■ SOUTH AFRICA: CEO Mzimela, two managers jump ship as press reports claim SAA likely to post $140million loss.

South African Airways (SA) CEO Siza Mzimela, along with Theunis Potgieter, the carrier's Commercial General Manager and Sandra Coetzee, its Legal & Risk General Manager, today joined now ex-Chairwoman Cheryl Carolus and seven other non executive board members in jumping the SAA ship.

► MOROCCO: Air France introduces daily Paris Orly - Casablanca flights from 2013.

Air France (AF) will, from 31 March 2013, start daily operations to Casablanca, Morocco using an Airbus A318.

► TANZANIA: KLM boosts Kilimanjaro to 9x weekly from December.

From 27 December 2012 until 10 March 2013, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL) is to increase its flight frequency between Amsterdam, Holland and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania from daily to 9x weekly. The added flights will operate on a Thursday and Saturday ex-Schipol.

►► CAMEROON: Camair-Co delays Kinshasa/Lagos services until late October.

[UPDATED 7 OCTOBER 2012] Originally slated to start on 12 June 2012, Cameroonian national carrier Camair-Co (QC) has postponed the start of its 3x weekly Douala, Cameroon - Kinshasa, DRC and Douala, Cameroon - Lagos, Nigeria flights until 23 and 25 July 2012 respectively.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways pilot's union ends go slow.

In yet another episode of drama at Kenya Airways (KQ), a dispute over "goodwill" - an agreement with KALPA (Kenya Airlines Pilot Association) that requires its pilots to be voluntarily available to work for certain hours during off time, but within legal limits approved by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) - that inadvertently led to flight disruptions and cancellations on Saturday, has now been resolved according to Kenyan press reports.

► 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.

► SPAIN: CEIBA Intercontinental starts Malabo - Madrid flights.

Since transferring its sole Boeing 777-200LR (MSN 40668| CS-TQX) onto the registry of Portuguese airline White Airways, Equatoguinean national carrier CEIBA Intercontinental (C2) has now been able to launch a 3x weekly service between Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and Madrid, Spain, effective 4 October 2012.

► CAMEROON: Camair-Co signs $430million deal for two 787s.

The Cameroonian Government has announced plans worth USD429million to buy two Boeing 787-8s for use by national carrier Camair-Co (QC), with delivery scheduled for 2015. The new deal comes as load factors on the airline's  Douala - Yaoundé - Paris route's load factors have increased to 65.5% last month, against 47.3% for the route's inaugural in April.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: 1Time wants reductions in fuel levy, taxes as private airlines react angrily to SAA bailout.

1Time (T6), the South African LCC, has clarified the air over reports in the press that it had written to the South African government seeking a bail out (akin to what national carrier South African Airways (SA) secured last week), stating that their proposal centred around the South African government subsidising the airline industry as a whole with selected levies and taxes, and not to only offer unfair bail outs to South African Airways and its affiliate SAExpress (XZ).

► 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.

► ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian's first 787 undergoes GEnx engine change as General Electric issues global turbine inspection directive.

Despite having now received their second Boeing 787-8 (MSN 34746 | ET-AOR), Ethiopian Airlines (ET) have only recently finished dealing with their maiden Boeing 787-8's (MSN 34745 | ET-AOQ) first technical glitch: the replacement of one of its General Electric (GEnx-1B64) engines which had experienced problems with its hydraulics and oil leakage.

■ MOROCCO: Air France Industrie to outsource 100 jobs to Casablanca.

In a move bound to have serious repercussions in France and with Air France trade unions in particular, the maintenance wing of Air France, Air France Industrie, has announced it will outsource 100 out of the 450 technician jobs at its Croix-du-Sud Facility at Toulouse-Blagnac, to Morocco.

► ETHIOPIA: (Pics) Ethiopian Airlines takes delivery of first customized Bombardier Q-400.

Ethiopian national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines (ET), on 28 September, took delivery of its first of five reconfigured Bombardier Q-400. Routed Toronto-St Johns-Azores-Lisbon-Rome, ET-AQB (MSN 4419) arrived in Addis Ababa yesterday to much pomp and fervour.

► NIGERIA: Dana Air starts test flights ahead of return of service.

Nigerian carrier Dana Air (9J), following the reinstatement of its Operator's Licence in September by the Nigerian Government in early September, has embarked on a series of test flights in preparation for its resumption of scheduled passenger flight operations in the near future.

► MOROCCO: JetBlue, Royal Air Maroc sign interline deal.

After ending their 12-year-long code-share deal with Delta Airlines (DL) as their American code-share partner in June, Moroccan national carrier, Royal Air Maroc (AT),  has moved on and today announced the signing of an interline deal with American LCC JetBlue Airways (B6). 

The move will see a wider variety of flights being offered to each other's passengers, that were previously unavailable.

► 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.

■ TANZANIA: Precision Air posts USD400'000 profit despite tough market conditions.

Tanzanian private carrier Precision Air (PW) yesterday presented its  Ernst & Young audited report for the Financial Year 2011/2012 to shareholders, marking the airline's first annual general meeting since the company floated its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) in November of last year.

■ 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.

►► LIBYA: Emirates cancels intended Tripoli service resumption.

[UPDATED 3 OCTOBER 2012] Emirates (EK) are to restart their service from Dubai to Tripoli, Libya that was suspended in February of last year due to the Libyan Uprising. The flights will recommence on 29 October 2012 with a 4x weekly Airbus A330-200 service that will switch to an Airbus A340-300 from 2 January 2013.

► TANZANIA: Air Tanzania set to reach new deal with AeroVista; to resume flights next week, but at what cost?

Tanzanian national carrier Air Tanzania (TC) is looking to resume flights by 10 October, should it reach an agreement with Dubai based ACMI specialists AeroVista, from whom they leased a Boeing 737-500 (MSN 27354 | 4L-AJB).