After a heavy loss of USD26.8million during the 2010/2011 Financial Year, The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) announced yesterday that it had made a profit of USD22million for the 2011/2012 Financial Year, though it is unlikely that any South African airlines will be joining in the celebrations, as the main factor behind ACSA's return to profitability - a 70% hike in its tariffs - is one of the reasons why 1Time is in Business Rescue and Comair Limited posted no dividend for the same Financial Year.
Antalya-based tour operator Corendon Airlines (XC), a joint Turkish and Dutch registered airline, today announced that effective 1 October the carrier would launch a weekly Amsterdam, Holland - Banjul, The Gambia service which would increase to a 3x weekly service from 1 November onwards.
Its 22nd destination in Africa, Dubai based Emirates (EK) today announced it will serve the Algerian capital, Algiers, with a daily Airbus A330-200 effective 1 March 2013. With the Airbus A330's belly-hold capacity of 12
tonnes, Emirates SkyCargo expects to export commodities such as frozen fish, lobsters, oil and gas equipment and
palm oil to points across its network whilst imports including a variety of
manufactured goods are expected to form the bulk of goods shipped into Algeria.
Nigerian carrier, Arik Air (W3) and German maintenance service provider, Lufthansa Technik last week renewed a contract signed in 2006, that will see the German outfit along with Lufthansa Cityline - a sister company providing regional European flights under the Lufthansa brand - providing technical support to Arik Air in the areas of line maintenance,
base maintenance, materials and pool parts among others for the next
five years.
As part of their strategy of efficient utilisation of their aircraft, Namibian carrier Air Namibia (SW) have again announced various changes to both their regional and international network, effective from October 2012 (the precise dates are subject to each individual post).
Originally due in Q4 of this year, Morocco's national carrier, Royal Air Maroc (AT), will only, according to press reports, be taking delivery of its first two Boeing 787 Dreamliners in Q4 2014, which now means that Kenya Airways (KQ) will be the second African operator of the type after Ethiopian Airlines (ET), if their Boeing 787 order comes through in late 2013.
South Africa's Comair Ltd, the parent company of British Airways (Comair) (BA) and LCC Kulula (MN) today reported that it would not issue a dividend despite seeing a 16% growth in its revenue from USD440million in June 2011, to USD510million for the year ending June 30, 2012.
Eritrean Airlines (B8), the Eritrean national carrier, has announced that effective 1 October 2012, it will drop Frankfurt, Germany from its route network. The route is currently serviced once weekly via Rome, Italy using an Airbus A319, down from its original 3x weekly frequency when the route was inaugurated in April.
Using its various interline partners in West Africa, Saudi Airlines Cargo (SV) is to launch cargo services from Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Cotonou (Benin), Douala (Cameroon), Libreville (Gabon), Lomé (Togo), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Niamey (Niger) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) via its new Lagos, Nigeria hub, which it presently serves with a daily Boeing 747F.
Mozambican national carrier LAM Mozambique (TM) is, at the end of this month, to receive a Boeing 737-500 (likely MSN: 25418 | ZS-PKV), in addition to its third and final Embraer E190 due in late October/early November, as the carrier moves to consolidate itself domestically and regionally writes the Mozambican national daily, O País.
Emirates (EK) is to increase its Airbus A340-500 operated flights between Dubai and Mahé, Seychelles from 11x weekly, to 12x weekly with an added Monday flight effective 3 December 2012. From 5 February 2013, the airline is to add a 13th weekly frequency on a Tuesday.
AeroVista's Tanzanian subsidiary, currently embroiled in a dispute with Tanzanian national carrier Air Tanzania (TC) over a cancelled lease for its Boeing 737-500 (MSN 27354 | 4L-AJB), has applied for and received an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) from the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority for its Boeing 737s. The certificate is essentially an approval granted from a national aviation authority to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes.
Gambia Bird, the new 90/10 venture between German carrier, Germania (ST) and the Gambian government is shortly to receive its first Airbus A319-100 (MSN 4663 | D-ASTA) as the company looks to enter the West African market with initial flights expected to be between Banjul, Gambia and Conakry (Guinea), Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Lagos (Nigeria). London Gatwick has also been mentioned as a likely destination.
Zimbabwean aviation blog, Harare Airport Blogger, reports that private Zimbabwean start-up LCC, FreshAir, a 51/49 joint venture between Nu.Com (Pvt) Ltd of Zimbabwe and 1Time Holdings Ltd of South Africa, has unveiled its logo and has begun to advertise for routes between Harare, Bulawayo, Johannesburg and Victoria Falls with flights costing from USD50. Its website however - http://www.fly-fresh.com - is still under construction.
As Joyce Banda's Malawian government pushes on with its cost cutting measures aimed at freeing the ailing African nation's fiscus from millstone parastatals, up for sale is Air Malawi (QM) Ltd, in which the Malawian Government has pledged to honour all the national flag carrier's debts and liabilities as part of a deal sweetener.
South African Express Airways (XZ), better known as SA Express, has announced, effective 2 September 2012, it’ll introduce a 6th daily operation on its Johannesburg – Gaborone, Bostwana route while domestically the airline will add a 4th weekly Cape Town – George, South Africa flight in addition to increasing its Johannesburg – George, South Africa route frequencies from 20x to 24x weekly.
The Zimbabwean Government cabinet is this week expected to meet in order to come up with a viable strategy capable of putting failed national carrier, Air Zimbabwe (UM), back in the air, with particular emphasis on returning it to international service.
Effective Winter (28 October 2012), Russian carrier Aeroflot (SU) is planning to introduce a 3x weekly Ilyushin 96-300 operated flight between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Hurghada, Egypt.
On a day of two contrasting fortunes, Jimoh Ibrahim's troubled venture Air Nigeria (VK), having teetered on the brink of collapse for some time, is to call it quits from 10 September 2012 following months of uncertainty in which leased aircraft were ceased, company directors arrested and allegations of safety oversights and tax evasion.
Though previously scheduled to have started from 14 September 2012, today marked the resumption of Libyan Airlines' (LN) Tripoli, Libya - Manchester, United Kingdom service that was suspended in 2011 due to the Libyan Civil War. The flight is operated using a leased Tunisian Nouvelair Airbus A320, as both Afriqiyah and Libyan Airlines are banned from flying into EU airspace over concerns about aircraft maintenance documentation and personnel certification.
Ghanaian domestic operator Antrak Air (O4) last week took delivery of its second ATR72-200 (MCN: 171 | EC-KAD) from Spain's Swiftair, a month after the airline returned to active service with another Swiftair ATR72, as the Ghanaian airline scene begins to heat up.
In a press statement today, Ethiopian Airlines announced that its Cargo division, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo will, on 19 September 2012, receive its
first of six B777 Freighters it ordered in October 2011, with a second due in October 2012 and the rest to come in 2014.
With the signing of a new Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Mauritania and Morocco last week, Mauritania Airlines International (L6) and Moroccan national carrier Royal Air Maroc (AT) will each be able to operate seven weekly flights between Nouakchott and Casablanca.
In the first developments following the announcement last week of an "alliance" of sorts between Air Mauritius (MK), Air Madagascar (MD) and Réunion-based Air Austral (UU), Air Austral and Air Madagascar are to enter into a twice weekly codeshare service on the Saint Denis, Réunion - Antananarivo, Madagascar route.
Over the course of the coming year, Namibian carrier, Air Namibia (SW) is allegedly to start direct flights between Namibia and Nigeria, according to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, speaking as a proxy for Nigeria's Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah-Ogiewonyi. He made the remarks during the recently ended 18th Aviation & Allied Business Leadership Conference, held over the weekend in Windhoek, Namibia.
In a sign that strained relations between Sudan and its new southern neighbour, South Sudan, are improving, the two countries' civil aviation authorities on Friday reached a
provisional deal that now opens the way for Sudanese carriers to restart direct flights between Khartoum and Juba, though whether flights between other towns and cities have been given the go ahead, is unclear.
"The press release from the Ministry of Transport said Mr. Cooper is in the country to explore possibilities for the airways to recommence flights to Liberia. Mr. Cooper said the level of peace in Liberia makes it an ideal moment for British Airways to do business here again. Deputy Minister J. Ebenezer Kolliegbo told Mr. Cooper that the decision
Quite a few eyebrows were raised in Nairobi during the presentation last week of Kenya Airways' (KQ) annual report in which it was revealed that executives' wages at the airline had risen by almost 25% over the last year; a development that comes at a time when the airline is facing protracted legal battles and now even Prime Ministerial condemnation over plans to lay off (or as KQ would prefer, "outsource") 650 'excess' employees cited by the company as being amongst the causes for their 57% slump in profits last year.
Tanzania's Precision Air (PW), in addition to announcing its partnership with Vodacom Tanzania in launching M-Pesa - an innovative method of paying for one's air tickets using cellphone airtime - and having received a shot in the arm last week when 41% shareholder Kenya Airways (KQ) announced it would inject "between USD4 - 6million" into the carrier from its own USD80million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help aid the Tanzanian regional carrier's fleet expansion plans, today announced plans to resurrect its service to Harare, Zimbabwe albeit via Blantyre, Malawi, and not Lilongwe, Malawi, as originally intended.
After its recent acquisition by the Fly540 group of FastJet fame, flySAX, formerly East African Safari Air Express (B5), has just received its Fokker F28 (MSN: 11229 | 5Y-EEE) painted in the company's new colours, and ready for service.
Bucking the ongoing trend amongst European carriers of reducing their frequencies to the Indian Ocean island, Dubai based mega-carrier, Emirates (EK), has announced an increase in its weekly frequencies from 11x weekly to 12x weekly from 28 October 2012, with the route going 14x weekly from 28 November 2012.
Germany's second largest airline, Air Berlin (AB) will, from 7 April, cease its twice weekly Airbus A330 flight from Munich, Germany to Mombasa, Kenya, adding yet another airline to the growing list of carriers pulling out of the Kenyan port city route, as the Eurozone crisis continues to hurt the pockets of Europeans, with African tourism experiencing a knock on effect.
As previously reported by The African Aviation Tribune, Congolese private carrier Equatorial Congo Airlines, better known as EC Air Congo (LC), last week Friday 24 August, inaugurated its first international route: a 3x weekly Brazzaville, Congo - Paris (Charles de Gaulle) service using a Boeing 757-200 leased from Switzerland's PrivatAir.
According to Amadeus, Fly540 Ghana (5G) is to venture further into the regional field when it launches flights from its Accra, Ghana hub to Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Nigeria all in quick succession
Unconfirmed reports out of Ghana claim that Egyptian carrier, Egyptair (MS), having allegedly considered "other options" on the Ghanaian scene, are "in talks" to acquire "about a 50% stake" in the struggling Ghanaian domestic operator CTK CiTylinK Airlines (CTQ)."Egypt Air will control 50 percent stake in the airline while majority shareholder, Tei Azu and other local investors will own the rest of the shares. Citi Business News also
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| Emirates Airbus A380 (Emirates) |
Following a meeting of the board of directors of Air Mauritius (MK), Appalsamy Thomas, the current Chairman of Mauritius Telecom, and Andre Viljoen were elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Mauritius respectively. |
| Andre Viljoen (FM) |
