■ CHINA: Sierra Leone Government finalizes $8billion worth of infrastructure projects including new airport for Freetown.

Sierra Leonian president,  Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, finalized a USD300million deal with the China Railway International Company for the construction of a new international airport to serve Freetown during his recent week-long trip to China. The airport forms part of a group of investments totalling USD8billion China is set to make in the impoverished West African state.

■ NIGERIA: Government to move ahead with planned Aerotropolises in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.

The Nigerian Government will move ahead with plans to develop aerotropolises (an urban plan in which the layout, infrastructure, and economy is centred around an airport) in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. Currently the four cities' airports handle the bulk of Nigeria's passenger & cargo traffic.

► NIGER: Government to go ahead with new pax/cargo terminal for Niamey Diori Hamani International Airport.

Niger will reportedly push ahead with plans to add a new international passenger and freight terminal to Niamey's Diori Hamani International Airport as part of President Mahamadou Issoufou's plans to modernize the country's lagging infrastructure. 

■ DJIBOUTI: Government looking for partners for planned new USD600million pax/cargo transit hub.

Djibouti has announced that it is seeking partners to help in building a proposed new USD600million airport situated in a 225 km² area south-west of Djibouti City, set to replace the near 60 year old Ambouli International Airport. The government plans to combine the country's sea-cargo facilities with the air terminal to offer a unique regional air/sea cargo and passenger transit hub that will help transform the Horn of African nation's economy.

■ TANZANIA: TCAA awards ATC upgrade contracts to Germany's Comsoft.

The Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) has contracted German ATC contractors, Comsoft, to deliver two modern technologies in the fields of air navigation and communication equipment, in order to increase flight safety in the region.

■ GHANA: CACC hands over preliminary designs for new Accra International Airport to government.

Ghanaian Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, says preliminary designs for Accra's new international airport have been presented to the Ghana Airports Company Limited. The project will be undertaken by the China Airports Construction Corporation (CACC) and is intended to transform Accra into a regional West African hub.

■ NIGERIA: Thirteen airports to have dedicated perishable cargo facilities says FAAN.

Thirteen airports in Nigeria - Abuja, Akure, Calabar, Ilorin, Jalingo, Jos, Kano, Lagos, Makurdi, Minna, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Uyo - have been singled out for the construction of perishable cargo terminals, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN has announced.

■ SOUTH SUDAN: Ethiopian Cargo starts 2x weekly Juba ops as exporters eye Asian markets.

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo (ET) has continued its expansion drive into Africa with the recent launch of twice weekly dedicated cargo flights to the South Sudanese capital, Juba. The route will serve to supply the country with fruit and vegetable exports from Ethiopia.

■ KENYA: Gulf Energy planning to build new Fuel facility at Nairobi Wilson airport.

Gulf Energy has announced plans to construct a USD250'000 (KAS20million) aircraft fuelling facility on land leased from the Kenyan Airports Authority at Nairobi Wilson Airport.

■ ETHIOPIA: Location of new Addis Ababa international airport switched to Tagi.

The site for the proposed replacement for Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport, set to outstrip its carrying capacity in the next five years, has been moved from Modjo, south-east of the capital, to the town of Tagi, roughly 30km west of Addis Ababa on the road to Jimma in the Oromia Special Zone.

■ EGYPT: Works at Alexandria International to be completed in 2014 as Hurghada's second runway goes ahead.

Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, Engineer Wael El-Maadawy, says that all infrastructural development works at Alexandria International Airport will be completed  next year. The airport was closed in 2010 for renovation and expansion with all traffic being transferred to Alexandria Borg El Arab Airport in the meantime.

■ ANGOLA: Cabinda Airport to be upgraded in 2014/15 - da Silva Tomás.

The airport of Cabinda, in the Cabinda province, an exclave of Angola, will be rehabilitated during 2014/15 as part of the country's ongoing infrastructural repair and improvement program undertaken by the country's airport and air traffic authority Empresa Nacional de Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea (ENANA).

■ SOUTH AFRICA: ACSA gives go-ahead for $7billion 10-year strategic investment plan.

The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has approved a 10-year strategic business plan that makes provision for infrastructural upgrades and investments worth USD7billion (ZAR70billion), of which ZAR20billion will be used for refurbishments and maintenance while ZAR50billion will be used to create new capacity at South Africa’s nine major airports.

■ NAMIBIA: NAC to begin $6.8million upgrade of Walvis Bay Airport shortly.

The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) has announced plans to begin the USD6.89million (NAD67million) upgrade of Walvis Bay Airport which will ultimately result in it becoming the country's second international airport after Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek.

■ CONGO (KINSHASA): RVA signs $2million contract with Thales for Kinshasa N'djili Airport AeroNav upgrade.

As part of ongoing efforts to spruce up its poor aviation safety record, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's air navigation services and airport management provider, Regie des Voies Aériennes (RVA), has signed a USD2million (CDF1.8billion) contract with French aeronautical systems manufacturer, Thales, for the supply of navigation equipment to Kinshasa N'djili International Airport.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Mthatha Airport's new runway now active; hopes to attract more carriers.

Following extensive works, an SA Airlink (4X) flight from Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport became the first aircraft to christen the new 2'700x60m runway 14/32 at Mthatha (formerly Umtata) Airport in the Eastern Cape. Both the Mthatha Airport runway and Terminal building upgrade projects form part of the wider King Sabata Dalindyebo Presidential Intervention Project led by the National Department of Transport and implemented by the Eastern Cape Department of Transport.

■■ EGYPT: Cairo International Airport shelves plans to partially close in the early hours from June onwards in bid to cut costs.

[UPDATE 27 MAY] From 1 June onwards, Cairo International Airport, one of the Middle East's most important aviation hubs, is to partially close during the early morning hours in a bid to reduce soaring costs as the Egyptian government struggles to pay its ever increasing power bills.

■ LIBERIA: Equatorial Guinea to finance the expansion of Monrovia's Roberts International Airport.

Equato-Guinean strongman, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has agreed to arrange the financing and construction of infrastructure at Liberia's sole international airport, Monrovia's Roberts International Airport, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Thales to upgrade ATNS South Africa's Radar system, ATM systems.

Thales and Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) Company of South Africa have announced the recent signing of contracts including the replacement of the legacy ATNS ATM system with Thales' TopSky-ATC and the installation of Thales 970s Radars at the Wakkerstroom, Potgieterus and Rhodes radar sites. The contract also provides for a support and maintenance agreement for all existing ATNS radar sensors and TopSky-ATC systems.

■ UGANDA: UCAA to upgrade Entebbe departure lounge; to finalize master plan for expansion works.

Uganda's Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has contracted Arch Design Architects & Engineers to redesign the entire departure area of Entebbe International Airport as part of plans to improve the airport and its ageing facilities.