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SAA A330-200 South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has confirmed that it will reduce the frequencies of six of its regional African routes, reports Tourism Update. The airline last month presented a paper to the government outlining plans to cut 23% of its routes, as it streamlines operations in a bid to stay afloat. The cuts follow on from the exit from SAA's fleet of five wide-body and four narrow-body aircraft. Flights to Brazzaville, Douala, Kinshasa, Entebbe, Luanda, and Cotonou are affected, with the following adjustments rolling out end-September/early-October: - Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Pointe Noire - Brazzaville; from 3x weekly to 1x weekly - Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Libreville - Douala; from 3x weekly to 1x weekly - Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Kinshasa N'Djili; from 3x weekly to 2x weekly - Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Entebbe/Kampala; from 4x weekly to 3x weekly - Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Luanda; from 7x weekly to 3x weekly - Johannesburg O...

Emirates B777-300 Emirates has reaffirmed its commitment to Tunis by increasing the frequency of flights between Dubai and Tunis from six to seven a week starting 30th October 2017. The additional Dubai – Tunis flight will be operated every Monday with an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The added flight will give passengers in Tunis greater access to Emirates’ global route network, particularly destinations in the Middle East, GCC, West Asia, Asia Pacific region and the US, with just one stop in Dubai. The added frequency will also offer importers and exporters an additional 23 tonnes of cargo capacity in each direction. Popular goods carried between Tunis and Dubai include fruits and vegetables, fresh and frozen seafood, electronic equipment, truffles and dates. Situated on a large Mediterranean Sea gulf, behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette, Tunis is a popular destination for international travelers with its heritage sites and coastal lifestyle. It is ...

ET B777 Ethiopian Airlines and Azul Brazilian Airlines have entered a codeshare agreement effective Oct, 01, 2017. Through the codeshare partnership Ethiopian Airlines will add its flight code (ET) in Azul’s operations; hence, customers will be able to purchase tickets directly from Ethiopian Airlines sales channels to fly to seven Brazilian destinations operated by Azul. Reciprocally, Azul airlines will market on Ethiopian vast network throughout Africa and beyond. Girma Shiferaw, A/VP Corporate Strategy and Alliance, remarked: “I wish to thank our colleagues at Azul Brazilian Airlines, for the successful conclusion of this codeshare agreement. The codeshare agreement will entitle our esteemed customers traveling between Asia/Middle East/Africa and Brazil, the best possible connectivity options to multiple Brazilian destinations. The agreement will also underpin people-to-people, investment, trade and tourism ties between Africa and Brazil. As a successful Pan-African carr...

GCAA Logo The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has issued an advisory notice warning the general public not to conduct any business with either of local start-up Goldstar Airlines (Accra) or the US-based virtual carrier, Global Ghana Airlines (Chicago O'Hare). In the notice published last week, the regulator said it had noted advertisements flighted by either firm for commercial flights connecting Ghana with other parts of the world despite neither possessing an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). "The ... advertisements are misleading and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority takes a very serious view of this," GCAA Director General, Simon Allotey, said. "In light of the above, the general public is hereby advised not to conduct any business with these companies, as they do not have the necessary approvals from the GCAA to commence such air operations." Goldstar Airlines CEO Eric Bannerman has since lashed out at Allotey's statement claiming...

SAA Livery After a string of over 7 CEO in 4 years, South African Airways (SAA) has announced the start date of its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the airline's headquarters, Airways Park, Johannesburg, as November 1, 2017. “We are pleased to announce that the start date of our new CEO, Mr Vuyani Jarana has been determined as 1 November 2017. The decision follows the conclusion of negotiations with his current employer on his release date,” said SAA Spokesperson Tlali Tlali. The appointment of  Jarana will bring stability at the executive tier of the airline’s leadership. This will also enable the acting CEO, Musa Zwane, to return to the maintenance subsidiary, SAA Technical, where he is a full time chief executive. One of  Jarana’s major responsibilities will be to ensure the effective implementation of SAA’s recently finalised five-year corporate plan. SAA must return to commercial sustainability in the shortest time possible. The Board of Directors will su...

Ethiopian Logo Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa), the giant of Africa is set to tighten its stranglehold on the Southern African market following comments by CEO Tewolde Gebremariam that a deal with the Zambian government over its Zambia Airways (Lusaka) project could be reached in the coming weeks. In an interview with Bloomberg, Gebremariam said the tentative joint-venture carrier would feature the Zambian government and private-equity investors as additional shareholders. The signing of an outline plan in the coming weeks would then set to stage for a final agreement which could be concluded by November. Zambian Minister of Transport, Brian Mushimba, recently told ZNBC that the Zambia Airways project was currently being vetted by the Ministry of Finance before heading to Cabinet for review. If all goes according to plan, the new airline could be launched as early as next year. ZA Logo The Zambian domestic market is currently home to Proflight Air Services, Royal Air C...

KQ B787 aka Dreamliner Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) has revealed that it will need to obtain waivers from the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM) due to non-compliance of its financial obligations. The national carrier made the revelation in its annual report for the year ended March 31, 2017. "One of the facilities for the purchase of ten Embraer E190 aircraft, contains some financial covenants, which are monitored against the annual audited financial statements," the airline's annual report states. "The Group is not in compliance with all the financial covenants and is in the process of obtaining waivers from the financiers." Kenya Airways secured a financing package in June 2012 to enable it to purchase nine B787-8s, one B777-300(ER), and ten EMB-190s. The package consisted of a pre-delivery payments (PDPs) facility and an aircraft delivery finance facility. The ten Embraers were delivered before November 2013 and the nine Dreamliners ...

Air Djibouti B737-400 Air Djibouti (2F, Djibouti) is preparing for its next stage of growth the chairman of technical partner, Cardiff Aviation, has revealed. Launched in August 2015 using a Fokker 27(F) chartered from Astral Aviation (8V, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta), Air Djibouti eventually branched into the passenger services niche using a single B737-400 chartered from VVB Aviation Malta (IV, Malta). Its only passenger aircraft, at present, is a BAe 146-300 wet-leased from South Africa's Fair Aviation (2F, Lanseria) but which was ferried back to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo this week. With its launch phase now completed, Bruce Dickinson told Logistics Update Africa in an interview that Air Djibouti was now looking to acquiring its own aircraft. “We are actually looking at purchasing a new aircraft," he said. "We are in the middle of looking at a 70-seat regional airliner of some description. We are fairly well advanced on that. There will be two of those and what the...

Arik Air A340-500 Arik Air (W3, Lagos) has filed a suit against the Nigerian government over plans for the airline to be taken over by Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa), reports the News Agency of Nigeria. The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, asks that Ethiopian Airlines and the Federal Ministry of Transportation be restrained from takeover negotiations. Arik Air has been under the control of the government through its Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) since February. After months of speculation, Ethiopian Airlines confirmed in late August that it was indeed in talks to manage the crippled Nigerian airline. The founder of Arik Air, Joseph Arumeni-Ikhide, has previously voiced his strong opposition to any takeover of Arik Air by the Ethiopians, saying that he would launch a legal challenge if it did so. He is not the instigator, however, of this suit, which is being pursued by Chris Ndulue, an Arik Air Director. Ndulue's statement claims that as two ...

Air Zimbabwe B767 An Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare Int'l) plans to lease a quartet of B777-200(ER)s from a Malaysia-based lessor is in jeopardy over a lack of financing Zimbabwe's NewsDay has reported. Quoting sources close to the deal, the paper reports the Zimbabwean government-owned carrier has failed to source the requisite foreign currency needed to secure the aircraft and thus deploy them into service under the Zimbabwe Airways (Harare Int'l) brand. “Most of the groundwork had been done and what was left was Air Zimbabwe to pay to activate the lease but the airline does not have the money and the shareholder (government) for now has no capacity,” a source told the newspaper. Though never officially confirmed, Zimbabwe Airways was reported to be a NewCo intended to allow moribund Air Zimbabwe to relaunch itself albeit without its significant debt burden. The four ex-Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) B777s were to be used in relaunching longhaul flig...

SAA A340-600 South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) will cut capacity at its mainline operation as part of an overall downsizing of the carrier's network. The changes are part of the cash-strapped airline’s implementation of its newly developed five-year turnaround plan, its eleventh, that seeks to return the company to financial sustainability in the shortest time possible. To that end, the chairman of the SAA Pilots Association, Jimmy Conroy, told Moneyweb in an interview that the pilot corps had been informed that SAA's fleet could be reduced by up to 20%. “We were advised at a meeting in early August that they planned to reduce their current fleet of 65 aircraft by as much as 10,” he said. SAA operates fifty-five aircraft of which twenty-seven - seven A319-100s, twelve A320-200s, two B737-300(F)s (a third is leased from Star Air (South Africa)), and six B737-800s - are narrowbodies with the other twenty-eight - six A330-200s, five A330-300s, eight A...

Oman Air A330-200 Oman Air has implemented a codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways (KQ) covering services between Muscat and Nairobi. The new partnership will allow seamless connectivity to Kenya Airways customers in accessing Muscat directly from Nairobi. Oman Air launched its flights to Nairobi in March this year. On the Nairobi – Muscat route, KQ will place its codeshare flight numbers on the Oman Air flights operating on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Commenting on the new code share agreement, Paul Gregorowitsch CEO of Oman Air said: “Oman Air is very happy with the implementation of this code share agreement with Kenya Airways. Through this partnership, Oman Air extends its exemplary services to guests of Kenya Airways. Trade between Kenya and Oman has been growing steadily over the years and this latest agreement with Kenya Airways is a natural progression, following the launch of our new flight from Muscat to Nairobi in March this year.” Kenya Airways Grou...

Cargolux B747-400 Freighter  Cargolux Airlines is set to introduce two new destinations in Africa, Douala in Cameroon and Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Services to Lubumbashi will begin on 15 September while Douala is served as of 3 October. Flights to Lubumbashi leave Luxembourg every Friday evening, arriving in the DRC on Saturday mornings at 05:25. The return flight is routed via Johannesburg, Nairobi and also serves Stansted in the UK. It arrives in Luxembourg on Sundays at 13:25 (all time local times). Douala services depart from Luxembourg every Wednesday at 16:15 and are routed via Bamako. They arrive in Cameroon on Thursdays at 01:55. The return flight arrives back in Luxembourg on Thursdays at 10.55. Lubumbashi is the DRC’s second largest city after the capital Kinshasa and acts as a hub for the country’s mining industry. The city is an important commercial and industrial center and produces textiles, food and beverages and copper smel...

Sonair B737-700 Sonair (SOR, Luanda) has commenced scheduled passenger flights to M'Banza Congo Airport, the airfield serving the capital of Angola's northwestern Zaire Province. An airline statement said the recently inaugurated service, M'Banza Congo's only scheduled passenger flights, would operate 3x weekly to/from Luanda via Soyo using Beech 1900D equipment. The Sunday return service will, however, operate from Soyo to Luanda via M'banza Congo. M'Banza Congo Airport, located in the center of the city, stopped receiving commercial traffic in October 2009, when it was closed for recovery and expansion works. A UNICEF World Heritage site, M'banza Congo lies close to Angola's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was once the home of the Manikongo, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo during the pre- and early Portuguese colonial period. Source:https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/59153-mbanza-congo-angola-sees-schedul...

SAA Livery South African Airways (SAA) has confirmed it will introduce network changes on the domestic and regional segments of its route network. The changes relate to the replacement of SAA's own metal service on certain routes and not total withdrawal. The changes are part of the airline’s implementation of its newly developed five-year Corporate Plan that seeks to return the company to financial sustainability in the shortest time possible. The planned network changes are to optimise SAA’s schedule through the introduction of its airline partners. SAA will leverage its partnership with its sister airlines and will still maintain its SA code in those markets. For the customers, this means that we will continue to provide services to the affected markets, albeit rendered by our partner carriers who will be operating on those routes. In essence, no existing or future customers will experience an adverse impact due to the introduction of the partner carriers, as the change w...

Syphax Airlines A319-100 Tunisia's Syphax Airlines has denied reports in the Tunisian media claiming its application to the North Africa state's civil aviation regulator seeking the reinstatement of its AOC had been flat out rejected, reports ch-aviation. In a statement last week the resurgent carrier said that CAC had not rejected the application outright, but had, rather, requested additional information before proceeding. "Contrary to what has been said, the CAC responded favorably to the resumption of Syphax's operations and asked the company to update its technical and financial files," it told Kapitalis magazine adding that there would be a postponement pending the finalization of the documents. The Court of Sfax approved the carrier's reorganization plan in July with its TND230 million dinar (USD93.9 million) debt pile restructured for payment over a revised period. As part of its exit from judicial oversight, the company has drawn up a busi...

Air Mauritius A340-300 Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ghanaian government over the provision of expertise in the establishment of a new Ghanaian national carrier. The agreement was signed in Port Louis last week following a visit by Ghana's Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and her team. During the week-long stay, Dapaah held talks with Air Mauritius executives following which the preliminary agreement was signed on Thursday, August 31. "This is a first," Arjoon Suddhoo, Chairman of the Board of Air Mauritius, said in a statement issued after the signing ceremony. "Ghanaians are very interested in the model of Air Mauritius, which is a company whose majority shareholder is the government. It is also listed on the Mauritius Stock Exchange. We are a commercial aviation company that creates value for our shareholders. We also have a mandate to contribute to the development of the country." ...

ET A350-900 Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa) has confirmed that it is in talks to manage Nigeria's Arik Air (W3, Lagos), reports Business Daily. "Following the bid opened by the Nigerian government, we are negotiating to secure a management contract of Arik Air," said Esayas Weldemariam, Managing Director of International Services at Ethiopian Airlines Group. "Based on the terms and conditions set by the government of Nigeria, Ethiopian Airlines has submitted its offer to take over the management of Arik Air." Arik Air B737-700 Arik Air has been under the control of the Nigerian government through its Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) since February. Ethiopian Airlines has been linked to a potential management takeover of the struggling carrier since then, but this is the first time it has admitted that it is genuinely interested in pursuing a deal. The founder of Arik Air, Joseph Arumeni-Ikhide, has previously voiced his strong oppositio...