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Interview with Ato Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has won the African Aviation ‘African Airline of the Year’ Award for 2017, for the second year in a row, in recognition of its continued rapid growth, increased profitability and its outstanding contribution to aviation development in Africa.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has won the African Aviation ‘African Airline of the Year’ Award for 2016 in recognition of its Financial Performance, Fleet Modernisation, Route Network Expansion, In-Flight Service, Overall Customer Care and its Outstanding Contribution to Aviation Development in Africa.

Investec Bank, Nedbank CIB and Comair have won the African Aviation Air Finance Africa Award for Aircraft Finance Deal of the Year for 2016 in recognition of the successful financing of new Boeing 737-800 aircraft for the privately-owned South African airline.

DR TITUS Naikuni, Group Managing Director & CEO of Kenya Airways has received the African Aviation Lifetime Achievement Award for his Outstanding Services to African Aviation Development. The Award was presented during the African Aviation Summit 2014 & 23rd Annual ‘Air Finance for Africa’ Conference & Exhibition held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June this year.

DR HAROLD Olusegun Demuren, the former Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and currently Chief Executive Officer of Harold Demuren Consulting has received an African Aviation Lifetime Achievement Award for his Outstanding Services to African Aviation Development. The Award was presented during the African Aviation Summit 2014 & 23rd Annual ‘Air Finance for Africa’ Conference & Exhibition held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June this year.

1 JANUARY, 2014, marks exactly 100 years since the birth of commercial aviation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) invites everyone with an interest in aviation to join a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary and take part in a conversation about what needs to happen to make the next 100 years even more momentous.

 

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has mandated Natixis as PDP Facility Lead Arranger and Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank) as PDP Facility Co-Arranger to provide pre-delivery payment loan financing for its batch of four new Boeing 777-200LR Freighter aircraft, to be delivered between autumn 2014 and winter 2015.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa, is pleased to announce the signing of a technical support agreement with fellow African airline, RwandAir on 18 December, 2013, in Addis Ababa.

BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE today announced that its purchase agreement with Abidjan-based airline, Air Côte d’Ivoire, is now firm. The transaction, which was announced as a conditional purchase agreement on November 18 during the Dubai Airshow, covers two Q400 NextGen aircraft with options for an additional two. Air Côte d’Ivoire is the national airline of Ivory Coast.

THE CHIEF Executives of Star Alliance member airlines, representing one-third of the global aviation industry, met in Vienna to discuss the strategic development of the Alliance, including the benefits offered to its most loyal customers, its membership strategy and important projects and topics for 2014

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES Flight ET-815 of 18 December, 2013 on a scheduled service from Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro was unable to land at Kilimanjaro Airport due to a disabled light aircraft on the runway

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) announced that effective 13 December its existing code-share agreement with stablemate low cost airline Mango, will be extended to also include further coastal cities in South Africa, as well as Bloemfontein.

AFTER HAVING successfully handled the first A380 flight of Emirates for the Independence Day celebrations of 12 March this year, the Ground Services team of Air Mauritius again did it this morning. The team went through intensive training over the past days and were all motivated to take Air Mauritius handling activities to another level with the daily handling of the Emirates Airbus A380 as from today.

TURKISH AIRLINES continues to expand its African network with the addition of Kano, Nigeria, as its 242nd destination and N'djamena, Chad as the 243rd. Already a globally recognized brand, Turkish Airlines again strengthens its presence in Africa and now has a presence at 36 destinations in 25 African countries, making it one of the leading carriers to the continent. “Europe’s Best Airline” is now a dominant presence in Africa.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing African airline, is happy to announce the commencement of services to Semera, the capital of the Regional State of Afar located in the North Eastern part of Ethiopia, starting from December 14, 2013. The new service will be operated thrice weekly with Ethiopian Q-400 Bombardier aircraft on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES would like to refute all unfounded speculations regarding the incident of Ethiopian flight ET-815 from Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro of 18 December, 2013. Such unfounded speculations are against international procedure and practice of incident investigation and communications.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing Airline in Africa, announced the commencement of new flight services to Singapore at the inaugural ceremony held at Bole International Airport, Ministerial Salon on December 03, 2013. The event was graced by H.E. Mr. Getachew Mengistie, State Minister of Transport of the FDRE, H.E. Mr. Tadesse Haile, State Minister of Industry, H.E Mr. Lee Yi Shan, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry of Singapore, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines and other invited guests.

AIR MAURITIUS has signed a code-share agreement with Virgin Australia, effective 10 December, 2013, which enables it to expand its reach in Australia beyond the hub in Perth. This free flow code-share agreement will enable Air Mauritius to sell its code on Virgin Australia flights beyond Perth to and from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, today announced, that subject to regulatory approval, it will launch flights to Paris-Orly as part of a significant expansion to its international schedule.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has selected Rockwell Collins to provide the full suite of avionics equipment for its new and growing fleet of Boeing 777s, which currently includes 10 aircraft. The selection includes Rockwell Collins’ MultiScan™ Threat Detection System, GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR), Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and SATCOM.

BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE celebrated its growing support network in Africa today by welcoming one of the continent’s leading carriers, Ethiopian Airlines, as yet another Authorized Service Facility (ASF) for commercial aircraft on the continent. The airline can now perform line and heavy maintenance on Q400 and Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft under the Bombardier ASF banner.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing and most profitable African airline, has colorfully celebrated its 40 years of uninterrupted services to China at a Gala dinner on 07 November, 2013 in Beijing.

Ethiopian Airlines has signed a 10-year OnPoint solution agreement with GE for maintenance, repair and overhaul of its GE90 engines. Under this agreement, GE will maintain Ethiopian’s GE90 engines that power its 16 B777 aircraft, which comprises of six B777-200LR, six B777F, and four B777-300ER.

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) today announced that in keeping with the Strategic Objectives of its Long-term Turnaround Strategy, Gaining Altitude, the airline remains focused on maintaining a commercially sustainable African route network.

AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of the Seychelles, has appointed Ms Tara Murphy as its new Chief Financial Officer. Tara, who is currently Etihad Airways’ Manager Financial Control, takes up the role on secondment from the Abu Dhabi-based national carrier.

ETHIOPIAN AVIATION Academy graduated 39 pilots and 45 Aviation Technicians at a ceremony held at Ethiopian Airlines headquarters on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Among the 39 Pilot graduates, 20 are the second batch of MPL trainees. This batch of graduates comprise of cadets from Yemen and South Sudan.

AIR SEYCHELLES today reported international passenger growth of 91% to 55,238 in the third quarter (Q3 2012: 28,847), a result of the airline’s expanded international fleet and schedule in Q2. Overall passenger numbers on the airline’s combined domestic and international services grew by 42.4% to 99,946 (Q3 2012: 70,193).

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA), the South African flag-carrier and RwandAir, the national carrier of Rwanda, announced that they have signed a bilateral code-share agreement for operations between Johannesburg and Kigali.

 

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES and Boeing today announced an agreement to double wire harness production at Ethiopian Airlines’ Wire Harness Facility.  The Wire Harness Facility, based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, opened in 2009 and currently supplies seat-to-seat wire harnesses for all Boeing commercial airplane programs. Following today’s announcement Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines will place additional work at the facility, which will double its output by the end of 2014. With support from Boeing, Ethiopian will manufacture more varied and complex wire harnesses, expanding its value as an aerospace supplier.

 

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing airline in Africa, is pleased to announce the start of four weekly services to Niamey, the Republic of Niger, as of 20 November, 2013. These new flights will operate with Ethiopian’s Boeing 757-200 aircraft with 16 seats in Ethiopian’s Cloud Nine business class and 151 seats in economy class.

ENTRY INTO service of the brand new Airbus A330-200s, to replace the aged Airbus A340-300, will reduce costs and boost revenue, while providing flexibility, a superior and improved cabin product for Air Namibia.

THE INDUSTRIAL action by South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) at South African Airways Technical (SAAT), the maintenance subsidiary of the national carrier, South African Airways (SAA), has come to an end. The company and SATAWU yesterday signed an agreement on the terms of returning to work with effect from today, 10 September, 2013.

Address by South Africa’s Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Malusi Gigaba, MP, during the briefing to the Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee on the SAA Long-Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS) in the National Assembly, Cape Town, on 10 September, 2013.

COMAIR LIMITED, South Africa’s only private domestic airline operator, today announced a significant improvement in profitability for the 12-month period ending 30 June, 2013. Revenue grew by 29% to R5.38 billion South African Rands (2012: R4.16 billion).The airline declared a headline profit of R231 million (2012: R18 million).

QATAR AIRWAYS, which is rapidly expanding its route network in Africa, will become a full member of oneworld with effect from Wednesday, 30 October, 2013, adding one of the world’s fastest growing and most highly rated airlines to the global airline alliance. One of just seven carriers worldwide rated five-star by the Skytrax airline quality agency and the organisation’s Airline of the Year 2011 and 2012 and runner-up 2013, Qatar Airways is the only one of the “Gulf Big Three” carriers (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar) slated to join any of the global airline alliances.

SOUTH AFRICA’S’s privately-operated full-service carrier, British Airways (operated by Comair), is making a significant investment in Boeing Next-Generation 737-800, a major part of the aviation group’s fleet upgrade plan. This heralds a new phase for the airline which aims to replace its entire old fleet of six B737-300s and nine B737-400s.

THE BOARD of Directors and Management of Aero Surveys Limited, trading under the commercial name ‘Starbow,’ are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr James Eric Antwi as Accountable Manager and Chief Executive Officer.

KENYA AIRWAYS is set to receive the first of three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in October this year to commence revenue service in November.  The new state-of-the-art aircraft B777-300ER will be the largest in the airline’s fleet to date. With a seating capacity of 400 (28 - Premier World and 372 Economy) and long-range flying capability, this new addition will also offer excellent passenger experience.

 

BOMBARDIER ANNOUNCED today that it has reached a definitive agreement for the sale of Flexjet’s activities to Flexjet, LLC, a newly-created company funded by a group led by Directional Aviation Capital. Total consideration is $185 million US and the completion of this transaction is subject to the approval of all required governmental and regulatory authorities and other customary closing conditions. The transaction for the sale of Flexjet’s activities is expected to close before the end of the year.

 

THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that demand for air travel recorded another solid month of growth in July this year. Overall revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) were up 5.0% compared to July 2012. All regions were up year-on-year, with emerging markets recording the strongest increases. Capacity rose 5.5% on the previous July, ahead of demand, and industry load factor dropped 0.4 percentage points to 82.4%. Although July’s 5.0% performance was not as strong as June’s (6.1%), this likely reflects both a market correction in line with prevailing economic conditions as well as the impact of reduced travel in markets observing the Ramadan period.

BRITISH AIRWAYS is growing its African frequencies, improving connectivity through London Heathrow and introducing its latest products. In West Africa it will increase its daily services to Ghana by three a week from 27 October, 2013, using Boeing 767s to complement the existing Boeing 777 flights, bringing the total number of weekly services up to 10. From Summer, 2014, a larger four-cabin Boeing 747 aircraft will replace one of the current Boeing 777s currently on the route.

THE BOARD of Directors of Precision Air Services Plc, Tanzania, is pleased to announce its full year results for the year ended 31 March, 2013.  The company made a net loss of Tshs.30.4 billion (approximately US$18.84 million) against the prior year which stood at Tshs.1.2billion profit.

 

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) and TAM Airlines, Brazil, one of the largest carriers in South America, have implemented a codeshare agreement. SAA will place its designator code ‘SA’ on flights operated by TAM from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador, Florianopolis, Iguaçu Falls, Recife, Belo Horizonte.

KENYA AIRWAYS (KQ) is set to launch direct flights from its Nairobi hub to China this year on its new Boeing 777-300ER, as it leverages on the growing Sino-Africa relations. From 19 November, 2013, the airline will begin flying its new aircraft non-stop three times a week between Nairobi and Guangzhou – China’s third largest city and a key hub of the country’s southern region. The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft is expected to be delivered in mid-October and will commence revenue service in mid-November.  At the moment, Kenya Airways flies to Guangzhou via Bangkok, daily.

 

KENYA AIRWAYS and MTN Uganda have entered a new strategic partnership that allows their customers in Uganda to pay for their air tickets through the MTN Mobile Money electronic money transfer platform. The innovative payment option that was launched by the two firms in Kampala today is an effort to tap into developments in Information and Communication Technology to improve customer experience.

FASTJET IS delighted to announce that tickets for its new domestic route, from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya in Tanzania go on sale today.  Flights to the new Songwe airport on fastjet’s Airbus A319 aircraft will commence on 1 November, 2013, and initially operate three times a week. As with its existing domestic services, demand for the route is expected to be high and fastjet therefore intends to rapidly increase frequency.  The newly-developed Songwe airport serves not only the city of Mbeya, but also the densely populated cross-border regions of northern Zambia and Malawi.

 

ETHIOPIAN CARGO, the largest cargo operator in Africa, is pleased to announce the opening of a second cargo hub in Africa based in Lomé, Togo, in partnership with ASKY Airlines. The new cargo hub will commence operations in September, 2013, after the phase-in of a Boeing 737-400F.

 

KENYA’s EAST African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary, Phyllis Kandie, has welcomed Qatar Airways’ decision to increase its frequency between Doha and Nairobi by adding four additional weekly flights to and from the capital city. Beginning 1 September, 2013, the airline will increase its A320 aircraft flights to 18 flights per week, up from the current 14 flights.

FASTJET IS pleased to announce that it has raised £1,612,000 via a draw down on its Equity Financing Facility ("EFF") with Darwin Strategic Limited ("Darwin"), a majority owned subsidiary of Henderson Global Investors Volantis Capital ("Henderson").

 

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