► BOTSWANA: Kalahari Airways eyes flights to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong via its Gaborone hub.

Denis Coghlan, the chief executive officer of the ambitious Botswana-based startup, Kalahari Airways, has outlined his longterm vision for the company in which he sees the establishment of Gaborone as a regional hub for flights to Hong Kong and the United States in addition to London.

► TANZANIA: Proflight Zambia to start Dar es Salaam from late October; plans to boost Lilongwe from November.

Proflight Zambia (P0) has announced plans to launch a 3x weekly Lusaka to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania service with effect from October 23. According to the airline, as it stands, only a Day 1 & 5 operation have been set with confirmation from regulators on the timing.of a Wednesday slot still pending. Operations are on-board a Jetstream 41 turboprop. In addition, the carrier is also hoping to boost its Lilongwe flights to 4x weekly effective November 16, subject to regulatory approval. 

■ DUBAI: Emirates appoints Orhan Abbas as Senior VP for its Southern & Central Africa, Latin American Commercial operations.

Emirates (EK) has appointed Orhan Abbas its Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Latin America, Central and Southern Africa. In his new role he will oversee a number of markets, including South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Indian Ocean islands Mauritius and Seychelles, and Latin American markets Brazil and Argentina.

► UNITED KINGDOM: British Airways to axe Lusaka, increase Accra flights from late October.

British Airways (BA) has outlined its initial Winter 2013/14 schedule with tentative plans to axe its thrice weekly Lusaka, Zambia flights, AirlineRoute has reported. On a more positive note, Accra, Ghana will see an additional 3 weekly services being added . All changes are effective October 27.

► ZIMBABWE: Air Zimbabwe eyes Zambia, Malawi, Durban flights; still gung-ho on London Gatwick in November.

Air Zimbabwe (UM) is planning to roll out more regional and international destinations with effect from October/November onwards as the airline attempts to reclaim its lost southern African market share. In addition, it has now noted that a resumption of services to China is also on the cards.

► NAMIBIA: Air Namibia ERJ135s to undergo maintenance in August; adjusts timetable accordingly.

Air Namibia has announced that owing to mandatory maintenance checks on its fleet of four Embraer ERJ135s, effective August 12-31 the following schedule changes have been made:

► ZAMBIA: Proflight mulls expansion into Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, the DRC and Zimbabwe.

With the recent launch of its first regional flights to Lilongwe, Malawi, Proflight Zambia (P0) is mulling adding three further international destinations to its growing network by mid-2014, effectively making Lusaka a regional hub for air travel.

► NAMIBIA: Kenya Airways, Air Namibia sign codeshare agreement.

Kenya Airways (KQ) and Air Namibia (SW) have announced the signing of a new code-share agreement paving the way for daily connections between the airlines’ Nairobi and Windhoek hubs through Johannesburg in South Africa and Lusaka in Zambia. This code-share agreement with Air Namibia brings the total number of code-share arrangements that Kenya Airways has signed with other international carriers to twenty.

► UGANDA: Air Uganda eyes future regional, international expansion once East Africa is "conquered".

Air Uganda's (U7) CEO, Mr Cornwell Muleya, has outlined his ambitions for the airline which include plans to expand "beyond the East African market" once all opportunities in the region have been exhausted.

► DUBAI: Emirates to deploy A340 to Lusaka/Harare, 777-300ER to Cape Town from September.

Emirates (EK) will from 1 September switch the operational aircraft currently deployed on its Dubai to Cape Town and Dubai to Harare via Lusaka flights. According to AirlineRoute, Harare/Lusaka will switch from the current 777-300ER to the Airbus A340-300 while Cape Town will see flights EK772/773 switch from the A340-300 to a 777-300ER. 

► TANZANIA: fastjet suspends South Africa launch as traffic rights to Lusaka, Kigali and Johannesburg are granted.

Struggling Tanzanian LCC, fastjet (FN), has been granted rights to service routes from Tanzania to South Africa, Zambia and Rwanda it has emerged. As a result of this development, the fastjet board has taken the decision to put the July 1 launch of its domestic South African operation temporarily on hold so that it can direct all its efforts and resources to starting its international services as soon as possible

► CHINA: Kenya Airways, China Southern expand codeshare to encompass more routes.

Kenya Airways (KQ) has expanded the scope of its code share agreement with fellow SkyTeam member, China Southern Airlines (CZ). Under the expanded agreement, Kenya Airways will code share on China Southern Airlines services from Bangkok to Wuhan, one of the busiest cities in Central China that is an important centre for trade, finance and transportation.

► ZAMBIA: See Pics of Proflight Zambia's inaugural 737 flight between Lusaka and Livingstone

Proflight Zambia (P0) successfully deployed its B737-200ADV (MCN 23472 | ZS-SMD), leased from South Africa's Star Air (BRH), into active service on May 15 with its first revenue flight being Lusaka to Livingstone.

►► ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian expecting "pleasant surprise" from Boeing in Addis next week; plans Dubai as first 787 destination from 25 April.

[UPDATE 17 MAY] Believing Boeing will have a "pleasant surprise" in store for the global aviation community next week, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has tentatively scheduled its Boeing 787-8s to resume operations from April 25 with Dubai lined up as the Dreamliner's first potential destination.

►► ZAMBIA: Proflight Zambia to start Lubumbashi, Lilongwe ops from mid May.

[UPDATE 15 MAY] Proflight Zambia (P0) is set to embark on its first regional operations with the launch of 3x weekly Ndola - Lubumbashi (DRC) and 3x weekly Lusaka - Lilongwe (Malawi) flights, effective 16MAY13.

► ZAMBIA: See Pics of Proflight Zambia's first B737-200Adv in company colours!

Domestic Zambian operator, Proflight Zambia (P0), are set to deploy their first B737-200ADV (MCN 23472 | ZS-SMD), leased from South Africa's Star Air (BRH), into active service shortly.

► ZAMBIA: Ethiopian Airlines turned off further expansion into Zambia over poor loads on Ndola flights.

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) says very poor loads on its Addis Ababa – Ndola – Lubumbashi (DRC) – Addis Ababa flights launched back in late March are a cause for concern for the airline, with the Ethiopian carrier now hesitant to further expand into Zambia.

► MALAWI: Kenya Airways granted rights to Blantyre; 5th Freedom rights to Lusaka reinstated.

Kenya Airways (KQ) says it has been granted approval by the Malawian Government to begin flights into Blantyre's Chileka Airport effective June 3, 2013. In addition, its 5th Freedom Rights on the Lilongwe (Malawi) - Lusaka (Zambia) vv. sector of its Nairobi - Lilongwe - Lusaka - Nairobi vv. flights have also been reinstated. Neither of the developments at this time of writing, however, currently reflect on the GDS.

► ZAMBIA: Air Namibia acquires 5th Freedom rights to Lusaka - Harare vv. sector from May 1.

Air Namibia (SW) is set to enter the ever competitive Lusaka - Harare market through the granting of 5th freedom rights on the route effective May 1. The schedule is as follows:

► ZAMBIA: Mukuba Airlines outlines its planned domestic route network.

Zambia's first LCC, Mukuba Airlines, set to be operate out of the Victoria Falls town of Livingstone, has outlined its intended route network with flights set to range in cost from USD35 to USD50.