► 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.

► 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.

► 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.

► SOUTH SUDAN: Turkey's AtlasJet wins tender for national airline; to launch with two aircraft.

Turkey's Atlasjet (KK), is to establish a private airline in South Sudan following the opening of bids on January 23,  in the South Sudanese capital, Juba. In September, Murat Ersoy, the President of Atlasjet (KK), led a 25-member strong Turkish delegation to Juba, scouting for potential business opportunities.

► TURKEY: "Leaked" document purportedly shows Turkish Airlines' planned Africa route expansion plans for 2013.

A leaked document (and we use the term "leaked" in the loosest possible way) purporting to show Turkish Airlines' (TK) intended route expansion time line has been published on the web. According to the document, TK is planning an aggressive expansion into West and Central Africa though Southern Africa appears to remain largely neglected for the foreseeable future.

► SOUTH SUDAN: Denim Air ACMI to base a Fokker 50 out of Juba for 2013.

Dutch ACMI specialists Denim Air (3D) have confirmed via Twitter that it is to base a single Fokker 50 (MSN 20239 | PH-JXN) in Juba, South Sudan for the duration of 2013 in support of United Nations & World Food Program work currently ongoing in the country.

► KENYA: Jetlink Express ceases operations citing South Sudanese forex crunch.

Citing "an inability to access USD2million (KES171million) worth of funds tied up in South Sudan", Kenya's Jetlink Express (J0) has announced that effective today, Friday 16 November 2012, it is suspending operations.

► TANZANIA: fastjet announces initial domestic and regional routes.

fastjet has revealed its first routes to be served when it launches later this month. In an bizarre interview with with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown," fastjet CEO, Ed Winter, announced the first destinations to be Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda, though could not give an exact date for operations to start, as "all the necessary government approvals were not yet in place."

► BURUNDI: China Southern to operate military charters to Monrovia, Bujumbura, Juba, Nairobi in November.

Guangzhou based carrier, China Southern (CZ), will operate three military charter flights to Monrovia (Liberia), Bujumbura (Burundi), Juba (South Sudan) and Nairobi (Kenya) this November on behalf of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, under the auspices of the United Nations.

► SUDAN: See Pics of Nova Air's Boeing 737-500 in new colours!

Khartoum based carrier Nova Air (O9) are set to receive their maiden Boeing 737-500 (MCN 29122 | M-ABES), leased from Dutch leasers Sojitz Aircraft Leasing B.V. The airline is currently in Bournemouth, UK having been painted in the company's colours, and is now awaiting its ferry flight to Khartoum where it will be used for charter flights.

► SOUTH SUDAN: Turkey's AtlasJet in Juba scouting for potential deals.

Murat Ersoy, the President of Atlasjet (KK), a Turkish airline based out of Florya, Istanbul, Turkey with both domestic and international scheduled passenger services, is the leader of a 25-member strong Turkish delegation currently visiting the South Sudanese capital of Juba, scouting for potential business opportunities.

► SUDAN: Sudan Airways, Marsland Aviation apply for Juba rights as flights between Sudan/South Sudan are set to resume.

In a sign that strained relations between Sudan and its new southern neighbour, South Sudan, are improving, the two countries' civil aviation authorities on Friday reached a provisional deal that now opens the way for Sudanese carriers to restart direct flights between Khartoum and Juba, though whether flights between other towns and cities have been given the go ahead, is unclear.

► SOUTH SUDAN: Government looks for partners in new national airline as China helps build new terminal at Juba International.

Reuters Newswire is reporting that the South Sudanese Government is looking for an "international company" to enter into a potential private/public joint venture for the running of a new South Sudanese national carrier. The government plans to retain a minority 20% stake in the airline, and will sell 31% to the domestic South Sudanese private sector with the remaining  49% being sold to international investors.

► SOUTH SUDAN: RwandAir rumoured to start Juba in November as Lagos goes daily from October.

Rwanda's national carrier Rwandair (WB) is rumoured to be considering flights to the South Sudanese capital of Juba after it receives its two Bombardier CRJ900s sometime in October or November of this year according to the usually reliable Wolfganghthome blog.

"From sources in Juba it is understood that the South Sudan capital may well be on the drawing board, either nonstop or via Entebbe, while a number of destinations South of Rwanda are said to be under intense scrutiny vis a vis viability, as is an added West African destination, either stand alone or in combination with the airlines flights to Lagos."

Source [Wolfganghthome]

Rwandair's Route Network

The African Aviation Tribune has already reported on another much anticipated Rwandair route: that of Lusaka, Zambia and Cape Town, South Africa, which too, should come into effect after the arrival of the new jets, thereby freeing up their Boeing 737-800s for longer, more fetching routes.

As always, we'll keep you updated on the latest developments.

Meanwhile, the Rwandan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Joseph Habineza, recently announced plans for the airline to start a daily Kigali - Lagos, Nigeria service effective October 2012, in addition to a cargo service. Rwandair currently serves Lagos from its Kigali hub three times weekly.

"Habineza at a forum with stakeholders in Lagos said, “We can easily go to Europe or America but traveling within Africa is pretty difficult. But we want to break this barrier. In October, we will start daily flight from Lagos to Kigali. From Kigali they can connect East and Southern Africa, Dubai and other parts of the world.” While adding that the cargo business would soon start, he said the routes expansion became necessary owing to increased traffic to Rwanda from Nigeria."

Source [Daily Trust Nigeria]

As Mr Habineza mentioned, Rwandair has indeed focussed its energies on expanding its African network over expanding into Europe and the US - certainly a very prudent move to take given Europe's stagnant economies - which, despite its false allure and prestige, has often been the bane of many African carriers and start ups.

► SOUTH SUDAN: Kush Air to take delivery of an Antonov AN-12.

South Sudanese carrier and charter company Kush Air is set to receive an Antonov An-12 (MSN# 347007 | ST-KNR) joining its Let 410 and Fokker 50 (MSN# 20204 | 5Y-BYE) turboprop leased from Kenya’s Skyward Aviation International.

Kush Air's Fokker 50 (Andreas Fotopoulos)

The airline currently serves Wau, Bentiu, Aweil and Malakal from its base in Juba, with plans to offer flights to Rumbek, Yambio and Renk.

► SUDAN: Tarco Air leases Boeing 737 from Gambia's Aeolus Air.

Sudanese domestic-carrier Tarco Air (TRQ) has signed a lease with Gambian ACMI Aeolus Air for a Boeing 737 as the airline seeks to increase its share of the booming Sudanese aviation pie, by starting regional and international operations.

► EGYPT: Egyptair Express mulls fleet renewal before expanding into Africa.

Following on from the events of last year's Arab Spring and consequently a very difficult financially 2011 whereby the airline's profits took a 75% plunge, Egyptair (MS) has decided to reorganize its fleet and route operations by offloading several of its "thinner" African routes to its subsidiary Egyptair Express (MSE).

Egyptair Express Embraer E-170LR

Possible routes to be moved to Egyptair Express are Cairo to: Khartoum, Sudan, Asmara, Eritrea and Juba, South Sudan all which are presently served by the Boeing 737-500, whose capacity appears to have come in under Egyptair's proposed policy of maintaining only 140+ seater aircraft in its main fleet. In the interests of fleet renewal and of finding suitable aircraft for these new routes, Egyptair is considering the Embraer E-190 or Bombardier CSeries.

"It has also used Embraer aircraft to increase frequencies. Following the sharp drop in passenger numbers after the Egyptian revolution in early 2011, it moved some strategic short-haul routes to the E-170LR fleet to maintain frequencies and transferred non-strategic short-haul routes to the Brazilian aircraft to preserve market presence."

Read More Here [ATW]

Presently,  EgyptAir Express operates 12 Embraer E-170LRs to destinations in Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Malta and Saudi Arabia.

► UGANDA: NasAir Eritrea starts Asmara - Entebbe direct.

Eritrean private airline Nasair Eritrea (UE), yesterday started direct Asmara - Entebbe, Uganda flights using a Boeing 737-200. Until that maiden flight, Entebbe was served via Juba, South Sudan, according to NasAir's timetable.