• The African Aviation Tribune •

Monday, February 11, 2013

► 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.

Air Tanzania (TC) has resumed its Dar es Salaam - Mtwara flights as of Friday 8 February 2013. Flights will initially operate 4x weekly using the airline's Bombardier Dash 8-300 with plans to boost capacity should demand pick up. Flights to Arusha and Mtwara were originally scheduled to have begun in November 2012, though no reason was given for their deferment.

South African Airways (SA), its subsidiary SA Airlink (4Z) and competitor Comair Ltd, the British Airways franchise holder in South Africa in addition to owning LCC Kulula, have applied for new frequencies to the Democratic Republic of the Congo amongst other destinations as South African carriers seek to broaden their market bases.

■ ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Aviation Academy undergoing $50mln expansion project.

The Ethiopian Aviation Academy currently undergoing a USD50million expansion in a bid to boost its enrolment capacity, as demand for basic and recurrent training programs from domestic and international customers remains strong.

Congo (Brazzaville)-based regional carrier Trans Air Congo (Q8) has applied for rights to operate 5th freedom flights out of the Gabonese capital, Libreville, according to the country's national aviation authority L'Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile du Gabon (ANAC).

TAAG Linhas Aéreas de Angola (DT), Angola's national carrier, will from 27FEB13 to 30MAR13 adjust its operations, which will see its Brazil service operated with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft while Lisbon switches to an all-Boeing 777-300ER operation.

The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is said to be close to signing a partnership deal with development companies to expand the company's flagship facility, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg through the commercial development of airport land previously owned by arms manufacturer Denel. The prospect, too, of a new passenger terminal (OR Tambo Midfield Terminal) is also said to be in the "conceptualization" stage.

Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier Aerospace, on 7 February announced the start of production of what it described as "simple components" at its transitional facility at Casablanca's Mohammed V International Airport in Nouaceur. Production comes after a graduation ceremony was held on 1 February at the Institut des Metiers de l’Aeronautique (IMA), following which 18 aircraft assemblers began manufacturing their first Bombardier components.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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%.

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.

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.

Confirming previous speculative reports, South African LCC Mango (JE) in conjunction with AfricaStay, a specialized internet travel company focusing on promoting travel within Africa, are to offer once weekly charter flights between South Africa and Zanzibar using a Boeing 737-800.

The Algerian Government has given national carrier, Air Algèrie (AH), in whom it is 100% shareholder, the green light to proceed with the acquisition of 16 new aircraft in a bid to bolster the airline's long term viability and therefore, profitability. However, until such time that Air Algèrie is capable of holding its own, the Government has deferred both the liberalization of the local aviation industry and the possibility of an Open Skies treaty, without completely excluding them in the future.

Following on from our previous post, Jetairfly (TB), the LCC successor to Jet4you, a low-cost Moroccan carrier, has announced the imminent launch of four new routes between the Netherlands, France and Morocco.

Following the resolution of what the International Civil Aviation Organization termed "a Significant Safety Concern", Zambia has taken a crucial step towards being struck off the ICAO's Safety Watch List, with removal from the EU's No-Fly List now a distinct possibility.

■ CONGO (KINSHASA): RVA launches study for new cargo facility at N'djili International Airport.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's aviation authority, Régie des Voies Aériennes de la République Démocratique du Congo (RVA), has embarked on a €280'000 study for the construction of a new cargo facility at Kinshasa's N'djili International Airport.

AvMax Aircraft Leasing has joined the growing list of disgruntled suppliers demanding their money from Fastjet (FN). The Canada-based ACMI firm recently wrote to Fastjet stating it had moved to deregister three of its aircraft previously leased to Fastjet's predecessor, Fly540 Tanzania, over USD2million worth of unpaid leasing and maintenance bills.

Spurred on by its consistent annual growth of 25%, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is seeking to consolidate its position as one of Africa's dominant carriers through the signing and amending of its Bilateral Air Service Agreements the country has with various African countries.

► 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.

The Tanzanian Government has confirmed it is in talks with British carrier Virgin Atlantic (VS) over the possible launch of flights between the United Kingdom and the East African country following British Airways (BA) decision to axe Dar es Salaam from its network effective 31 March.

For the upcoming IATA Northern Summer Season (from 31 March), Portugal's TAP (TP) will increase capacity on select Morocco flights with the delpoyment of the Airbus A319 aircraft on its flights to Marrakech and Casablanca.

Tanzanian private carrier, Precision Air (PW), has announced, effective 9 February, the launch of daily services between Dar es Salaam and Mbeya (Songwe) Airports, roughly 1 month after flights were resumed there. Additonally, a second Mwanza - Kigoma service has been launched that operates 5x weekly. Auric Air (AUK), an airline based in Mwanza, Tanzania offering both scheduled and air charter services, is to launch 4x weekly Mwanza - Musoma flights effective 15 February.

On 23 January, Matthijs Boertien, the newly appointed CEO of Cameroonian carrier, Camair-Co (QC), announced the launch of several new domestic routes, last served by Camair-Co's predecessor, Cameroon Airlines (UY).

Corroborating our previous report, South African startup carrier Skywise, whose founders include ex-1Time honchos Rodney James and Glenn Orsmond, ex-1Time Chief Information Officer, Michael Kaminski, and Johan Borstlap, a former director at defunct domestic carrier Sun Air, have confirmed that they will not meet their target launch date of 1 March following the failure of their application for a domestic licence to the Air Services Licensing Council (ASLC) on 16 January.

Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier Nas Air (XY) is to expand its operations to the Sudan with the launch of flights between Dammam and Khartoum, Sudan as part of its regional expansion plans.

On the back of an 11% increase in passenger numbers posted for 2012, TAAG Linhas Aéreas de Angola (DT), Angola's national carrier, is to purchase an additional three Boeing 777-300ERs due for delivery from 2019/2020.

Not to be outdone by its neighbour Liberia, the Sierra Leone Government is to move ahead with the first phase in the construction of a new USD198million Freetown International Airport, following the signing of a contract between the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the China Railway International Company in December last year. Financing is to come from the Chinese Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank).

■ NIGERIA: NAAPE endorses Senate's report recommending Demuren's sacking and Dana Air's AOC revocation.

Nigeria's National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has come out in support of Nigerian Senate & House of Representatives whose recent Joint Committee on Aviation Report unequivocally condemned the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as being staffed by "unqualified persons working as Aircraft Inspectors" and which recommended the immediate withdrawal of Dana Air's (9J) Air Operators Certificate, reinstated in early December.

► COTE D'IVOIRE: Air Côte d’Ivoire announces Pointe Noire, Ouagadougou, Yaounde; various timetable changes.

AirlineRoute states that Air Côte d’Ivoire from 01FEB13 is adjusting its operations, which includes the launch of 3 new destinations in west Africa - Pointe Noire (Congo Brazzaville), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Yaounde (Cameroon).

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Friday, February 8, 2013

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Monday, February 4, 2013

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013