► NIGERIA: Presidency confirms death of northern Kaduna state governor, NSA and 4 others in Agusta chopper crash.

The Nigerian Presidency has confirmed the death of Governor Patrick Yakowa of northern Kaduna State, former National Security Adviser (NSA) General Owoye Azazi and four others involved in Saturday's crash of a Nigerian Navy Agusta A109E Power military helicopter in Nigeria's oil rich Niger Delta.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Gigaba appoints Duduzile Myeni to Acting Chairwoman, Vuyusile Kona to Acting CEO of SAA.

South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, has appointed with immediate effect, Vuyisile Kona to the position of Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Duduzile Myeni as the Acting Chairwoman of the Board of South African Airways following a recent SAA Board meeting held on 7 December 2012.

► TANZANIA: Precision Air announces 4x weekly Mbeya flights as new Songwe International Airport opens after 10 years of construction.

After a decade under construction, Songwe International Airport, which serves the south western Tanzanian town of Mbeya, on 13 December, joined Dar Es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International, Kilimanjaro Airport, and Zanzibar International as the country's fourth international airport, with Tanzanian carrier Precision Air (PW) amongst the first to announce 4x weekly ATR72-operated flights to the airport, effective 1 February  2013.

► CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): (Pic) Canadian Airways Congo leases MD82 from Ukraine's Bravo Air.

Canadian Airways Congo has been operating a McDonnell Douglas MD82 (MSN 49278 | UR-WRE) wet leased from Ukrainian charter/carrier Bravo Air (BAY) to operate flights throughout the Republic of Congo.

■ CAMEROON: Staff at Camair-Co threaten strikes from Monday over grievances concerning pay and managerial irregularities.

Twenty-two technical and administrative staff along with stewards and stewardesses have submitted their letters of resignation to Cameroonian national carrier Camair-Co (QC) whilst others have threatened to go on strike from Monday onwards, if grievances over their "13th Month" bonus, amongst others, is not resolved.

► NIGERIA: Chanchangi Airlines resumes ops with flights between Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna.

Kaduna-based Nigerian carrier, Chanchangi Airlines (5B), is to resume flight operations once more, with flights being offered between Lagos to Kaduna and Lagos to Abuja, according to the company's official Twitter.

■ ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines shoots down Kenya Airways mega-merger idea as SAA now sets sights on dominating the African market.

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has, for want of a better term, "shot down" a proposal by Kenya Airways' (KQ) outgoing CEO Titus Naikuni regarding a possible mega-merger between Ethiopian, Kenya Airways and South African Airways, as being impractical.

■ ALGERIA: Air Algérie renews IOSA certificate; successfully concludes SAFA inspections with EU.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has renewed Algerian national airline Air Algérie's (AH) IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certificate for a further two years, the carrier said in a statement.

► 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.

► EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Cronos Airlines leasing MD87 from DAT.

Swiss aviation newswire CH-Aviation reports that Equato-Guinean carrier Cronos Airlines (C8) has wet-leased a McDonnell Douglas MD87  (MSN 49403 | OY-JRU) from DAT - Danish Air Transport.

► SEYCHELLES: Air Seychelles boosts Abu Dhabi, Johannesburg, Mauritius flights from Spring 2013.

Air Seychelles (HM) has announced various changes to come into effect from 24 March 2013, in time for Northern Summer 2013. Amongst the changes are increased frequencies on its existing international routes, which will see an overall operation increment from 8 weekly to 14 weekly. 

■ ZAMBIA: Ethiopian outlines its fleet plans for new Zambian subsidiary, set to launch in late 2013.

Ethiopian Airlines' (ET) CEO Tewolde Gebremariam has outlined the carrier's planned start-up in Zambia, set to begin ops in late 2013. At first glance, the airline's fleet will bare strong similarities to the carrier's West African subsidiary, ASKY Airlines (KP), in which Ethiopian Airlines currently has a 40% shareholding.

■ ANGOLA: Construction of new M'banza-Kongo airport to begin in Q1 2013.

Construction of the new airport for the city of M'banza-Kongo (Zaire Province), Angola will begin after February 2013. The 800hectare site, situated in N’kiende II, 32 kilometres outside the city centre, is currently being cleared of land mines.

■ EGYPT: Egyptair Express to be liquidated, with E170 fleet returned to Egyptair on the back of poor finances.

According to Egyptian paper, Ahram, EgyptAir Express (MSE) is to be reintegrated into its parent company, Egyptair (MS), six years after it was launched to offer passengers increased frequencies on domestic and thin international routes, such as Cairo-Budapest.

 

► NIGERIA: KLM, Air France announce capacity changes on Nigeria routes for 2013.

KLM Dutch Airlines (KL) and Air France (AF) have announced various changes to their Nigerian operations for 2013. Effective 31 March 2013, Air France is to boost capacity on its Abuja/Port Harcourt route while for the duration of June, KLM is to reduce capacity on its Lagos flights.

► SPAIN: Ethiopian to start Madrid via Rome from June 2013.

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) are to start flights to Madrid, Spain via Rome, Italy starting 15 June 2013 with a 3x weekly Boeing 757 service. Consequently, Ethiopian's overall Rome service will increase from 8x to 11x weekly (Northbound, 10 on Southbound).

► COTE D'IVOIRE: ASKY Airlines to launch direct Lagos - Abidjan flights from next week.

ASKY Airlines (KP) will next week launch 3x weekly flights between the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, and the Nigerian city of Lagos using their recently delivered Bombardier Q400 aircraft. 

■ ZIMBABWE: Air Zimbabwe renews membership of Galileo, Sabre and Amadeus as IATA Safety Audit is slated for next week.

Air Zimbabwe (UM), now back in the air for almost 1 month, are clawing their way back onto the regional market, with news that they have renewed their memberships with CRSs  Galileo, Amadeus, Sabre and Travel Sky from whom they were suspended in May 2011 following non payment of fees.

► TURKEY: Egyptair increases Istanbul from 14x to 17x weekly from January 2013.

Egyptian national carrier, EgyptAir (MS), from 16 January 2013, will increase its frequency between Cairo and Istanbul, Turkey, from 14x to 17x weekly.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: 1Time liquidators seek deadline deferment to February 2013 as talks with fastjet go on.

Liquidators for defunct South African LCC 1Time (T6) today applied for a postponement of the deadline for the final liquidation of the airline, as talks with fastjet (FN) continue. The recently launched Tanzania-based LCC confirmed last week that it was in negotiations with the management, directors and provisional liquidator of 1Time (T6) over a possible buy out which would eventually pave the way for a fastjet entry into the South African market.