■ SOUTH AFRICA: ExecuJet extends Cape Town MRO capabilities to include Q300 support.

ExecuJet Africa, part of the ExecuJet Aviation Group, is expanding the support capabilities at its Cape Town International Airport facility to cover the Bombardier Dash 8-Q300 aircraft, due to growing demand in the region.

► SOUTH AFRICA: fastjet to enter South African market under JV with local investment firm; to use FedAir's AOC.

As previously speculated in this post, Tanzanian LCC, fastjet (FN), has indeed struck a deal with South African investment firm, Blockbuster, in which flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town will be operated under Federal Air's (7V) AOC. If all regulatory approval is obtained, flights should début from May 31

► INDIA: South African Airways, Jet Airways sign codeshare deal.

After suspending its South African operations in June 2012, India's Jet Airways (9W) is to return to the South African market, albeit under a codeshare agreement with South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier of South Africa and the only airline with non-stop flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg. The code share opens for Sale effective April 16th 2013, for travel effective April 18th 2013.

► BRAZIL: Philippine Airlines considers Johannesburg, Cape Town and Addis Ababa as stopovers on planned São Paulo flights.

Philippine Airlines(PR), who are planning to launch flights from Manila to the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo in early May (the signing of a Bilateral Air Services Agreement pending) could be considering the African hubs of either Johannesburg (possibly Cape Town) or Addis Ababa as a transitory point.

►► SOUTH AFRICA: Air Botswana to drop Cape Town - Maun from end of March.

[UPDATE 7 APRIL] Air Botswana (BP) is to drop its 4x weekly Cape Town - Maun route effective 31 March, just 10 months after its début. The route originally launched with daily flights back in June 2012 and predominantly catered for the leisure market.

►► NAMIBIA: Air Namibia to axe Accra, reduces Cape Town, Joburg due to low demand, Frankfurt due to A340s undergoing maintenance.

[UPDATE 7 APRIL] Air Namibia (SW) is, according to Amadeus, to axe its Windhoek - Accra (Ghana) flights effective 10 April. In addition, Windhoek to Cape Town, and Windhoek to Johannesburg flights are to be reduced from 3 to 2 a day, with Windhoek to Frankfurt flights being reduced to 4x a week effective immediately.

►► BOTSWANA: Air Botswana officially announce new destinations; new timetables loaded.

[UPDATE 03 APRIL 2013]  Following on from our previous post on the topic, Air Botswana (BP) have announced their new updated timetable with new destinations including Johannesburg (Lanseria), Cape Town,  Nairobi (Kenya), Lilongwe, Blantyre (Malawi) and Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) as new destinations from the Batswana carrier's hub, Gaborone. Lusaka, Zambia will also see a third extra Wednesday frequency served in tandem to Lilongwe, Malawi which will receive a twice weekly service (one direct and the other via Lusaka.)

► SOUTH AFRICA: Edelweiss Air to continue 2x weekly Cape Town ops for Winter 2013/14.

Swiss charter airline, Edelweiss Airlines (WK) is to maintain its seasonal twice weekly Zurich - Cape Town service during the Northern Winter 2013/2014 season. The Airbus A330 service operates under a code share with Swiss Airlines (LX).

► SOUTH AFRICA: (Pics) Antonov An-2 biplane completes epic 20'000km journey from Russia to South Africa.

An Antonov An-2 christened Anushka (Little Annie in Russian) (MCN 1G226-49 | RA-33390) has completed its 20'000km journey from northern Russia to South Africa, where it is to be used to carry out charitable work supporting humanitarian causes in southern Africa. Donated by Russian airline UTair (UT) with South Africa's ExecuJet set to provide the necessary support and maintenance, Anushka, a former cargo hauler, will now operate out of Lanseria Airport, Johannesburg under the "Just Love" banner.

► SOUTH AFRICA: TAAG Angolan Airlines goes 3x weekly to Cape Town from April.

From 1 April, TAAG Linhas Aéreas de Angola (DT), Angola's national carrier, is to boost its Luanda - Cape Town frequency from twice weekly to 3x weekly, with the addition of a Wednesday flight. Ops are flown with a Boeing 737-700.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Kulula 737 suffers engine failure during take off roll in Cape Town forcing closure of runway; no injuries.

A kulula (MN) Boeing 737-800 (MSN 28612 | ZS-ZWP) operating flight MN104 from Cape Town International to Johannesburg, South Africa, at 15h00L suffered an engine failure during its take off roll. One of Cape Town's two runways was subsequently shut for a brief period to allow for inspection and clearance of any debris.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Qatar Airways reduces capacity to Joburg, Cape Town & Maputo from 31 March.

Qatar Airways (QR) will from 31 March adjust its capacity on its Doha – Johannesburg – Cape Town route and its Doha – Johannesburg – Maputo route.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: ACSA awards ADB Airfield Solutions contract to upgrade Cape Town Int'l runway lighting.

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has awarded a contract to US based airfield lighting specialists ADB Airfield Solutions to upgrade the AGL – Airfield Ground  Lighting at Cape Town International Airport. The contract comes after ACSA awarded ADB a double contract in December 2012 to install a CAT III Normarc ILS at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport's runway 21L in addition to installing added taxiway centreline lighting to support the airport’s move to a CAT III airfield.

► RWANDA: RwandAir to start Juba, Zanzibar and Accra "by May"; Harare, Cape Town to follow "later" says Mirenge.

Rwanda's growing national carrier Rwandair (WB) has set its sights on expanding its regional footprint and uplifting more passengers in the hopes of becoming a profitable airline by 2015.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Air Mauritius to put A340 onto Cape Town route for duration of June.

AirlineRoute reports that Air Mauritius (MK) from 01JUN13 to 25JUN13 is to change its operations on its Mauritius – Cape Town route, with an Airbus A340-300 aircraft replacing the current A319. However, operational frequencies will temporarily reduce from 3x to 2x weekly during this period.

►► 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.

► MOZAMBIQUE: See Pics of VistaJet's ongoing Global 6000 Business Jet Africa Tour, set to stop in Maputo next.

Vistajet, the Swiss company luxury jet company specializing in short term leasing, has taken its Bombardier Global 6000 jet on a global roadshow with Africa being the first leg. Thus far, Kumasi, Accra, Abuja, Lagos, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Luanda, Johannesburg, Cape Town have been visited with Maputo, Kampala, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam still left.

► SOUTH KOREA: SA Tourism looks to woo Korean Air as South Africa increasingly looks East to bolster its tourism numbers.

In a bid to woo more Asian tourists, South African Tourism, the South African department responsible for marketing the country as a tourist destination, has said it intends to lobby Korean Air (KE) to start flights between Seoul and Johannesburg and Cape Town.

■ CANADA: South African Airways, Air Canada sign code share deal.

South African Airways (SA) has signed a reciprocal code-share agreement with fellow Star Alliance member, Air Canada (AC), effective 13 December 2012.

► SOUTH AFRICA: New LCC airline Skywise to launch in Q1 2013 using 737-300s.

As previously reported by The African Aviation Tribune, the original founders of defunct South African LCC 1Time have indeed revealed that they are planning to launch a brand new low-cost carrier, called Skywise, in South Africa during the first 3 months of 2013.