► COTE D'IVOIRE: Air Cote d'Ivoire announces further destination launches.

Following on from our post yesterday, Air Cote d'Ivoire (HF) have announced further details about their intended network launch, set for 12 November 2012. 

► BURKINA FASO: Ariella Airlines launches with aid of Spain's IMD Airways.

Burkina Faso now has a second operator in addition to Air Burkina (2J); Ariella Airlines has now started operations with its first route being Ouagadougou - Bamako (Mali) - Pointe Noire (Congo Brazzaville) and Pointe Noire (Congo Brazzaville) - Cotonou (Benin) - Bamako (Mali) - Ouagadougo.

► LIBERIA: Brussels Airlines increases Monrovia, drops Bamako from early 2013.

Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines (SN) is to terminate its Bamako, Mali flights effective 8 January 2013. Bamako is currently served once weekly in tandem with Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

■ MALI: Renovated runway 06/24 at Bamako-Sénou International Airport handed over to AdM.

At a ceremony held last week and overseen by the Malian Minister of Facilities' Planning, Mamadou Coulibaly, and attended by the Ministers of Defense, Security, Communications, the Minister of Handicrafts and Tourism as well as the Minister responsible for Malians Abroad and African Integration, and various government bureaucrats, the capital Bamako's Sénou International Airport's newly renovated, reinforced and extended runway 06/24, was handed over to  Aéroports du Mali (AdM) for immediate operational use.

► 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). 

► MALI: Air France announces changes to Bamako service.

Air France has announced changes to its daily Paris - Bamako, Mali service effective from 1 August 2012 until 27 October 2012 as the Malian capital Bamako prepares to open its newly refurbished Sénou International Airport.

During this time, the route Bamako - Paris CDG outbound leg will operate with a technical stop in Casablanca, Morocco.

Bamako Senou International Airport, Mali

Air France: Paris CDG, France - Bamako, Mali

-Effective between 1 August 2012 until 27 October 2012

• AF3096 CDG1410 – 1750BKO A332 1234567
• AF3093 BKO2020 – 0035+1CMN0135+1 – 0530+1CDG A332 1234567

Read More Here [Airline Route]

Sénou International Airport has been undergoing various improvements and renovations over the last few years, with the present set of upgrades costing USD$190million and financed by the US government, the World Bank and other donors, expected to be ready for use by late September.

► 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]

► MALI: Air Mali signs code-share with Air France.

Following on from last week's code share agreement signing with Air Burkina of Burkina Faso, Air France announced today, the signing of another code share agreement, this time with Mali's Air Mali (I5). The agreement will see Air France selling Air Mali a quota of seats on its daily flights from Paris to the Malian capital, Bamako.