► UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Emirates announces various equipment changes to Accra & Abidjan, Lagos, Entebbe and Nairobi effective 2013.

Dubai based carrier, Emirates (EK), has announced various changes to some its African destinations, effective from between January and February of next year.  

For other previously announced updates, see these posts.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Air Cote d'Ivoire outlines future route network; to start ops in "late October".

After taking delivery of its first Airbus A319-100 (MCN: 2213 | TU-TSA) leased from Air France last week in Abidjan, Air Cote d'Ivoire (VRE), the joint venture between the Government of Ivory Coast, Air France and the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, has announced that intends to commence operations towards the "end of October".

► SIERRA LEONE: Fly540 Ghana to launch Freetown, Abidjan flights from early September; Monrovia, Lagos to follow.

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

Mention is also made of a potential flight to Lomé, Togo in the future.

First to be launched will be Accra, Ghana - Freetown, Sierra Leone and Accra, Ghana - Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire on 3 September 2012,  with Accra, Ghana - Monrovia, Liberia on 18 September 2012 and finally

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Mali crisis, delayed delivery of aircraft blamed for Air Cote d'Ivoire's late debut.

Originally scheduled to be airborne by late July, the joint venture known as Air Cote d'Ivoire - 65% owned by the State of Ivory Coast, and the remaining 35% by the Strategic Partner made up of Air France Finance (20%) and Aérienne de Participation-Côte d’Ivoire (15%) - is now expected to take to the skies by the latest end of October, according to reports from Abidjan.

► MALI: Air Mali struggling as civil unrest severely disrupts operations.

Celestair Group's Air Mali (I5) has been forced to suspend a number of its flights as a result of the ongoing civil unrest in the Maghreb country, which has been raging since January 2012 and has seen the near partition of the country into two regions: the more conservative Islamic partition of Azawad in the north and Mali itself in the south.

► CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): Check out Trans Air Congo's swanky new livery! (Pic)

Pointe Noire-based regional carrier Trans Air Congo (Q8) has applied a smart new livery to its Boeing 737-200 (TN-AHI). 

► SOUTH AFRICA: SAA pushes further into Africa with Abidjan & Brazzaville.

South African Airways (SA) will, from 17 August 2012, resume its suspended Johannesburg, South Africa - Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire service that it last plied 3 years ago. The flight will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 twice a week.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: First pics of Air Cote d'Ivoire's A319 here!

The Ivory Coast's soon-to-be national carrier, Air Cote d'Ivoire, is set to receive its first aircraft - an Airbus A319 prior to commissioning services in July, as reported earlier by The African Aviation Tribune.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Air Cote d'Ivoire to start service using A332 from end of July.

In a collaboration between the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the Ivorian Government and Air France, new start up, Air Cote d'Ivoire, is to begin operations at "the end of July" following the signing of the Framework Partnership Agreement, the Shareholders' Agreement and the Articles of the airline Air Côte d’Ivoire yesterday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).