• The African Aviation Tribune •

Monday, May 20, 2013

► SOUTH SUDAN: Imatong Airlines looking to resume ops from July; seeks either an F50 or F27.

Kenyan-based South Sudanese specialists, Imatong Airlines, are to resume charter operations out of the Sudanese capital, Juba, from July 1, the carrier has confirmed to The African Aviation Tribune.

Nigerian carrier First Nation Airways (FRN) is to tentatively resume operations with the announcement of three times daily flights between Lagos and Abuja. It is understood that the airline's two Airbus A319s, on lease from the ILFC and due in Lagos in the near future, will be used to service the route.

As from 17JUN, Air Malta (KM), will launch a new scheduled service to Algeria’s capital, Algiers. The Maltese National Airline will operate two weekly flights every Monday and Thursday and expects to carry 6,000 passengers this summer.

A new potential buyer for bankrupt LCC 1Time (T4), has emerged in the form of PAKAfrica Aviation, a Pakistani aviation group, who have pitched USD1.6million (ZAR15million) for a "controlling stake" in South African firm, 1Time Holdings, owners of the LCC along with its MRO wing, JetWorx.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: ACSA appoints new Managing Director and Financial Director.

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has announced that Mr Bongani Maseko and Ms Maureen Manyama-Matome have been appointed Managing Director and Financial Director, respectively. Cabinet approved the appointment of Mr Maseko on Wednesday, 15 May 2013.

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.

[UPDATE 19 MAY] Having postponed their intended December launch of flights to Brazil via Lome, Togo owing to "inconvenient slot times given the airline" by the Brazilian aviation authorities, Ethiopian Airlines is said to be readying itself for a possible 1 June 2013 service to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil via Lome, Togo.

► NIGERIA: ExecuJet completes MRO check on Hawker 800XP jet as Lagos market sees strong demand.

ExecuJet Africa’s Maintenance Repair Organisation (MRO) facility at Mohammed Murtala International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, has completed a first base maintenance check on a Hawker 800XP aircraft amidst high demand for the service. The Lagos MRO, an authorised service facility for Bombardier and Hawker Beechcraft, has additional aircraft due in for scheduled base maintenance checks, including another Hawker 800XP and a Bombardier Global Express.

Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ), has this month increased its frequencies on its Amman – Algiers route through the addition of a 4th weekly service. The new service operates on Tuesdays.

The Aviation Herald writes that on May 12, a Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-200, (MSN 229 | OO-SFY), operating as flight SN465 from Entebbe to Brussels suffered compressor stalls after take off from Entebbe and was forced to return to the Ugandan airport shortly after.

[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.

[UPDATE 17 MAY] AirlineRoute writes that Ethiopian Airlines (ET) will from 01APR13 to 17JUN13 temporarily reduces its Addis Ababa – Beijing service, with the overall operation dropping to 6 weekly flights instead of the current daily. Boeing 777-200LR aircraft operates this route.

South African Airways (SA) claims the downstream economic benefit of its Group operations over the next twenty years will total USD107billion (ZAR1trillion), Acting Chairperson, Ms Duduzile Myeni, has said. The estimate is based on direct and indirect growth in direct and downstream employment creation with a forecast of 88'000 South African jobs across on aggregate through all sectors including tourism, foreign direct investments, goods and services.

South African Airways Cargo, and air cargo in general in South Africa, is suffering at the hands of a buoyant East African economy, a weak South African Rand and an influx of foreign carriers to countries that were, in the past, reliant on a Johannesburg hub for their international exports.

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) has issued a tender for the rehabilitation and upgrading of Messla Airport (27°58'29''N, 22°21'30''E) situated 500 km southeast of Benghazi along the Egyptian border. The Messla field was discovered in 1971 and is considered one of the biggest oil fields in the Libyan Sirte basin.

South Africa's Solenta Aviation has recently been awarded GOLD status by the Flight Safety Foundation after holding GREEN status for 3 consecutive years, becoming just the third company in the world to achieve such Safety and Quality recognition. In addition, the operator has announced the acquisition of a stake in CFA Mozambique SA which has now been renamed Solenta Aviation Mozambique.

► SOUTH AFRICA: fastjet's launch delayed until July - Bodin.

As previously speculated by The African Aviation Tribune, fastjet (FN), has indeed announced a postponement in its planned South African venture with flights now set to commence from July 1, the carrier's chief commercial officer, Richard Bodin, has said.

► FLEET UPDATE BULLETIN: Royal Air Maroc, Marsland Aviation, Syphax, Ghadames Air & Kenya Airways.

The following is a fleet update bulletin for aircraft that are in use, have been in use or will be in use for these listed airlines: Royal Air Maroc (AH), Marsland Aviation (M7), Syphax Airlines (FS), Ghadames Air Transport (0G), and Kenya Airways (KQ).

AJW Aviation has been chosen by Air Arabia Egypt (E5), Egypt’s only low-cost carrier, to provide "power-by-the-hour" support and leased inventory for two of its A320 aircraft.

British Airways (BA) plans to leverage Kenya’s strategic position to help improve its market share in East & Central Africa and South Sudan, with the region's recent discovery of oil and minerals set to boost it's passenger and cargo traffic potential, BA's regional commercial manager George Mawadri, has said.

Somalia's Minister for Information, Abdullahi Elmoge Hersi, says his government has once more resumed control of its national airspace after twenty years following a handing over ceremony held at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) who collectively form the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS).

►► 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.

South African Airways (SA) will at last, begin taking delivery of twenty Airbus A320s in the next quarter (i.e.. July - September), South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, has said. The order has been repeatedly deferred owing to SAA's ongoing financial woes.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has been revealed as the potential partner the Congolese government has approached apropos the setting up of a renewed national carrier to replace the semi-defunct LAC Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (4V).

The Nigerian Minister of Civil Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has officially unveiled her country's revised dossier on aviation dubbed "the Revised National Civil Aviation Policy 2013" (NCAP) needed, for what it terms, to bring new and sustainable regulatory structures into the industry for the safety and security of airline passengers and crew.

Air Zimbabwe (UM) is understood to have short-listed five possible candidates to for the post of airline chief executive officer (CEO) following a call for submissions earlier this year.

The future of Royal Air Maroc (AH) is still cloudy though the Moroccan state backed national carrier airline could be party to a strategic alliance with an undisclosed major carrier in the Gulf ahead of a planned privatisation bid, the country’s tourism minister, Haddah Lahcen, has said.

► ANGOLA: Lufthansa switches Luanda to A330 ops from late October.

German carrier, Lufthansa (LH), will, from 27OCT13, switch its operational aircraft in use between Frankfurt and Luanda from Airbus A340-300 aircraft to A330-300. Capacity remains unchanged despite the aircraft adjustment.

Malawi and the United Arab Emirates are set to sign a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) in the coming weeks following a visit to the Southern African country by an Emirati delegation led by Mr. Khalid Ghanim Al Ghaith, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for Economic Affairs from the10th to 11th May, 2013.

Allied Air Cargo (4W) of Nigeria has selected Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI), to provide two firm B737-400SF 11 Pallet Configuration conversions, with an option for one additional conversion. The first aircraft is a high gross weight B737-400 (MSN 26081) built in 1993 and will undergo freighter modification in June 2013 at AEI’s Authorized Conversion Centre in Jacksonville, Florida.

Brazil and Mozambique could soon resume direct flights should Brazilian president, Dilma Youseff, consent to a bill already passed by the Brazilian Committee on Foreign Relations and the National Defense of Congress regarding the establishment of commercial flights between the South American country and Mozambique.

The Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) Company of South Africa and the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will result in better harmonised continental airspace, thereby improving the smoothness and cost-efficiency of the entire air traffic service chain between the two countries.

Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. has selected CHC Helicopter, a Canadian offshore helicopter services provider, for a five-year, multi-million dollar contract to support Shell's deep-water exploration activities off the coast of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria's largest carrier, Arik Air (W3), has formally launched negotiations with the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC) regarding traffic rights and landing slots for São Paulo, it has emerged.

The North African countries of Morocco and Egypt on May 5 finalized a renewed Bilateral Air Servcies Agreement which will see frequencies between the countries doubled from the previous seven, to fourteen weekly for each country's respective designated carrier(s). According to the head of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation (EHCAAN), Engineer Magdy Abd El-Hady Hafez, the revised BASA also allows for Egyptair (MS) to serve other cities outside of Casablanca, including the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

► MOROCCO: Royal Air Maroc outlines its planned E190 Summer routes.

Royal Air Maroc (AT) will this Summer lease two Embraer E190 aircraft from Holland's Denim Air ACMI (J7) for use on routes to Germany, Guinea Bissau, France, Denmark and the Canary Islands.

South African Airways (SA), from 01AUG13, is to increase capacity on it's Johannesburg – London Heathrow route, with 1 of its 2 daily flights scheduled to be operated by Airbus A340-600 aircraft on a daily basis.

UK-based Tanzanian LCC, fastjet (FN), is reportedly to commence regional operations to the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls starting June 4, Swiss aviation newswire ch-aviation reports.

Hot on the heels of its larger northern neighbour, Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport and its aerotropolis/aerocity plans, Bloemfontein's Bram Fischer International Airport is now set to launch its own bid for an aerocity.

Leading on from our previous report, Air Burundi (8Y) says it intends to resume operations on June 1 with flights between Bujumbura and the Rwandan capital, Kigali, using its MA60 aircraft. The GDS however, has yet to reflect any open flights.

Nigeria's Allied Air Cargo (4W) have launched a new weekly Ostend to Freetown, Sierra Leone flight via Lagos Nigeria. The maiden flight was launched on May 11.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is carrying out feasibility studies for the possible construction of an aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility to serve the region, the organization's Regional Director in charge of Air Transport, Dr. Paul Antoine Marie Ganemtore, has said.

Cape Verde’s airport management company, Empresa Nacional de Aeroportos e Segurança Aérea (ASA), says it is planning to spend over EUR17million to spend (CVE1.8billion) on renovating and expanding the country's airport infrastructure in line with the it's vision of providing quality service to the country's growing tourism industry.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways, Kenya Tourism Board sign joint marketing deal.

Kenya Airways (KQ), and the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) have entered into a one-year joint marketing programme to boost tourist arrivals. Under the deal, the Kenyan national carrier will bankroll the KTB to the tune of USD240'000 (KSH20million) while in return, the KTB will ensure KQ brand visibility at its tourism promotion forums as they seek to increase the number of tourists visiting Kenya.

Qatar Airways (QR) has been operating an increased weekly service between Doha and the Egyptian capital, Cairo, since late-April 2013, where it now offers 16 weekly flights instead of 14. Extra flights operate on Thursdays and Saturdays from Doha.

British Airways (BA) could make a return to Dar es Salaam once market conditions are conducive, the Deputy British High Commissioner to Tanzania, Julian Chandler, has said. British Airways pulled its three times weekly service to the Tanzanian capital on March 31.

[UPDATE 12 MAY] A Portuguese national who made a wise-crack about having a bomb in his luggage that was ready to explode is due to appear in court in São Tomé today. The man, Manuel Ferreira, was travelling with his wife on STP Airways (8F) flight 8F508 from São Tomé International Airport to Lisbon earlier this week when he made the remarks.

► SOUTH AFRICA: SAA Cargo leasing a B737-400F from Solinair.

SAA Cargo, the freight division of South African Airways (SA), has wet-leased a B737-400F, (MCN 1715 | S5-ABV), from Slovenia's Solinair (SOP). Regional competitor, Kenya Airways Cargo (KQ), recently upped its game through the addition of its first B737-300F, (MSN 29088 | 5Y-KQC).

Monday, May 20, 2013

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Friday, May 17, 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Monday, May 13, 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013