● TUNISIA: Embraer finalizes African Development Bank deal as Bombardier pushes ahead with Casablanca plant.

Two of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier, are set to invest millions of dollars, in one way or another, into the African aviation scene, in the coming months and years. 

► CHINA: Egyptair increases Beijing frequencies from December.

Egyptian national carrier, EgyptAir (MS) will, from 3 December 2012, add an additional 4th weekly frequency on its route between Cairo and Beijing, China.

■ FRANCE: Egyptair selects Messier-Bugatti-Dowty to overhaul Airbus A320/A340 landing gears.

Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering,  a subsidiary of Egypt's national carrier Egyptair (MS), has selected Messier-Bugatti-Dowty for the exchange and overhaul of landing gear on ten of Egyptair's Airbus A320s, and for the centre landing gears on three of Egyptair's remaining Airbus A340s, prior to their phasing out.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Egyptair to resume Abidjan flights before year end?

After a meeting on Thursday between Ahmed Tarek Abdelakher, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Ivorian Prime Minister Jeannot-Kouadio Ahoussou, it was announced that Egyptian national carrier Egyptair (MS) would l resume flights between Abidjan and Cairo in the coming next three months.

► JAPAN: EgyptAir to use A330 instead of A340 to Osaka.

Egyptair (MS) is to use an Airbus A330-200 instead of the previously announced A340-200 on its Cairo - Osaka Kansai, Japan route, set to resume from 1 December 2012 after it was dropped last year in January owing to the then tense political situation in Egypt.

► GHANA: EgyptAir confirms deal with CTK CiTylinK; to use Accra as hub.

Confirming our previous report, Egyptair (MS) and foundering Ghanaian carrier CTK CiTylinK Airlines (CTQ) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation in Cairo, Egypt which will see "both airlines promoting air transportation expansion in West Africa."

► EGYPT: Egyptair officially announces Roshdy Zakaria as its new Boss.

Egyptian carrier Egyptair (MS) today officially announced the appointment of Roshdy Zakaria, the airline's former deputy Vice President of Flight Operations, as their new Chairman and CEO.

Zakaria has spent much of his 30 year career with Egyptair where he has held various positions, including that of chief pilot examiner and instructor on the Airbus A300B4 and the Boeing 767/777.

► FRANCE: Egyptair increases capacity to Paris from December 2012.

Egyptian airline, Egyptair (MS), will from 1 December 2012, replace its current daily Airbus A330-300 operated service to Paris Charles de Gaulle, France with a larger Boeing 777-300ER. 

This comes after the carrier previously announced that from 28 October 2012 it would increase frequencies on the route from daily to 11x weekly.

► GHANA: Egyptair to acquire majority stake in CTK CiTylinK?

Unconfirmed reports out of Ghana claim that Egyptian carrier, Egyptair (MS), having allegedly considered "other options" on the Ghanaian scene, are "in talks" to acquire "about a 50% stake" in the struggling Ghanaian domestic operator CTK CiTylinK Airlines (CTQ).

Of late, CiTylinK Airlines has been going through a very rough patch, having first suspended operations in early August before losing its leased Fokker 100 over unpaid leasing charges shortly after.

"Egypt Air will control 50 percent stake in the airline while majority shareholder, Tei Azu and other local investors will own the rest of the shares. Citi Business News also

► EGYPT: Egyptair cancels Sharm el Sheikh - London Heathrow in favour of added Cairo - London flights.

Following on from our original July update, Egyptian carrier Egyptair (MS) has announced a revision to its Cairo - London Heathrow and Sharm el Sheikh - London Heathrow routes, the latter of which will be cancelled and rerouted ex-Cairo from 28 October 2012.

The once (1x) weekly Luxor - London Heathrow flight remains unchanged.

Egyptair Boeing 777-300ER

Egyptair: Cairo - London Heathrow, United Kingdom

-Effective 28 October 2012, the existing 3x weekly Sharm el Sheikh – London Heathrow service will be cancelled and will shift to Cairo – London Heathrow, whose overall frequencies to LHR will now increase from 11x to 14x weekly. 

• MS777 CAI0920 – 1235LHR 333 x5
• MS777 CAI1145 – 1500LHR 333 5
• MS779 CAI1435 – 1755LHR 738 2
• MS779 CAI1700 – 2020LHR 333 4
• MS779 CAI1745 – 2100LHR 738 13
• MS779 CAI1745 – 2100LHR 333 67
• MS779 CAI1745 – 2105LHR 333 5

• MS778 LHR1355 – 2040CAI 333 1
• MS778 LHR1400 – 2045CAI 333 x15
• MS778 LHR1725 – 0010+1CAI 333 5
• MS780 LHR2230 – 0515+1CAI 738 123
• MS780 LHR2230 – 0515+1CAI 333 x123

Source [Airline Route]

► EGYPT: Egyptair announces operational changes to Johannesburg, London and Mumbai routes.

Egyptair (MS) has announced operational changes to its Cairo - Johannesburg, South Africa, Cairo - London Heathrow and Cairo - Mumbai routes.

An Egyptair Boeing 777-300ER.

Egyptair: Cairo, Egypt - Johannesburg, South Africa

- Effective October to November 2012, Egyptair is to use its Airbus A330-300. The A330-300 is to operate from 6 October 2012 to 20 October 2012, and from 28October 2012 until 16November 2012 (JNB departs next day).

- From 28 October 2012 onwards, Johannesburg will have a 5x weekly service instead of the previously planned daily flight. The following schedule is effective from 6 October 2012 to 20 October 2012.

• MS839 CAI2300 – 0705+1JNB 333 D
• MS840 JNB2145 – 0540+1CAI 333 D

Read More Here [Airline Route]

Egyptair: Cairo, Egypt - London Heathrow, United Kingdom

- Starting 15 November 2012, Egyptair is to reduce its existing daily Boeing 777-300ER and 4x weekly A330-300 flights to a 11x weekly A330-300 service.

• MS777 CAI0920 – 1235LHR 333 5
• MS777 CAI0945 – 1305LHR 77W 5
• MS779 CAI1700 – 2020LHR 333 4
• MS779 CAI1740 – 2100LHR 333 67
• MS779 CAI1745 – 2105LHR 333 5

• MS778 LHR1355 – 2040CAI 333 1
• MS778 LHR1400 – 2045CAI 333 15
• MS778 LHR1730 – 0015+1CAI 333 5
• MS780 LHR2230 – 0515+1CAI 333 123

Read More Here [Airline Route]

Egyptair: Cairo, Egypt - Mumbai, India

- Valid from 9 July 2012 until 27 October 2012, Egyptair has cut flights to Mumbai from 4x weekly previously, to 3x weekly.

• MS968 CAI2315 – 0840+1BOM 738 136
• MS969 BOM0940 – 1210CAI 738 247

 Read More Here [Airline Route]

► KENYA: Egyptair A320 skids on landing at Nairobi; massive delays follow.

This morning, at 03.36am local time, an Egyptair Airbus A320-200 (SU-GBG), performing flight MS 849 from Cairo to Nairobi, skidded on touchdown at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, before eventually ending up in soft mud. There were 123 passengers on-board all of whom were able to safely disembark from the stranded aircraft.

Egyptair A320 SU-GBG in the mud at Nairobi. (Buggs79)

"All passengers and crew were safely evacuated to the terminal building even as  all emergencies operations at the Airport including fire and rescue were activated immediately."

Read More Here [Kenya Airports Authority]

The resulting closure of Nairobi's lone runway has caused numerous delays and diversions for various airlines, most notably Kenya Airways, who have had to delay many departures as well as divert many arriving aircraft to either Mombasa, Entebbe or Dar es Salaam

► EGYPT: Egyptair Express mulls fleet renewal before expanding into Africa.

Following on from the events of last year's Arab Spring and consequently a very difficult financially 2011 whereby the airline's profits took a 75% plunge, Egyptair (MS) has decided to reorganize its fleet and route operations by offloading several of its "thinner" African routes to its subsidiary Egyptair Express (MSE).

Egyptair Express Embraer E-170LR

Possible routes to be moved to Egyptair Express are Cairo to: Khartoum, Sudan, Asmara, Eritrea and Juba, South Sudan all which are presently served by the Boeing 737-500, whose capacity appears to have come in under Egyptair's proposed policy of maintaining only 140+ seater aircraft in its main fleet. In the interests of fleet renewal and of finding suitable aircraft for these new routes, Egyptair is considering the Embraer E-190 or Bombardier CSeries.

"It has also used Embraer aircraft to increase frequencies. Following the sharp drop in passenger numbers after the Egyptian revolution in early 2011, it moved some strategic short-haul routes to the E-170LR fleet to maintain frequencies and transferred non-strategic short-haul routes to the Brazilian aircraft to preserve market presence."

Read More Here [ATW]

Presently,  EgyptAir Express operates 12 Embraer E-170LRs to destinations in Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Malta and Saudi Arabia.

► EGYPT: Egyptair adds 777 to summer service to Guangzhou.

Egyptian carrier Egyptair (MS) has announced operational changes to its Cairo - Guangzhou, China route for the duration of summer 2012. Initially, the airline planned to use an Airbus A340-200 exclusively on the route, but will now employ a mixture of Boeing 777s and A340s.

Egyptair Boeing 777 at Guangzhou, China (MSAL)

Egyptair: Cairo, Egypt - Guangzhou, China (1 June 2012 - 27 October 2012)
MS958 CAI2325 – 1515+1CAN EQV x27
MS959 CAN0005 – 0500CAI EQV x24

• 01JUN12 – 15JUL12 Boeing 777-200ER
• 16JUL12 – 31AUG12 Airbus A340-200
• 01SEP12 – 14SEP12 Boeing 777-200ER
• 15SEP12 – 27OCT12 Boeing 777-300ER

Read More Here [AirlineRoute]

► EGYPT: Egyptair A321 tailstrike on take off; diverts to Larnaca with heavy damage.

According to the AviationHerald, an Egypt Air Airbus A321-200, registration SU-GBU performing flight MS-724 from Aleppo (Syria) to Cairo (Egypt) with 130 passengers, contacted the runway surface with its tail while rotating for takeoff from Aleppo at around 05:10L (02:10Z), the crew continued the climb to FL310. 

SU-GBU in Frankfurt (Frank Kuehne)

When the aircraft was enroute at FL310 about 85nm east of Larnaca (Cyprus) the crew decided to divert to Larnaca where the aircraft landed safely about 50 minutes after departure from Aleppo. 

The aircraft received substantial damage, and as a result, the flight was cancelled.

Read More Here [Aviation Herald]

► EGYPT: Egyptair profits fall 75% in 2011; considers 787s & A350s for renewal.

After a very turbulent year in the country and the region as a whole, Egyptair's (MS) profits for 2011 unsurprisingly fell over 75% to USD$13.6million.  

The chairman of EgyptAir, Hossam Kamel, said the airline's operations were severely interrupted during the Egyptian Uprising of 2011, forcing the cancellation of numerous flights, thereby leading to a decline in tourism (Egyptian tourism was down 32% on 2010 according to official statistics). Additionally, the global rise in the price of oil as a direct consequence of the Arab Spring also ate into profits, as did a partial strike in September by EgyptAir Ground Services employees at Cairo international airport, following rumours that concessions they had previously won by strike actions would not be implemented.

A similar trend has been seen in neighbouring Arab airline Royal Jordanian, whose operations have been severely hampered by the civil unrest in neighbouring Syria, and previously, in Egypt.

To help bring the airline's profitability back up, Mr Kamel stated that cost cutting measures had already been implemented, whilst the airline would focus more on increasing frequencies to served destinations, as opposed to opening new routes. He added that Egyptair would press ahead with its new Cairo-Toronto route in 2013, and that "several other destinations" were under consideration.

With regards to future fleet renewal, he added that Egyptair is considering replacing its Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s with 787s and A350s between 2020-2025.

Negotiations are underway with fellow Star Alliance partner Ethiopian Airlines to create a new base or a new joint carrier based in Accra, Ghana, where Ethiopian currently has a presence under its ASKY Airlines brand.

Read More Here [ATW]