■ TANZANIA: Controversial Serengeti Airport at Mugumu gets go-ahead.

The Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) has given the go ahead for the construction of an international airport in the town of Mugumu in the Serengeti District of Mara Region, having itself, been given the green light by the Tanzanian Ministry of Transport.

► TANZANIA: Chaos as Air Tanzania 'sort of' resumes services and Fly540 TZ suddenly drops various domestic routes.

In what turned out to be a less than auspicious relaunch, Tanzanian national carrier Air Tanzania (TC) made a pig's breakfast of its debut on Friday morning, by canceling its Dar es Salaam to Mwanza via Kilimanjaro flight. A lone flight to Mwanza later in the evening on Friday served as the carrier's return to service, though news reports state that Dar es Salaam - Kilimanjaro flights will be postponed for roughly a week.

► TANZANIA: KLM boosts Kilimanjaro to 9x weekly from December.

From 27 December 2012 until 10 March 2013, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL) is to increase its flight frequency between Amsterdam, Holland and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania from daily to 9x weekly. The added flights will operate on a Thursday and Saturday ex-Schipol.

►► RWANDA: RwandAir announces network changes in preparation for its first Bombardier CRJ-900NG.

Rwandan national carrier Rwandair (WB) has announced various changes to its Nigeria and its previously announced East African route timetables, as it prepares for the arrival of its first Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 900NG (MSN# 15286 | 9XR-WH) due, according to informed sources, on 22 October 2012.

► KENYA: Turkish Airlines launches Kilimanjaro, Mombasa from December.

There at last seems to be some good news for the Kenyan city of Mombasa as Turkish Airlines (TK) announced today that it would commence a 5x weekly, Boeing 737-900ER operated flight routed Istanbul (Turkey) - Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) - Mombasa (Kenya) - Istanbul effective 4 December.

►► UNITED STATES: Dreamliner delivery delays force Ethiopian to postpone Washington 787 route launch by 11 days.

With their second Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (MCN: 34746 | ET-AOR) now due on 26 September 2012, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) have announced a delay in their inaugural Addis Ababa - Washington DC, USA scheduled service, from 20 September 2012, to 1 October 2012.

► KENYA: See flySAX 's Fokker F28 in its new colours!

After its recent acquisition by the Fly540 group of FastJet fame, flySAX, formerly East African Safari Air Express (B5), has just received its Fokker F28 (MSN: 11229 | 5Y-EEE) painted in the company's new colours, and ready for service.

 

East African Safari Air was an airline based in Kenya whose international operations were suspended in September 2004, though the airline still maintained scheduled regional and domestic services through its subsidiary East African Safari Air Express. In November 2010, East African Safari Air Express too, ceased operations shortly before being bought out completely by fly540 Group in December 2010.

► TANZANIA: Air Tanzania temporarily ceases operations as 737 deal with AeroVista is called off.

What was touted as a new beginning for beleaguered Tanzanian national carrier, Air Tanzania (TC), has now turned into a nasty ordeal with the possibility of litigation after Air Tanzania suspended its contract with Dubai-based ACMI AeroVista from whom it leased a Boeing 737-500, effectively grounding the carrier.

►► KENYA: Qatar Airways indefinitely postpones Mombasa route launch.

[Update 14 August] Inspite of the successful launch of its new Kilimanjaro, Tanzania route last week, Qatar Airways has indefinitely postponed its new Mombasa, Kenya route.

Originally meant to start from 15 August 2012, the flight would been flown with an Airbus A320 and would have gone via Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

No official announcement from Qatar Airways has been received as to when, if ever, the route will be flown though Airline Route reports that the flight on the GDS is no longer available.

►Update: See this post for new schedule.

► TANZANIA: Qatar Airways announces Kilimanjaro route changes.

Qatari carrier Qatar Airways (QR) has announced routing changes to its Doha, Qatar - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania flights. The Airbus A320 operated flights will now go via Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, thereby replacing the previously announced Nairobi, Kenya stop effective 25 July 2012.

QR has not been granted fifth freedom rights on the Dar es Salaam – Kilimanjaro sector.

Qatar Airways A320

Qatar Airways: Doha, Qatar - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
-Effective 25 July 2012

• QR546 DOH0220 – 0805DAR0905 – 1005JRO 320 x246
• QR544 DOH0735 – 1320DAR1420 – 1520JRO 320 x246
• QR547 JRO1105 – 1205DAR1305 – 1845DOH 320 x246
• QR545 JRO1620 – 1720DAR1820 – 2345DOH 320 x246

Read More Here [Airline Route]

In 2011, Qatar Airways signed an interline deal with Tanzanian carrier Precision Air Tanzania (PW) which will give passengers seamless travel options to popular holiday destinations in Tanzania and the sub region such as the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, renowned for its picture-postcard beaches and beautiful landscapes, as well as the exotic island of Zanzibar.

► KENYA: Kenya Airways announces vast changes to Summer Schedule.

Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced sweeping changes to its Summer Schedule, suspending several routes most notably Rome (Italy), and Muscat (Oman) due to low uptake, whilst announcing new destinations that are to be launched between July and October 2012 including Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Eldoret (Kenya), Abuja (Nigeria) and Beirut (Lebanon).

Kenya Airways Route Map

The optimized schedule comes as the airline moves to increase frequencies on existing routes to meet changing and growing demand, while opening new routes in Africa and the Middle East. Kenya Airways Group Managing Director, Dr. Titus Naikuni said the decision to halt operations on the routes was also based on insufficient demand to sustain the routes.

"“Owing to the decreased passenger volumes on these routes, we have decided to re-align our capacity across the entire network to meet growing demand on other destinations including new ones,” said Dr Naikuni."

Kenya Airways' Summer 2012 Schedule

Kenya (Domestic) 

• Kisumu City boosted with introduction of an extra frequency over the weekends bringing it to 4x daily. On specific weekdays the airline will maintain its 3x daily flights. An Embraer E190 will be deployed on the route especially in the mornings and evenings. 

 Africa

• All Lagos daytime flights to Accra are combined as KQ 534 operating Nairobi – Lagos – Accra – Nairobi. As a result, Kenya Airways will be flying into Accra 12 times a week and 9 times a week to Lagos.  
• Additionally, the introduction of wide-body capacity into and out of Lagos and Accra is set to have significant impact on Kenya Airways’ passenger and cargo revenue streams as it will enable it to offer more capacity and minimum connecting time between Guangzhou, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai, Mumbai and West Africa.  
• Ndjamena increased to 3x direct flights a week.
• Dakar will now connect through Ouagadougou which increases flights to OUA to 3 times a week. 
• Bamako flights will operate via Cotonou 3 times a week; this is expected to ease out on the payload issues that the Bamako passengers have experienced in the past. 

Middle East & Asia

• Mumbai, India is increased from daily to 10 flights a week with 3x weekly flights to Delhi. 
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has an extra flight added, bringing the frequency to 3x weekly effective July 2012. 
• New direct flight to Dubai which will operate 3x a week with late evening departures from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to capture the late connecting traffic arriving into Nairobi. This is in addition to the daily Dubai service that the airline operates. The airline will now operate 10 non-stop flights to Dubai.

Europe

• Europe has a capacity increase despite the suspension of Rome flights.
• Effective July 2012, flights to London Heathrow will increase to 10 flights per week on the 322 seater Boeing 777-200. This is to cater for increased traffic demand during the Olympics. 
• Paris flights will increase to 6 weekly flights during the July – August peak period and the daily Amsterdam capacity will be upgraded to a Boeing 777-200. 

Read More Here [Kenya Airways]

► KENYA: Kenya Airways starts Kilimanjaro from July.

Kenya Airways (KQ) will from 2 July 2012, start a 6x weekly service between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania using an Embraer 170. Presently the route is operated by Precision Air Tanzania, in whom Kenya Airways has a 49% shareholding, with a daily flight using an ATR 72.

Kenya Airways Embraer 170

The “Pride of Africa” will depart every day, except Thursdays, offering adventure hungry travellers visiting to Africa’s highest mountain range adequate baggage capacity and increased comfort on the Embraer 170. 

Read More Here [aviator.aero]

This new expansion follows the successful launch last week of Nairobi - New Delhi, India by the Kenyan flag carrier, as the airline continues to build on its better than expected results for Q1 of 2012.

► RWANDA: RwandAir increases flights to Tanzania from 10 June 2012. .

Rwandan carrier RwandAir (WB) has announced an increase in flights on Kigali-Kilimanjaro-Dar Es Salaam-Kigali from 4x weekly, to 6x weekly. with effect from 10 June 2012, using either a Boeing 737-500 or 800.

RwandAir: Kigali - Dar es Salaam - Kilimanjaro - Kigali (Monday)

• WB 103     KGL : 12h20       DAR : 15h25       1       B737-500 / 800

• WB 103     DAR : 16h10       JRO :  17h10       1       B737-500 / 800

• WB 103     JRO : 17h55        KGL : 18h25       1       B737-500 / 800

RwandAir: Kigali - Dar es Salaam - Kilimanjaro - Kigali (Wednesday)

• WB 103       KGL : 12h20      JRO : 14h50       3       B737-500 / 800

• WB 103       JRO :  15h35      DAR : 16h35      3       B737-500 / 800

• WB 103       DAR : 17h20      KGL  : 18h25     3       B737-500 / 800

Read More Here [Rwandan Flyer]

► NETHERLANDS: KLM announces changes to Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Cairo, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Lusaka.

KLM (KL) has announced changes to their summer timetable effective 4th May 2012.

Amsterdam – Kilimanjaro – Dar es Salaam – Amsterdam 

• 17MAY12 – 31MAY12 Increase from 6 weekly to Daily, A330-200 operating
• 01JUN12 – 30JUN12 Airbus A330-300 replaces A330-200, Daily 
• 01JUL12 – 31JUL12 Boeing 777-200ER operates Daily 
• 01AUG12 – 27OCT12 Boeing 777-300ER replaces -200ER on Day x245

 Amsterdam – Lagos  

• 28MAY12 – 30JUN12 Airbus A330-200 replaces -300, daily operation

Amsterdam – Abuja – Kano – Amsterdam

• 3 weekly service cancelled from 03JUN12

Amsterdam – Cairo

• Service reduced from daily to 3 weekly, 777-200ER operating

 
Amsterdam – Khartoum – Addis Ababa eff 18MAY12

• Operational Day change from Day 2 4 6 to Day 2 5 7 

Amsterdam – Lusaka eff 15MAY12

• Service resumption with A330-200, 3 times a week

Read More Here [AirlineRoute]

► QATAR: Qatar Airways boosts Algiers, Cairo, announces Kilimanjaro, Mombasa; Zanzibar to come.

Qatar Airways (QR) has used the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) forum in Dubai to announce daily services to Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Mombasa (Kenya) with effect from 25th July 2012 and 15th August 2012 respectively. Algiers will see an increase from seven to 11 services each week.

Kilimanjaro will operate as tag-ons via Nairobi, whilst Mombasa will operate via the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam.

Also at the forum, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker unveiled plans for a new service to Zanzibar in the near future.

"Having introduced two extra weekly flights on the Doha – Cairo route last month to take frequency up to 11 each week, capacity will be stepped up further next month with the addition of one extra flight a week.

And in Africa, more capacity will be introduced on the double daily Doha – Dar es Salaam route from next month. With seven services operating via Nairobi, these will become non-stop to Dar es Salaam effectively providing more seats direct to the Tanzanian capital."

Read More Here [Qatar Airways]