News

EGYPTAIR TRAINING Center has announced its capacity to conduct specialised maintenance training including electrical wiring interconnection system (EWIS) and damage assessment and reporting for aircraft maintenance engineers.

AIR UGANDA today signed a codeshare agreement with RwandAir. The agreement, which is effective immediately, covers the Entebbe – Kigali route and will provide travellers with an increased choice of flights between the two cities. The signing ceremony took place at Kigali International Airport between Mr Cornwell Muleya, the CEO of Air Uganda, and Mr John Mirenge, the CEO of RwandAir.

STANDARD CHARTERED Bank through its Aviation Finance team, Pembroke, has announced a 12-year sale and leaseback agreement with South Africa’s national carrier, South African Airways (SAA), for 10 Airbus A320-200 aircraft. The aircraft will be delivered over the next two years, with the first two deliveries taking place in July this year. This is the first aviation finance deal in South Africa by Standard Chartered.

THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association (IATA) has introduced an enhanced IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) to improve global air safety.

JETCRAFT CORPORATION, an international leader in new and pre-owned business aircraft sales, acquisitions and trades, today announced the acquisition of the aircraft brokerage activities of ExecuJet Aircraft Trading (EAT), the business aircraft sales division of ExecuJet Aviation Group, of Zurich, Switzerland. The coming together of two of the industry’s best sales teams will immediately benefit Jetcraft and ExecuJet clients by offering the largest selection of quality new and pre-owned business aircraft from around the globe.

AVANTIK, MERCATOR’S reservation and sales distribution system for regional and low cost airlines, has gone live in record time with two more airlines - Antrak Air in Ghana and Alsie Express in Denmark. Alsie Express took just 29 days to go-live after project kick-off as mercator effectively reduced the implementations time by 25%. Avantik’s integrated platform of passenger services will help both airlines manage web-enabled reservation sales and inventory operations for internet, call centre, sales office and airport departure and control functionality whilst benefiting from yield management tools, revenue accounting and planning applications.

FASTJET, THE low-cost carrier, is pleased to announce a 40% increase in its overall passenger numbers in July, 2013, compared with July, 2012. Passengers on the combined Fly540 and fastjet fleets totaled 84,362, surpassing expectations for this time of the year. In Tanzania, the company saw a 14% increase in the number of fastjet passengers, compared to the previous month.

THE SOUTH African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has regretfully come to a decision to ground 13 Boeing 737 classic aircraft operated by Comair and SAA in terms of Section 115 of the Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act 13 of 2009). The reason for grounding the aircraft is that the SACAA has come to learn that these oeprators failed to comply fully with Airworthiness Directive (AD) 201-15-10 which was issued on 27 July, 2010, by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The directive was effective as at 31 August, 2010. The decision to ground the fleet is effective immediately.

AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, has expanded its codeshare network with airberlin, Europe’s seventh largest carrier, to cover Praslin and two new destinations in Europe: Stockholm and Copenhagen.

AHEAD OF the release of its monthly passenger statistics, low-cost carier fastjet is delighted to report a strong trading month for July, 2013, in Tanzania, continuing the trend of month-on-month revenue increases. Passenger revenue for July, 2013, was over US$2.5 million, which represents a revenue increase of over 10% against the previous month and a US$700,000 increase since May, 2013.

ED WINTER, CEO of fastjet, said the availability of tickets for flights between Tanzania and South Africa marked a milestone in the company’s history. Tickets for its route between Tanzania and South Africa go on sale this week. The route is fastjet’s first international one and marks the airline’s initial step on the way to becoming a pan-African carrier.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce the commencement of new services to Enugu, Nigeria as of 24 August, 2013, becoming the first international carrier to fly to the city. Ethiopian will also increase its five weekly flights to Abuja to a daily service.

FASTJET HAS a brand licence agreement with easyGroup Holdings Limited regarding the use of the fastjet brand. fastjet’s Chief Executive Officer Ed Winter said Sir Stelios’s decision to increase his holding in the company was “a testament to his confidence in fastjet's success and faith in the low-cost airline model he pioneered.”

AIR MAURITIUS held its Annual Meeting of shareholders at the Grand Baie International Conference Centre on 25 July, 2013, under the chairmanship of Mr Appalsamy (Dass) Thomas. In his address, Mr Thomas focused on the future of Air Mauritius. He highlighted the measures being taken to ensure long-term sustainability of the business, saying that the real game-changer would be the timely re-fleeting with new generation aircraft. Mr Thomas also stressed on the alignment of all stakeholders to the objectives of Air Mauritius, which he said was crucial to enabling change.

KENYA AIRWAYS’ Chief Executive Officer, Dr Titus Naikuni, has been recognized in the prestigious Airline Strategy Awards 2013. Dr Naikuni received the ‘Airline Business Award’, which recognizes an individual who has made a lasting strategic contribution to the air transport business, during this year’s edition of the awards that were held in London at the weekend.    

QATAR AIRWAYS, the national airline of the State of Qatar, is set to begin three-flights-a-week to Ethiopia’s capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, on September 18, 2013. The new service from Doha to Addis Ababa will be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 132 seats in Economy and 12 in Business Class.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that its CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, won the 2013 Airline Strategy Award for Regional Leadership on Sunday, 14 July, 2013, in London. The Ethiopian CEO is the first African airline CEO to receive the Regional Leadership Award in the award’s 12-year history which is annually given out by Airline Business Magazine, a publication of FlightGlobal, UK.

AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, today announced an expansion of its codeshare partnership with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for travel to Kuwait over Abu Dhabi.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has become the strategic partner of the new Malawi Airlines with a 49% equity shareholding. The remaining 51% of the shares will be held by the Malawian Government and Malawian private investors.

FASTJET HAS made use of its equity financing facility to draw down £790,000. 

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) has commenced codeshare services with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, following regulatory approval, which enables both carriers to offer codeshare and interline services to key destinations on each other’s route networks.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES Aviation Academy graduated 29 Pilots, 49 Aviation Technicians and 43 Cabin Crew at a ceremony held at Ethiopian Airlines headquarters on Tuesday, 9 July, 2013.

AIR MAURITIUS first direct flight to Beijing MK 686 will leave Mauritius tomorrow Saturday, 6 July, at 12h55. The flight is expected to land at Capital International Airport early Sunday morning. The once weekly flight will be operated by an Airbus A340E with 24 lie-flat seats in business class and 266 seats in economy class.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has added South America, the fifth continent in its route network, with the launching of new services to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as of today, 1 July, 2013.

EMIRATES, ONE of the world’s fastest growing airlines, today announced a linked service to Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, from 27 October, 2013. The linking of Conakry to the four times weekly Dubai to Dakar service will provide new opportunities for business and leisure travellers in Guinea to seamlessly connect to Emirates worldwide network through its Dubai hub, particularly destinations in China, the Middle East, India, Far East and Australia.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the official carrier of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the African Union (formerly called the Organization of African Unity), is proud to announce that one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners has been clad with the golden jubilee logo of the OAU-AU. Ethiopian was selected as the official carrier of the golden jubilee celebrations in May, 2013. The official logo of the OAU-AU 50th anniversary will now fly proudly in the sky on an Ethiopian 787 Dreamliner.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has won the SkyTrax World Airline Award for Best Airline Staff Service in Africa for its outstanding customer service, on 18 June, 2013, in Paris at Le Salon du Bourget Air Show.

KENYA AIRWAYS reports that its financial year 2012-2013 was characterised by harsh economic and geopolitical conditions that adversely impacted on the performance of the airline. Commercial aviation worldwide was negatively affected by the sustained under-performance of the European economy as well as volatility in fuel prices.

THE CHAIRMAN of Air Seychelles and Seychelles Minister for Transport and Home Affairs, Mr Joël Morgan, has met Seychellois in training at Etihad Airways Head Office in Abu Dhabi. The seven engineers, two cadet pilots and five members of the Graduate Management Development Programme (GMDP) are currently enrolled in career development programmes. The Training Engineer Development Programme includes two years of classroom training in Al Ain and two years of service training in Abu Dhabi.

QATAR AIRWAYS has announced its scheduled flights to and from the Seychelles will be suspended effective 1 September, 2013, until further notice due to commercial reasons. The last of the daily services operating between the airline's Doha hub and Seychelles International Airport on Mahe Island, will be on 31 August. The decision was taken after careful consideration by the airline's management team.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it will become the first African carrier to operate scheduled flights to Seoul, the Republic of South Korea, effective 18 June, 2013, using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways Cargo (SAA Cargo) has taken delivery of its Boeing 737-400 freighter aircraft. This follows months of planning to ensure that SAA Cargo’s freighter fleet is upgraded with bigger and fuel efficient aircraft for its domestic and regional markets. A further aircraft, the Boeing 737-300, will replace the current Boeing 737-200 and is expected to be delivered in July. SAA Cargo will have a fleet comprised of three Boeing 737-300Fs and one Boeing 737-400F.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES Aviation Academy is pleased to announce that it has graduated 26 pilots trained with Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL) - is a first in Africa - on June 6, 2013.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has won the 2013 Airline Reliability Performance Award from Bombardier Aerospace, Canada. This is the third time Ethiopian has won the award in a row.

AIR SEYCHELLES today announced the appointment of Justin Gosling to the position of General Manager Commercial. Mr Gosling joins Air Seychelles from Canada where he served for four years as Etihad Airways’ Country Manager overseeing strong route performance and sales results. He brings more than 20 years of airline and travel management experience to Air Seychelles, having worked previously at Lufthansa in the UK, HRG Travel in North America and Jet Airways in Canada.

AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, and Czech Airlines, the flag-carrier of the Czech Republic, today signed a codeshare agreement to link Prague and the Seychelles. The partnership between Air Seychelles and Czech Airlines allows passengers of the two airlines to book and travel between Prague and the Seychelles on one ticket, connecting in Abu Dhabi.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has finalized all the ground work to add South America, the fifth continent in its route network, with the launching of new services to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as of July 1, 2013.

KENYA AIRWAYS Pride Centre, a training facility run by the national carrier, has been granted a new global certification by the International Air Transport Association. The new certification from the association designates the centre as an IATA Approved Training School, allowing it to deliver IATA-endorsed training programmes in the field of Dangerous Goods Regulations to shippers, freight forwarders, airlines and Governments.

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways expects the downstream economic benefits of its Group operations to total close on R1 trillion (South African Rands) over the next 20 years, Acting Chairperson Ms Dudu Myeni said today. The estimate is based on direct and indirect growth in direct and downstream employment creation with a forecast of 88,000 South African jobs on aggregate through all sectors including tourism, foreign direct investments, goods and services. SAA, as host of the IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Cape Town 2-4 June, 2013, plans to highlight the growing importance of aviation within the developmental state milieu.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing airline in Africa, is pleased to announce that it will commence scheduled four weekly flights to Incheon International Airport in Seoul, the Republic of South Korea, effective 18 June, 2013.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is proud to announce that it has been selected as an ‘Official Carrier of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Organization of the African Unity-African Union.’ The celebration started in April, 2013, and will last for one year. The Memorandum of Understanding designating Ethiopian as Official Carrier of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations was signed between Mr Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Mr Esayas Woldemariam, Acting Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice-President of Global Sales of Ethiopian, at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, 7 May, 2013.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it will resume Boeing 787 Dreamliner services on Saturday, 27 April, 2013, with a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya. Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, and Randy Tinseth, Boeing Vice President of Marketing, will be on board this flight which will be the first 787 commercial flight in the world since the grounding of all Dreamliners.

ETHIOPIAN HAS signed a lease agreement with Air Lease Corporation for two new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, both on lease for 12 years. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in May and June, 2015.

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) today announced Mr Monwabisi Kalawe as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) designate. This comes after the Department of Public Enterprise (DPE) Minister’s challenge to the SAA Board of Directors to continue to focus on improving SAA’s governance.

ETHIOPIAN AVIATION Academy graduated 135 aviation maintenance technicians and 67 cabin crew at a ceremony held at Ethiopian Airlines headquarters on Thursday, 18 April, 2013.

ETHIOPIAN MRO Services is pleased to announce that it has developed shop overhaul capability for the CFM56-3 and CFM56-7 engines. Ethiopian MRO was granted approval for such capabilities from the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) and the USA Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

JOHANNESBURG STOCK Exchange (JSE) listed, Comair Limited today announced the launch of a High Court legal challenge to the R5 billion (South African Rands)  Government guarantee to South African Airways (SAA). Official Government policy and legislation are in place which governs the operation of SAA as a state-owned entity and its competitive relationship with the rest of the aviation industry. Comair states that the current and previous bailouts, which now amount to over R11 billion, do not comply with either the Domestic Aviation Transport Policy or the law (the Constitution, the SAA Act, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act and the Public Finances Management Act).

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce the development of full airframe maintenance capability for Bombardier’s Q100, Q200 and Q300 turboprop airplanes in addition to its existing Q400 aircraft capability. The Ethiopian MRO facility was granted the approval from the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) and the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January, 2013.

JOHANNESBURG STOCK Exchange (JSE)-listed Comair Limited's strong focus on re-engineering its operations to deliver improved revenue, operating efficiency and customer service ensured continued profitability for the country's only private domestic airline operator.

THE TURNAROUND in profitability at Comair, South Africa, that commenced in the second half of the 2012 financial year has continued into the six months to December, 2012, and has resulted in a profit after tax of R79 million for the period, a significant improvement on the results of the comparative period. While it took time to adequately address the effect of higher operating costs, brought on predominantly by the rapid escalation of the fuel price in 2011, we are now accommodating an oil price of over US$110 per barrel and do not anticipate a reduction in this price in the near future, it says.