■ MAURITANIA: Former Mauritania Airways' boss jailed; international arrest warrant issued for 3 other execs on charges of embezzlement.

A Mauritanian court in Nouakchott on Friday issued international arrest warrants for three officials of the now defunct airline, Mauritania Airways (YD), following the arrest and incarceration of Mohamed Ould Debagh, the carrier's former chairman of the board, on charges of "his participation in the bankruptcy of the company."

■ KENYA: Fly540 disputes Fastjet's claim that its owns 540 Aviation; maintains it is "independent of Fastjet".

Don Smith's Five Forty Aviation Limited has issued its own statement on yesterday's Fastjet statement issued on behalf of David Lenigas, Fastjet's boss. The update seeks "to correct the factual inaccuracies contained in the statement issued by FastJet". Smith asserts that, contrary to Lenigas' claims, brand licence agreements do in fact exist.

► SEYCHELLES: Air Austral adjusts La Réunion - Mahé from late March.

La Réunion-based carrier Air Austral (UU) is, during the Northern Summer 2013 season, to adjust its operations on the St. Denis de la Reunion – Seychelles route. 

► ZIMBABWE: Air Zimbabwe to get two ERJ135s; to start Munich, London, Nairobi, Mauritius flights in March?

A new dossier on Air Zimbabwe (UM) entitled "Aircraft rotation for summer 2013" purportedly showing the carrier's service resumption plans for Summer 2013, has been published with Embraer Regional Jets set to join the fleet. Additionally, flights to the UK, Germany, Ghana, Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria are planned.

■ CONGO (KINSHASA): Belgium, Congo ink new BASA with Jetairfly now wanting in on the action.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and its former colonial power, Belgium, on Saturday 2 February signed a revised Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) replacing that which was signed in 1965, five years after the DRC's independence. New provisions include increased frequencies to the DRC for Belgian carriers while Belgium, in return, will aide the DRC in its quest to improve its international safety image.

► TANZANIA: A look at Precision Air's network expansion plans for 2016.

Rwandan aviation blog, Rwandan-Flyer, reports that Tanzanian private carrier and interim flag carrier, Precision Air (PW), is planning a big regional expansion programme in the coming months with new services to Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Angola and Mozambique to be added by 2016.

►► NETHERLANDS: KLM announces changes to Accra, Cairo, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Johannesburg and Lagos from Winter 2012.

[UPDATE 7 FEBRUARY] Further to KLM's (KL) previously announced Summer Timetable changes, so they have announced equipment i.e aircraft changes to their Winter 2012 timetable.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Fly Go-Air gone bust after just one flight?

South African media reports state that Fly Go-Air (KEM), the South African startup which débuted in late December 2012, has since then, operated no more flights.

► SAUDI ARABIA: Tunisair to tentatively start Tunis - Madinah from late March.

Tunisian national carrier, Tunisair (TU), will from 31MAR13 commence scheduled operations between Tunis and Madinah (Medina), Saudi Arabia with a 5x weekly Airbus A320 service.

► CHINA: Air Mauritius to possibly start Beijing direct from May; wants Russia flights as well.

After the successful launch of its new twice weekly direct Mauritius - Shanghai, China flights on 24 January 201, Air Mauritius (MK) has allured to the possible launch of flights to the Chinese capital, Beijing in May with flights to Russia also on the Mauritian national carrier's "To Do" list.

► ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines announces changes to Somaliland, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania ops.

AirlineRoute reports that Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is to adjust its Horn of Africa/East Africa service in Summer 2013, which will see the following changes effective as of 06FEB13. Amongst the routes affected are those to Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan. As always, further changes remain possible.

► TUNISIA: Tunisair A320 suffers nose gear collapse after landing at Carthage International ; no casualties.

A Tunisair (TU) Airbus A320 (MSN 119 | TS-IMB) operating as flight TU712 from Casablanca to Tunis, yesterday suffered a runway excursion after landing at Tunis - Carthage International Airport's runway 09. 

■ KENYA: Fly540 now withdraws brand licence issued to Fastjet for Tanzania, Angola, Ghana; Fastjet claims it is sole owner of Fly540 brand.

Fly540's owner Don Smith has ratcheted up the stakes in his ongoing war with Fastjet (FN) by withdrawing his carrier's brand licences granted to fastjet for Angola, Ghana and Tanzania. Fly540 yesterday claimed that Fastjet still owes its USD7.7 million in licensing fees (USD6.9 million in Tanzania, USD500'000 in Angola and USD300,000 in Ghana), a claim David Lenigas, Chairman of fastjet, disputed stating that fastjet is the sole owner of the 540 brand (including fly540 Kenya).

■ SOUTH AFRICA: DHL sees strong African cargo market potential in 2013 catalyzed by increased Asian, intra-Africa trade.

Despite Africa having overall freight load factors of just 24.7% which, according to IATA is the lowest of any region by a significant margin, global courier DHL remains optimistic about Africa's cargo growth potential for 2013 with deepening trade ties with Asia, and above all, with fellow African countries, the catalyst.

► ITALY: Tunisair boosts Manchester, Milan, Venice ops from late March.

Tunisair (TU), for the upcoming Summer 2013 season, will increase its services to select European cities most notably Manchester, Milan and Venice. The planned operation from 31MAR13 is as follows:

■ TANZANIA: Fastjet working closely with creditors over Don Smith's undisclosed historic debts: Ed Winter.

After yet another round of press reports stating the carrier was in legal trouble regarding its alleged failure to settle bills run up by its Tanzanian predecessor, Fly540 Tanzania, LCC fastjet has issued a second statement rebuking claims it still owes money to its Kenyan subsidiary Fly540 Kenya.

► BURKINA FASO: Man suspected of being a terrorist hauled off Ethiopian Airlines flight after alleged "parcel bomb" found.

A man, on Sunday, was taken into custody in Burkina Faso after an alleged parcel bomb was found to be in his possession as he prepared to depart Ouagadougou on board an Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Boeing 737-800 operating flight ET926 from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

■ CAPE VERDE ISLANDS: ASA reports total passenger traffic up 3.7% in 2012.

According to the Empresa Nacional de Aeroportos e Segurança Aérea (The Cape Verdian Airports Authority - ASA), the Cape Verde Islands have recorded another strong year of passenger arrivals with a growth of 3.7% on 2011's figures thanks largely in part to an increase in European travellers. However, the domestic front did not fare so well with a decline of 5.9%.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: NTM to continue strike despite reaching deal with SAA on enumeration parameters.

Despite reaching a deal with South African Airways (SA) on the terms of reference to be used for the verification of its membership numbers, South Africa's National Transport Movement trade union has maintained that it will continue to strike until the outcome of an arbitrator's report is published in mid February.

► NIGER: Cessna 337H crashes on take off at Niamey International; 3 dead.

Three people were killed yesterday afternoon when their Cessna 337H Super Skymaster (MSN 337-1173 | 5U-ABP) crashed on take off from Niamey's Diori Hamani International Airport, Niger's Ministry of Transport has announced in a statement.