News

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is proud to announce that it will commence thrice weekly flights to Ndola, Zambia, effective 31 March, 2013. Ndola, the third largest city in Zambia, is the industrial and commercial centre in the copper belt province of the country. Ndola will be Ethiopian’s 45th African and the 72nd international destination. It will also be its second destination in Zambia next to Lusaka.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, the fastest growing airline in Africa, is pleased to announce that it will commence three weekly flights to Blantyre starting March 31, 2013. Blantyre is the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi. It will be Ethiopian 44th destination in Africa and the second in Malawi next to Lilongwe.

FOLLOWING THE directive of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Ethiopian has decided to temporarily pull its Boeing 787 Dreamliners out of service for precautionary inspection on Thursday, January 17, 2013. The US FAA issued a directive on January 16, 2013, that mandates operators to perform special inspection requirements on the Dreamliner airplane battery system in accordance with a method approved by it. This directive was issued following recent incidents that occurred on Dreamliner airplanes operated by two other airlines.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is pleased to announce that it has successfully integrated its four 787 Dreamliner aircraft into its fleet with record length of non-stop flights and record high daily aircraft utilization in the industry. Since its first delivery in mid-August of last year, Ethiopian has logged 5,560 flight hours with average daily 787 aircraft utilization of 14 hours.

COMAIR LIMITED, the franchise operator of British Airways in southern Africa, will commence with scheduled services between Maputo International Airport, Mozambique, and Johannesburg, O.R Tambo International Airport in May next year. The flight schedule comprising daily return flights with a double daily service on Tuesdays and Saturdays is conveniently timed to enable ease of connectivity for international travellers transferring through O.R. Tambo International Airport to Maputo.

WITHIN A month of starting operations to Mozambique, Qatar Airways celebrated the launch of its 19th African destination with a VIP dinner in Maputo. Guests from the diplomatic community, Government quarters, businesses and corporates attended the event held at the Polana Serena hotel in Mozambique’s capital city.

AGAINST THE background of the recent filing for liquidation by South Africa’s 1Time airline and the debate that has ensued over the role of state-subsidised Mango airline, Comair Limited has highlighted that Mango, as a separate legal entity from SAA and a state-owned enterprise, is legally required to publish its financial statements which has not been done since Mango’s inception six years ago.

COMAIR LIMITED, South Africa’s leading aviation company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, regrets the news that 1Time filed for liquidation today. Ten out of the 11 independent, private airlines launched in South Africa since deregulation in 1991 have now failed leaving only kulula.com and British Airways (both operated by Comair) remaining in our skies.

QATAR AIRWAYS today launched scheduled flights to Mozambique, its latest foray on the African continent and 10th new route of the year. The Doha-based carrier inaugurated the first of three weekly services to the country’s capital city of Maputo, gateway to Mozambique’s rich natural resources and a source for strong business.

COMAIR LIMITED, South Africa’s leading aviation company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is challenging the application of the latest R5 billion South African Rands Government guarantee for SAA, says Comair CEO, Erik Venter.

PRECISION AIR Services today held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) since being listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) in December, 2011. The airline, which is headquartered in Dar es Salaam, posted a pretax profit of TShs 1.84 billion for the year ended 31 March, 2012, an increase of 18.3% over the previous year. Total revenues soared to Tsh163 billion from TShs 114 billion over the same period. Net profit for the year was TShs 634 million.

EMIRATES, ONE of the world’s fastest growing airlines, today underlined its commitment to Zambia and Zimbabwe by announcing that its Dubai-Lusaka-Harare route would become a daily service from 1st October, 2012. The linked service, which currently operates five times a week, has performed strongly since its launch on 1st February this year. To date, Emirates has carried over 43,000 passengers on the route.

QATAR AIRWAYS has further expanded operations in Africa with the launch of its 17th destination on the continent – daily scheduled flights to Rwanda. Its inaugural flight from Doha to Kigali arrived in the Rwandan capital to a traditional water salute welcome. The arrival of flight QR 536 to Kigali takes the airline’s African capacity up to 132 passenger flights each week across a diverse network of cities.

SOUTH AFRICAN Airways (SAA) is in discussion with the South African Government on financing its bold new growth strategy, which includes growing the number of its long-haul aircraft in the next five years while the short-haul fleet is comprehensively renewed.

EMIRATES HAS extended its reach into Africa with the launch of a new linked service to Lusaka and Harare. Now flying to 22 points within Africa, Emirates will connect Zambia and Zimbabwe to key markets across Europe, the Far East, Australasia and the Indian Subcontinent. The Dubai-Lusaka-Harare service operates every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday using an A330-200 aircraft in a three class configuration.

EMIRATES, ONE of the world’s fastest growing airlines, will soon offer customers a quicker and more convenient link to Uganda with the introduction of a direct service. “As demand for our Entebbe service continues to grow, customers can now enjoy the convenience of a non-stop air link with Dubai. Our new direct service will offer seamless connections to key destinations in the Middle East, Indian Sub-continent, Asia and the Far East, together with the award-winning in-flight service for which Emirates is renowned," said Jean Luc Grillet, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for Africa.

EMIRATES HAS increased its commitment to Sudan with the introduction of one additional flight per week, providing a daily, non-stop service between Dubai and Khartoum Civil Airport from 5 December, 2011. Emirates will continue to use an Airbus 330-200 on the route offering 12 luxurious First Class seats, 42 seats in Business Class and generous space for 183 passengers in Economy Class, and 18 tonnes of belly-hold cargo.

EMIRATES’ EXTENSIVE African network is to be boosted again with the launch of two new destinations – Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, and Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.  Zambia and Zimbabwe which share a border with the Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, will now be linked with a five times weekly flight from Dubai, starting from 1 February, 2012.

EMIRATES, ONE of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has signed an interline agreement with leading Nigerian carrier Arik Air making it easy for customers to access a wide range of points across Nigeria and West Africa. Under the new agreement, customers will be able to purchase joint Emirates-Arik Air itineraries, enabling them to connect seamlessly from Emirates’ double daily services to Lagos on to cities including Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Enugu.

EMIRATES IS responding to strong passenger demand in Sudan by launching an extra weekly flight to Khartoum, boosting its frequencies to four each week from 4 August, 2011. Operated by A330-200 aircraft in a three-class configuration that includes 12 First Class seats, 42 seats in Business Class and generous space for 183 passengers in Economy Class, the additional flight will add over 950 seats per month in each direction, and contribute significantly to economic and tourism growth in Sudan.

EMIRATES, ONE of the fastest growing airlines in the world, announced today that Johannesburg, the industrial and economic capital of South Africa, will be the next destination slated for its flagship A380 aircraft. The daily A380 service will start on 1 October, 2011. The announcement of Emirates’ first scheduled A380 service to Africa comes as the airline unveiled its full year financial results for 2010-11. These revealed a surge in the number of South African travellers flying with Emirates – with total passenger growth up 12% over the previous financial year. Overall revenue from the South African market also rose sharply, up 34% from 2009-10.

IN A move to support the Tunisian tourism industry and to provide passengers with more flexible travel options, Emirates has launched an additional weekly flight between Dubai and Tunis. Emirates, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, will now operate four flights per week to Tunis from its hub in Dubai.