[UPDATE 26 FEBRUARY] Ethiopian Airlines (ET) and its West African subsidiary ASKY Airlines (KP) have expanded their code-sharing agreement to now cover the majority of Ethiopian's routes between Ethiopia and West Africa with Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Burkina Faso now operating with an ASKY IATA code (KP).
Tanzania's Precision Air (PW) says it has registered a 6% growth in passenger traffic for the period NOV12 - JAN13 with an overall growth of 13% for the period APR12 to JAN13.
Nigerian startup Discovery Air has outlined its intended route network with various domestic and regional destinations planned. The Lagos based carrier intends to launch commercial flight services with a fleet of Boeing 737-300s and Bombardier CRJ-200s, though when exactly, remains uncertain.
Tanzanian LCC Fastjet (FN), is to expand its network with the announcement today of the launch of daily Kilimanjaro - Mwanza and daily Kilimanjaro - Zanzibar flights effective 18 March. Both flights will operate with an Airbus A320.
A hot air balloon belonging to Sky Cruise - Egyptian Airship & Balloon Co. of Luxor, this morning burst into flames in mid air, before plummeting to the ground killing 19 tourists who were on-board. Two passengers - the balloon pilot and a tourist - were said to have survived, but have sustained serious burns and have been taken to a local hospital in Luxor, about 450km south of Cairo.
Enigmatic Equatoguinean startup, Air Annobón, has at long last launched scheduled flights, albeit one month ago. Operations are understood to have commenced on 25 January using only one (and not two) BAe146-300s.
South Africa's Comair Ltd, the British Airways (BA) franchise owner for South Africa and owner of LCC kulula (MN), is to dispute the legality of South African national carrier, South African Airways (SA)'s ZAR5billion bail out from Government last year and its previous injections amounting to ZAR11billion, in the High Court in Pretoria tomorrow.
Air Madagascar (MD) has entered into an agreement with Icelandic ACMI specialists Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC) which will result in Air Madagascar transferring
A renowned Kenyan conservationist, Dr Anthony King, and a cameraman for Discovery Channel aviation show "Dangerous Flights", John Driftmier, were killed on Sunday 24 February when their light aircraft, an Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat (MSN 239 | 5Y-LWF), crashed near Mt Kenya.
South Africa's CemAir, has announced its acquisition of LuxAir, a South African ticketing agent with a niche market on the business routes between Johannesburg (ORTIA) and Lephalale, a coal mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa immediately east of the Waterberg Coalfield, and Johannesburg (ORTIA) - Sishen, a large iron ore mining town in the Northern Cape, South Africa.
Nigerian domestic operator, Overland Airways (OJ) will soon launch 6x weekly Abuja - Akure flights. The carrier's website currently lists the flight as already open and operational.
Ivorian carrier Air Cote d'Ivoire (HF) has signed a deal with French aviation software firm ADSoftware for the use of its AirPack Fleet Management System and Logistics Solutions system.
A new board of directors has been appointed at Gambian national carrier, Gambia International Airlines (GC), following an inauguration ceremony held at the company’s headquarters at the Banjul International Airport last week.
Egyptian airline Nile Air (NP) will from 26 May 2103, expand its international operations with the launch of 3x weekly Alexandria/Borg el Arab - Gassim, Saudi Arabia flights.
New South African domestic startup, Blu Crane Air, the brainchild of Port Elizabeth gynaecologist Dr Marcus van Heerden, is to start operations in the coming weeks (tentatively 4 March) between the Eastern Cape towns of Port Elizabeth and East London in South Africa using six-seater twin-engine Cessna 414 aircraft.
Egyptian construction firm, Arab Contractors, have signed a contract with the government of the Ivory Coast for USD30million for the upgrading of Abidjan's Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport's cargo facilities.
Sudan's Sun Air (S9) has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320 (MSN 2061 | JY-JAT) wet leased from Jordanian ACMI outfit Jordan Aviation (R5) writes aviation newswire CH-Aviation.
The Gabonese Government has announced that, from 1 September 2013, it will introduce an Airport Development Levy to be included in the price of all passenger tickets, to pay for the construction of Libreville's new airport located in Andeme, 60km outside Libreville.
Eritrean Airlines (B8), has signed a deal with Sudanese national carrier, Sudan Airways (SD), that will result in the Eritrean national carrier,operating various flights on behalf of Sudan Airways to the UAE and South Sudan. Eritrean is also looking to boost its own international frequencies to Dubai, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Italy with West African flights also in the pipeline.
The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) is in the process of setting up its formal air service development initiative dubbed "FlyWindhoek", aimed at boosting passenger traffic at Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International Airport by bringing in more international tour operators and scheduled and charter airlines.