown, Sierra Leone: Reduces from 2x to 1x weekly from 01 February 2013 with A330-200 (A330-300 also operates from 01 October 2012 to 31 January 2013) 
• Kinshasa, DRC: Service reduces from daily to 5x weekly 
• Lome, Togo: Service operates via Ouagadougou in each direction, replacing BRU ABJ LFW BRU 
• Monrovia, Liberia: Service remains 3x weekly 
• Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Service operates nonstop in each direction, extending to Lome. This replaces BRU-BKO-OUA-BRU.
• Yaounde, Cameroon: Service reduces from 5x to 4x weekly, via Douala.
• Bujumbura, Burundi: Service reduces from 3x to 2x weekly
• Entebbe, Uganda: Service reduces from 4x weekly in NS12 to 3x weekly in NW12
• Kigali, Rwanda: Service reduces from 5 weekly in NS12 to 3 weekly in NW12 (routing via Nairobi cancelled)
• Mombasa, Kenya: NEW 1x weekly service [CANCELLED]
• Nairobi, Kenya: Service reduces from 4x to 3x weekly; 1 weekly service operates via Mombasa, 2 via Bujumbura (Routing via Kigali is cancelled)

 

►Schedules of New Routing (effective 28 October 2012):

Brussels – Bamako – Abidjan

-A330-300 replaces -200 from 17 December 2012 to 03 January 2013

-Local Traffic rights currently available for Bamako – Abidjan sector

• SN281 BRU1125 – 1635BKO1725 – 1905ABJ 332 1
• SN282 ABJ2015 – 2155BKO2255 – 0540+1BRU 332 1

Brussels – Banjul – Conakry – Brussels

-A330-300 replaces -200 from 14 November 2012 to 30 January 2013

• SN215 BRU1325 – 1835BJL1950 – 2055CKY2215 – 0540+1BRU 332 3

Brussels – Ouagadougou – Lome

-A330-300 replaces -200 from 10 November 2012 to 02 February 2013

-No Local Traffic Rights on Ouagadougou – Lome sector

• SN261 BRU1200 – 1650OUA1740 – 1910LFW 330 26
• SN262 LFW2020 – 2150OUA2250 – 0530+1BRU 330 26

Brussels – Abidjan – Cotonou – Brussels

• SN229 BRU1405 – 1945ABJ2055 – 2315COO0025+1 – 0655+1BRU 333 2 

Brussels – Mombasa – Nairobi – Brussels [CANCELLED]
NEW 1x weekly service to Mombasa

• SN477 BRU1030 – 2110MBA2210 – 2310NBO0025+1 – 0710+1BRU 332 5

Brussels – Bujumbura – Nairobi – Brussels
2x weekly service

• SN453 BRU1030 – 1955BJM2055 – 2325NBO0025+1 – 0710+1BRU 332 37

Brussels – Kigali – Entebbe – Brussels
-3x weekly flights
-Service to Kigali reduces from 5x to 3x weekly, Entebbe from 4x to 3x weekly.

• SN465 BRU1030 – 1940KGL2055 – 2245EBB2350 – 0620+1BRU 332 246

 

►Operational routing summary:

• Brussels – Abidjan – Monrovia – Brussels SN247 1x weekly service unchanged 
• Brussels – Conakry – Banjul – Brussels SN217 1x of 2x weekly service operates as SN215 in opposite direction 
• Brussels – Cotonou – Abidjan – Brussels SN231 1 of 2 xweekly service operates as SN229 in opposite direction 
• Brussels – Freetown – Banjul – Brussels SN219 Service reduces from 2x to 1x weekly from  01 February 2013 
• Brussels – Monrovia – Abidjan – Brussels SN245 2x weekly service unchanged 
• Brussels – Douala – Kinshasa SN351/352 Day 5 southbound service, Day 6 northbound does not operate from 08 December 2012 to 10 January 2013 (However BRU-DLA sector will operate as SN371/372) 
• Brussels – Luanda – Kinshasa – Brussels SN359 on Day 7 operates with A330-200 instead of -300 from 16 December 2012 to 06 January 2013.

Read More Here [Airline Route]