► GUINEA: Zambia's Stabo Air starts 1x weekly Conakry, Dakar, Banjul cargo ops.

Zambian cargo and passenger air charter service, Stabo Air, has launched a 1x weekly (Day 6) Boeing 757 operated cargo service between Dakar, Conakry and Banjul.

►►► NIGERIA: United Airlines to start 787 service to Lagos from 2013.

[UPDATE 17 FEBRUARY] American megacarrier United Airlines (UA) is to start a 5x weekly service between Houston, Texas and the Nigerian city of Lagos using its soon-to-be delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliner, effective 7 January 2013.

■ GHANA: Fuel shortages ground domestic airlines 'til Tuesday; international operators forced to make other plans.

An ongoing jet fuel crisis caused by supply problems in Togo and exacerbated by lack of reserve at the national oil refinery in Tema, has compelled Ghana's domestic operators to suspend flights for the next three days (Sunday included), say reports out of Accra.

► NIGERIA: Accident Investigation Bureau releases updated report on Dana Air 9J-992 crash; 8 other final reports.

The Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released its preliminary report on the Dana Air 9J-992 Accident which claimed over 160 lives in June last year, in addition to several other air accident enquiries dating back almost 10 years.

► ZAMBIA: Emirates looking to start direct Livingstone flights for duration of UNWTO.

In preparation for the upcoming XXth United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly to be held in Victoria Falls in August this year, Emirates (EK) has applied to the Zambian Department of Civil Aviation for traffic rights to serve Livingstone directly.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: (Pic) Air Cote d'Ivoire to launch domestic network in coming months following arrival of E170 Jet.

Air Côte d'Ivoire (HF) has taken delivery of its Embraer 170 (MSN 307 | F-HBXH) wet-leased from Air France thereby supplementing the carrier's current fleet of two Airbus A319s.

■■ SWAZILAND: (Pics) A look at the controversial Sikhuphe International Airport due to open in 2013.

Swaziland's Sikhuphe International Airport Terminal due to open in 2013.

Swaziland's controversial multi-million dollar Sikhuphe International Airport is set to start operations early next year (2013) according to the Principal Secretary in the Swazi Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Bertram Stewart.

► ETHIOPIA: Military claims to have pioneered country's first home-grown UAV.

Unnamed military sources in Ethiopia state that the country has pioneered its own indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or drone. The UAVs have allegedly already performed a geophysical survey of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam, a massive hydroelectric installation under construction on the Blue Nile.

► CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Karinou Airlines to add a Boeing 737-300 in April.

Centrafricair o/a Karinou Airlines (KRN), a private carrier based out of the Central African Republic, is to boost its fleet with the arrival of a Boeing 737-300 due in April which will join its current lone Boeing 737-200ADV (MSN 23109 | TL-AEG) formerly with Lebanon's Med Airways.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: ACSA awards ADB Airfield Solutions contract to upgrade Cape Town Int'l runway lighting.

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has awarded a contract to US based airfield lighting specialists ADB Airfield Solutions to upgrade the AGL – Airfield Ground  Lighting at Cape Town International Airport. The contract comes after ACSA awarded ADB a double contract in December 2012 to install a CAT III Normarc ILS at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport's runway 21L in addition to installing added taxiway centreline lighting to support the airport’s move to a CAT III airfield.

■ TANZANIA: Sauda Rajab appointed new helmsman at Precision Air as Kioko steps down.

Tanzania's Precision Air (PW) has announced the appointment of Ms Sauda S. Rajab to the position of Group Managing Director & CEO following the expiry of incumbent Alphonse Kioko's contract.

► SUDAN: Sudanese Government in talks with Antonov over purchase of An148s/158s for Sudan Airways.

Sudan’s Transport Minister, Ahmed Babiker Nahar has signed a preliminary deal with Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer, Antonov, for the purchase of  five Antonov aircraft for onward placement in Sudan Airways (SD). The move was precipitated by Sudan Airways' inability to access Western aircraft owing to US trade sanctions against Khartoum.

■ MALAWI: Ethiopian Airlines wins 49% stake in renewed Malawian national carrier.

Leading on from our previous post, Malawi's Privatization Commission yesterday declared Ethiopian Airlines (ET) the winner of the 49% Foreign Shareholder stake up for grabs in a renewed Malawian national carrier, set to succeed the quasi-defunct Air Malawi (QM). The Ethiopian national carrier was named the preferred bidder for the position of strategic partner in the new airline, Air Malawi (2012) Limited, based on its "global experience and competitiveness".

► SEYCHELLES: Air Berlin, Air Seychelles sign codeshare deal.

airberlin(AB), Europe’s seventh largest airline, and Air Seychelles (HM), the national airline of the Seychelles, today signed a codeshare agreement which will see Air Seychelles’ HM code placed on four of airberlin’s daily return services between Abu Dhabi and Berlin, Düsseldorf complementing the island carrier’s existing 26 weekly codeshare connections with Etihad Airways (AY) to Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf.

► NIGERIA: Azman Airlines, JedAir looking to start domestic, regional ops in H1.

Two carriers are looking to start domestic operations in Nigeria shortly: Azman Airlines and Jedair, a former charter airline that has reportedly entered into an ACMI deal with a Canadian firm.

■ MAURITIUS: Viljoen's leadership beginning to pay off as Air Mauritius continues to improve, but not out of woods yet.

Mauritian national carrier, Air Mauritius (MK), is beginning to reap the rewards of its envisioned 7 Step Recovery Plan amid reports that it has posted a USD9.6million (EUR6.4million) profit for Q3 (October-December) of its 2012/2013 Financial Year. However, overall results combined for Q1, Q2, Q3 show the carrier still made a substantive pre-tax loss of USD3.33million (EUR2.5 million).

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Comair Ltd posts $9mln profit for H2 2012 as Middle Eastern carriers begin to bite.

South Africa's Comair Ltd, the owners of LCC Kulula (MN) the BA Comair franchise, has posted an after-tax profit of USD8.97million (ZAR79million) for H2 (July - December 2012) as revenue influx grew 20% on the same period in 2011. 

► MALAWI: Air Malawi ceases all flights as new foreign investor to be announced in due course.

Malawi's beleaguered national carrier, Air Malawi (QM), has officially ceased flights with 243 employees also having been laid off, as the airline is liquidated in preparation for the founding of a new privatized venture, Air Malawi 2012.

► BURKINA FASO: Tunisair to start Ouagadougou from 30 March; Ndjamena, Niamey, Douala to follow later.

Tunisian national airline, Tunisair (TU), has announced it will start 3x weekly Tunis - Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso flights with a stop in Bamako, Mali effective 30 March 2013. Flights will operate with an Airbus A320. The new route is part of Tunisair's new model of targeting under served emerging markets in Sub Saharan Africa, with twenty new routes planned for in the coming 5 years.

► SOUTH AFRICA: SAA seeks to alter Airbus A320 deal to lease, not buy.

South Africa's loss making parastatal, South African Airways (SA), is to renegotiate its deal with Airbus Industrie SAS signed 11 years ago for 20 Airbus A320s. The cash strapped national carrier is said to be looking to lease the aircraft, as opposed to buying them, thereby allowing SAA to recuperate pre-delivery payments it made to purchase the aircraft, bringing in some much needed liquidity into the struggling airline.