Mozambican national carrier Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, better known as LAM Mozambique Airlines
(TM), has, via the Agência de Informação de Moçambique (the official Mozambique News Agency), announced it is to increase the frequency of its Embraer 190 operated flights between Maputo, Mozambique and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 2x weekly, to 3x weekly.
After a long delivery flight that was routed Tianjin - Changsha - Kunming - Kolkata - Ahmedabad - Abu Dhabi - Djibouti - Entebbe before finally arriving at Accra's Kotoka International Airport at 11.22am today, Ghana's Africa World Airlines (AW) new Embraer ERJ145 (c/n 14500996 | 9G-AET) was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute by the airport's fire department.
With a second Bae146-200 (aka AvroRJ 85) (MSN E2196 | OO-DJJ) having joined its fleet on Tuesday 28 August, George Forrest, the Belgian businessman and chairman of Korongo Airlines (ZC), the Lubumbashi based joint venture between Brussels Airlines (40.40%), Forrest Group (39.60%) and local DRC investors (20%), has announced that its next intended destinations within Congo are to be: Mbuji-Mayi (Eastern Kasai), Kolwezi (Katanga), followed by Goma (North Kivu) and Kisangani (Eastern Province).
Press reports out of Cape Town, South Africa state that tenders will soon be issued for flights to the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, part of a group of islands in the Mid/South Atlantic Ocean that includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha, with the contract being awarded "next year.""The island will have open skies but it’s planned to start its own St Helena airline to provide regular scheduled services. Flights from Cape Town are expected to take three and a half hours. Tenders will be called for soon and a contract awarded early next year."
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| St Helena's remote location in the Atlantic. |
In a Q&A session before the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on Tuesday 28 August 2012, South African Airways (SA) CEO Siza Mzimela gave an overview of SAA's current financial state and outlook in addition to future route developments, critical to the carrier's long term viability.
Following on from our report last week that South African firm 1Time Holdings had declared its two subsidiaries, LCC 1Time (T6) and maintenance arm JetWorx, to be in financial distress, the South African Companies Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC), has approved a Nominated Business Practitioner (NBP) to oversee 1Time's business plan reform process over the coming next three months - Gerhard Holtzhauzen, CEO
of Strategic Turnaround Solutions, has been appointed. Holtzhauzen was positive about the company's potential: "We have a head-start because a turnaround strategy for 1time has been contemplated by a proactive management team."
"During yesterday’s consultation, we were informed that the process had been put off for the time being owing to the appointment of a business rescue specialist. The specialist must draw up a refinancing and restructuring plan for the company. The company will also be given the opportunity to develop and to implement a business rescue plan and to carry on its operations at the same time. 1time Holdings, Jetworx and the business rescue specialist will be requested in a letter to involve Solidarity in the process.” Solidarity spokesperson Marius Croucamp said.
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| Blacky Komani - 1Time CEO (CP) |
"If this is true [1Time's withdrawal from Mombasa], other airlines might follow if charges keep going up. Authorities at times in the past just raised fees with little notice and until fares are adjusted the carriers have to absorb that added cost. Proposals in the new VAT bill spell doom for aviation in Kenya, like moving from an exempt status to a double digit tax figure. Those who drafted the bill are either totally uninformed or else agents of doom for the airline industry in Kenya."
Mauritian carrier Air Mauritius (MK) will, between 21 December 2012 and 13 January 2013, operate a twice weekly Durban night flight on a Friday & Sunday. No mention as yet has been made as to what equipment they will operate on the route, though it is likely to be an Airbus A319. 
Yet another player is attempting to enter the Zimbabwean airline market, this time its regional safari operators Wilderness Safaris whose Zimbabwean arm has applied for a commercial airline licence to service domestic, regional and international routes. |
| Bumi Air in Harare (Luck Brown) |
"Even if Air Zimbabwe was flying, what we are looking at is access to destinations,” Kaseke said. “We look at an airline that has got the most connection from all destinations. “So South African Airways is well connected because it flies to far many more destinations than any other airlines. “So it’s not about Air Zimbabwe’s woes that we are talking about here. “Even if Air Zimbabwe was not having any problems, I think the first reasonable decision would be to say South African Airways is the preferred airline.”"
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| 1Time/FreshAir in Harare (Luck Brown) |
After a hefty 57% drop in annual profits coupled with the nasty storm kicked up by its planned workforce layoffs earlier this month, Kenya Airways' (KQ) has at last announced some positive news to the effect that it has been granted an operator's licence for its planned Low Cost Carrier (LCC), Jambo Jet, by the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, the airline is about to seal a loan for roughly USD80million (KSh7billion) with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of a larger financing deal worth KSh34billion ($400 million), necessary to finance the carrier's pre-delivery payments for a fleet of nine Boeing 787-800 Dreamliners, the first of which is expected in 2014.Source [BusinessDaily Africa]'Negotiations for the loan are already at an advanced stage, the outgoing IFC director for eastern and southern Africa Jean Philippe Prosper, said in an interview.“We have agreed with Kenya Airways on the terms of the loan, but we have not signed it yet. We will do the signing in the next few months,” said Mr Prosper.'
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| Kenya Airways latest E190 in Brazil |
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| Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's Terminal 4 Expansion Plan |
“The significance of this project to our continued profitability as an airline cannot be under-estimated. Kenya Airways and its partners in the SkyTeam alliance will contribute 70-80 per cent of the traffic to the new terminal. The cost of constructing the new terminal will be borne by the passengers that we will put through the new terminal. It is therefore logical that we must be listened to and be seen to be heard,” said Naikuni.Source [StandardMedia]
After a 22 year hiatus, brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union and along with it, the Derg Regime of Ethiopian strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo, on 15 August, reintroduced a twice weekly direct Addis Ababa - Moscow, Domodedovo flight using a Boeing 757-200PCF. |
| Ethiopian Airlines Cargo Boeing 757-200PCF in Moscow (Alexey Viper) |
Source [Domodedovo Airport]"For the first time in 22 years a direct flight will be performed from Ethiopia to Moscow. Ethiopian Airlines will operate its first cargo flight from Addis Abeba to the capital of Russia. It will be loaded with the beautiful and fragrant cargo – flowers, that are intended to be demonstrated during the “Week of Ethiopian Flowers” exhibition which will be held from 17th to 19th of August at All-Russia Exhibition Center. Starting from August 2012 Ethiopian Airlines will operate regular cargo flights to Domodedovo twice a week. The main cargo goods transported from Ethiopia to Russia include flowers, coffee, olives and beans, gold, leather and spices."
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| Ghana's Africa World Airlines' Embraer ERJ145 '9G-AET' in Xi'an, China. |
Dubai based carrier Emirates (EK) will, from 1 February 2013, switch from an Airbus A330-200 to a Boeing 777-300ER on its daily Dubai - Lusaka - Harare route. The date is iconic in that it will be the 1 year anniversary of the route's introduction. |
| Economy Class cabin on-board an Emirates 777-300ER (moaksey) |
With the first of its two new Bombardier CRJ900NGs (MSN# 15286| 9XR-WH) due in by the middle of October 2012 and the second due in mid November, so Rwandan national carrier RwandAir (WB) has outlined the future routes they will be used on, in addition to various new frequencies to come into effect from 31 October 2012. |
| RwandAir CRJ900 '9XR-WH' |
In a sign that times are getting even tougher for Ghanaian domestic carrier CTK CiTylinK Airlines (CTQ), it has emerged that its Fokker 100 (MSN: 11407 | 9A-BTD), wet leased only recently in May of this year, has been returned to its owner, Croatia's Trade Air, as a result of the airline's inability to pay its leasing fees. |
| CTK's now ex-Fokker 100 in happier times. |
Reuters Newswire is reporting that the South Sudanese Government is looking for an "international company" to enter into a potential private/public joint venture for the running of a new South Sudanese national carrier. The government plans to retain a minority 20% stake in the
airline, and will sell 31% to the domestic South Sudanese private sector with the remaining 49% being sold to international investors.
Originally scheduled to be airborne by late July, the joint venture known as Air Cote d'Ivoire - 65%
owned by the State of Ivory Coast, and the remaining 35% by the
Strategic Partner made up of Air France Finance (20%) and Aérienne de
Participation-Côte d’Ivoire (15%) - is now expected to take to the skies by the latest end of October, according to reports from Abidjan.
Contrary to the reported increase in June, Kenya Airways is to retain its current 3x weekly Nairobi - Delhi, India service. Its planned 4x weekly increase is henceforth rescinded. |
| Kenya Airways B767-300ER arriving in Nairobi from Delhi |
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| 1Time in Zimbabwe. (Luck Brown) |
"It is business as usual and passengers have nothing to fear."
Very strong growth in the Tanzanian domestic market has forced Tanzanian carrier Precision Air (PW) to mix, match and in some cases scratch destinations served as demand for aircraft available and profitability on certain routes has stretched the airline to capacity.
Another sad day today in African aviation as a Kenyan registered LET 410 (unconfirmed 5Y-UVP) belonging to Mombasa Air Safari (RRV) crashed on take off from Ngerende Airstrip in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya bound for Mombasa, killing the two pilots and two German tourists on-board with another three were critically injured. The other four passengers received injuries of varying degrees, though are in a stable condition.
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| Alfa Air Sudan An26 (ST-ARL) (UR-SDV) |
Source [The Aviation Herald]"Local Television reported the aircraft went around on its first attempt to land in Talodi due to weather but did not manage to climb above the terrain during the go-around. Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority reported at the time of the crash, visibility was substantially reduced due to a dust and dirt storm in the area. "
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| (ex) CEIBA Intercontinental Boeing 777-200LR (sabian404) |
The first pictures out of Montreal's Mirabel Airport, Canada have emerged of Rwandan flag carrier RwandAir's (WB) first of two Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 900NGs (MSN# 15286| 9XR-WH), due for delivery in October of this year. The value of the two CRJ 900s together is USD$185million.Source [Bombardier]"Based on our experience with the CRJ200 aircraft, the dual-class 75-seat CRJ900 NextGen aircraft was the logical upgrade. CRJ900 NextGen aircraft also provide exceptional reliability and have much in common with other CRJ aircraft. These aircraft will be configured with seven business class seats and 68 economy class seats."
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| RwandAir CRJ900 '9XR-WH' in the paintshop. |
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| All done. (RwandAir) |
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| Turkish Airlines Africa Network (Updated) |
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| Cathay Pacific 747 in Johannesburg (ascendent) |
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| Ethiopian Airlines 767 at Bangkok, Thailand (AJori) |
