■ ZIMBABWE: Unlucky FreshAir hoping to relaunch in December as 1Time officially heads for liquidation.

Nu-Aero, the 51% majority shareholders in Zimbabwean LCC, Fresh Air (Z7), have stated that flights between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg (ORTIA), South Africa "could" resume as early as next month, in time to capitalize on the Christmas period, if a suitable technical partner can be found.

► NIGER: Turkish Airlines to start 3x weekly Niamey, Ouagadougou flights from December.

Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and a Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the Governments of Niger and Turkey in May, the Nigerien ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport today  announced that Turkish Airlines is to start flights between Turkey, Niger and Burkina Faso effective mid December.

► DJIBOUTI: Egyptair set to start Cairo - Djibouti flights in near future.

Djibouti Aviation officials on Thursday announced that, following the signing of a bilateral air services agreement between Djibouti and Egypt by the Director of Djiboutian Civil Aviation, Almis Mahamoud Haid, and the Egyptian Director of the Department of Transportation, Khaled Abd El Monem, Egyptian carrier Egyptair (MS) will soon start several direct flights per week between the two countries.

►► SOUTH AFRICA: Ethiopian delays B787 service to Johannesburg 'til December.

[UPDATED 8 NOVEMBER 2012] Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is to further delay its planned deployment of the Boeing 787 on its daily Ababa – Johannesburg, South Africa route until 30 November 2012. The route will remain at a Boeing 737-800.

■ TANZANIA: AeroVista, Air Tanzania talks fall through; this time for good?

A photo of AeroVista's Boeing 737-500 (MSN 27354 | 4L-AJB) in Cairo, Egypt has led to speculation that the Dubai-based ACMI company's negotiations with Tanzanian national carrier, Air Tanzania (TC), have fallen through. 

■ TUNISIA: Tunisair plans massive layoffs after posting $98m loss for 2011.

Following its AGM last night in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, Tunisair's boss (TU) has officially outlined controversial plans to restructure the state-owned airline after it declared a whooping USD98.3million (EUR77.2million) loss for 2011. The move is certain to earn it the wrath of its powerful unions who, in the past, have played a pivotal role in protecting the carrier from both local and foreign competition.

► VIETNAM: Kenya Airways, Vietnam Airlines sign code share deal.

Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced the signing of a code share agreement with Vietnam Airlines (VN) that will see the Kenyan carrier expanding its footprint in the South East Asian market. Recently, KQ signed a similar code share deal with Korean Air (KE) and Saudia(SV).

■ MAURITIUS: Situation improving at Air Mauritius despite Q2 $11million loss.

Mauritian carrier Air Mauritius (MK) has posted a pretax loss of USD11.4million (EUR8.9 million) for H1 (Q2) of its 2012/2013 Financial Year. 

■ NIGERIA: Government fines British Airways and Virgin $235m over price fixing - again.

A Nigerian Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday ordered the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to work with the Nigerian Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in ensuring British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic (VS) pay fines of USD135 million and USD100million respectively after both were found guilty on various counts of price fixing and coercion.

► ALGERIA: Air Algérie now wants Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Amsterdam, New York in addition to Joburg and Lagos.

Following on from our previous report, Algerian carrier, Air Algèrie (AH) has announced plans to open routes to South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria, the Netherlands, the United States and a second route in China.

► GHANA: Cargolux puts Boeing 747-8F onto Accra via Abidjan route.

Tuesday 6 November 2012 marked the inaugural flight of Luxembourg-based cargo-operator, Cargolux (CV)'s Boeing 747-8F to Accra, Ghana. The new aircraft will be operate as part of Cargolux's weekly Luxembourg - Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire) - Accra (Ghana) route.

►► ZAMBIA: Ethiopian to operate 787/777 service to Harare & Lusaka for duration of October.

[UPDATE 7 NOVEMBER 2012] Despite having previously announced that its originally intended Boeing 787  Dreamliner service from Addis Ababa to Harare, Zimbabwe and Lusaka, Zambia was cancelled, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has loaded a 6x weekly Dreamliner service onto the route, with a Boeing 777-200LR once weekly starting 30 September 2012 and valid until 27 October 2012.

►► INDIA: Ethiopian goes daily 787 to Mumbai from November.

[UPDATE 7 NOVEMBER 2012] With its third Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (MSN: 34747 | ET-AOS) now just recently delivered, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has announced the launch of daily 787 flight from Addis Ababa to Mumbai, India, effective 25 November 2012.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Fly Go-Air to launch Lanseria - Mpumulanga on 25 November using CRJ-100s.

As the dust has yet to settle following the demise of South African LCC, 1Time (T6), so start-up Fly Go-Air (KEM) has announced that it will launch operations on Sunday 25 November with 6x weekly flights between Johannesburg's Lanseria airport and Kruger/Mpumulanga International Airport; its website is now "live".

■ ANGOLA: New wave of airport construction projects outlined in Kuando-Kubango.

Riding its continued economic high thanks to record oil prices, Angola has announced a second massive phase of aviation infrastructure development with news that it intends to build several new airports/aerodromes in and around the province of Kuando-Kubango.

► NIGERIA: Med-View Airlines to launch on 8 November with Lagos - Abuja, Lagos Port Harcourt.

Med-View Airline (VL) have announced they will launch scheduled ops effective Thursday 8 November 2012. According to its lulzy, amateurish website, the airline will operate domestically with Lagos - Abuja, Lagos - Port Harcourt as its initial routes, whilst Abuja - Port Harcourt and Maiduguri - Yola are to come later.

► ALGERIA: Iberia starts Oran, Algiers from Summer 2013.

Spanish carrier Iberia (IB), from Summer 2013, will expand its operations in Algeria, with the service resumption of Alicante – Oran and the addition of Valencia – Algiers effective 31 March 2013. The routes are to be operated with either a Bombardier CRJ200 or CRJ900 aircraft.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Air Zimbabwe unveils Johannesburg timetable; to charge USD420 return.

Air Zimbabwe (UM) have unveiled their proposed timetable for Harare - Johannesburg (ORTIA), South Africa flights set to begin 12 November 2012. The 4x weekly flights will initially be operated with a Boeing 767-200ER, before switching to an Airbus A320.

► TANZANIA: fastjet announces initial domestic and regional routes.

fastjet has revealed its first routes to be served when it launches later this month. In an bizarre interview with with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown," fastjet CEO, Ed Winter, announced the first destinations to be Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda, though could not give an exact date for operations to start, as "all the necessary government approvals were not yet in place."

► NAMIBIA: Air Namibia announces numerous changes to its timetable from January 2013 onwards.

Air Namibia (SW) has announced various changes to its operational schedule. These changes are to take effect from 15 January 2013 onwards.