Nigeria updates fleet with Boeing
Arik Air bolsters its fleet with 737s, 777s and 787s

By Michelle Dunlop
Herald Writer

SEATTLE - New Boeing Co. 737 airplanes will fly over the skies of Nigeria for the first time in decades, thanks to an acquisition by a recently launched airline.

Nigerian aviation officials hope the new jets will usher in a safer era of air travel for a country plagued by plane crashes in recent years. And Arik Air intends to continue to add new aircraft to its fleet, announcing an order for three of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners and four 777s on Thursday. The deal, worth $1.5 billion at list prices, was previously listed on Boeing's Web site under an undisclosed customer.

"Prior to the advent of Arik Air, not a single new aircraft had graced the Nigerian skies in so much as 20 years," said J.A.I. Johnson, Arik Air's chairman, during a delivery ceremony for two 737-700s Thursday. "During this barren period, the country had the misfortune of bearing witness to a litany of inexplicable, and in many cases avoidable, air crashes which resulted in the loss of innocent lives."

From October 2005 to October 2006, three plane crashes in Nigeria led to the deaths of more than 300 people, including one of the executive directors of Arik Air. Poor infrastructure and aging aircraft contributed to Nigeria's air troubles. The government and aviation officials since have taken steps to reform commercial aviation in the African country.

But there is still work to be done, Johnson said. He hopes that Boeing will participate in developing the aviation industry in Nigeria.

Harold Olusegun Demuren, director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, was pleased with Arik's step toward safer air travel in the country.

"The traveling public in Nigeria particularly have not been happy at all with the old aircraft," Demuren said. "This will promote safety."

The two Boeing 737s picked up by Arik Air on Thursday were planes originally slotted for Airtran, Johnson said. The Nigerian airline worked with the carrier and Boeing to secure the new jets.

Arik Air flies routes within Nigeria but will be expanding service to Central and West Africa as well as to the United Kingdom and United States. The airline likely will use its 777s and 787s on its new routes.

Boeing's Lee Monson noted the "forward-thinking" airline's aspirations. He credited Arik Air with "trying to transform aviation in Nigeria."

Arik Air is the fourth airline on the African continent to order a 787 Dreamliner and the fourth to order a Boeing 777. The airline also is pursuing options for additional Boeing jets.


About Arik Air


Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Arik Air got its start in 2006.

The airline aims to have a fleet of 16 jets by 2007, which will make it the largest commercial carrier in Nigeria.

The two 737s that Arik Air picked up Thursday will be the first new planes in Nigeria in 25 years.

The carrier flies up to 40 flights daily within Nigeria.

Arik Air will begin offering flights into Central and West Africa as well as the United Kingdom and United States.

Africa's top 20 airports for Jan 2007. Fantastic growth at Lagos, Abuja, Dar es Salaam, Luanda, Durban and Marrakech! This is only for one month so the final ranking is likely to differ somewhat eg. Monastir isn't even in the top 20 for Jan but will likely be in top 10 for year end.

1 JOHANNESBURG, ZA 1 467 094 8.7%
2 CAIRO, EG 951 313 (1.8%)
3 CAPETOWN, ZA 678 098 13.9%
4 SHARM EL SHEIKH, EG 476 315 5.6%
5 CASABLANCA, MA 422 327 5.4%
6 HURGADA, EG 413 649 11.9%
7 LAGOS, NG 403 323 45.8%
8 NAIROBI, KE 375 675 2.4%
9 DURBAN, ZA 369 874 21.3%
10 ALGIERS, DZ 285 646 5.5%
12 PLAINE MAGNIEN, MU 282 316 10.6%
13 TUNIS, TN 263 111 5.4%
14 MARRAKECH, MG 214 899 25.9%
15 LUXOR, EG 209 331 6.5%
16 ST DENIS-GILLOT, RE 166 818 (0.7%)
17 ABUJA, NG 162 134 35.6%
18 MOMBASA, KE 142 112 12.3%
19 DAR ES SALAAM, TZ 119 282 22.6%
20 PORT ELIZABETH, ZA 112 641 7.8%
21 AGADIR, MA 112 179 4.6%
20 LUANDA, AO 107 509 29.2%

Source: ACI Monthly Traffic Report

The summer months arent here yet.. That will affect the results

Its nice to see that Nigerian Airports are the fastest growing besides, i think calabar will feature in this by the end of the year!!

Its nice to see that Nigerian Airports are the fastest growing besides, i think calabar will feature in this by the end of the year!!

I highly doubt that! Even if Calabar were to double its traffic to 12 daily departures (instead of the current 6) that would hardly amount to 60,000 pax/month.

On the long run, Calabar could easily make it to Africa's top 20 airports if the incoming administration carefully continues Duke's legacy of economic growth.

I guess not by the end of the year but soon, with 2 airports, the sky would be the limit!!!

AIR ALGERIE DESERVE THAN 31 CITY IN ALGERIA

https://www.airalgerie.dz/routemap.jsp?lang=fr


It draws its experiment from its ancestor the CGT (General Company of Transport) which was créee in 1947 with a network mainly directed towards France. The network covered by AIR ALGERIE is of 96 400 km, that is to say 2.4 times it tower of the Earth. More than 3 000 000 of passengers, and nearly 20.000 tons of freight are transported each year by the company as well through the international network the domestic network. The international, dense network of 37 cities served in 24 countries in Europe, Moyen the East, the Maghreb and Africa, is leaned with a domestic network connecting 31 cities. In 2003, the number of daily flights in program of point reached the 120 flights. Moreover, AIR ALGERIE produced nearly 5 billion sieges-kilometres offered (SKO) and A carries out 3,3 billion passengers-kilometres transport (PKT).

akwa ibom airport would featured in the top 20 soon as well as others.

can someone pls tell me why nairobi airport is not among the top 20, and mombasa among the top 20.

can someone pls tell me why nairobi airport is not among the top 20, and mombasa among the top 20.


Good question. I guess the increase in flights to Mombasa came about due to the IAAF world cross country championships held in the city earlier in the Year and an Increase in tourist arrivals. Though I think Nairobi should be in the top 20.

Sorry I missed Nairobi out by mistake. I've edited the post to include it.

may the souls of those who lost there life aboard kenya airways rest in peace.

Rescuers comb jungle for Kenya Airways wreckage

05 May 2007 22:28:14 GMT


By Tansa Musa

YAOUNDE, May 6 (Reuters) - Teams of rescuers and villagers combed thick tropical forest in southern Cameroon on Sunday for the wreckage of a Kenya Airways passenger plane which crashed after takeoff in the central African country, officials said.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which was carrying 114 people from more than 20 countries, went missing on Saturday after leaving Douala airport bound for Nairobi in torrential rain. It was reported to have come down in thick jungle.

Military helicopters backed up by villagers on motorbikes had searched a swathe of the forest-covered terrain southwest of the capital Yaounde on Saturday.

But they failed to locate the plane, which initially set off from Ivory Coast, before darkness fell.

"The crisis committee ... has decided to set up several teams made up of villagers to continue the search throughout the night," Placide Ndobo, a local government official in the southern region, told Reuters.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said he had sent a high-level government team led by Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere to help the Cameroonian authorities find out what had happened to the plane.

"I wish to assure all that we have put in motion a mechanism to help establish the status of the Kenya Airways plane," Kibaki said in a statement.

Kenya Airways Group Managing Director Titus Naikuni said on Saturday the authorities in Cameroon had picked up an automatically generated distress signal from the area where the plane went missing.

Radar-equipped helicopters, including one sent by the French military from a base in neighbouring Gabon, were focusing on an area between three or four towns, a French diplomat in Cameroon said.

The aircraft, which was only six months old, was carrying 105 passengers and nine crew, including Africans, Chinese, Indians, Europeans and an American.

Kenya Airways said the Douala control tower had received a last message from the aircraft right after takeoff. It had been due to land in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. (0315 GMT) on Saturday.

Kenya Airways has three 737-800s in its fleet and Naikuni said they had not decided whether to ground the others.

Doctor to head three crisis centres set up by airline

Source: Daily Nation
Story by JIM ONYANGO
Publication Date: 5/6/2007

A Nairobi psychiatrist was yesterday named by Kenya Airways to manage three crisis management centres established in Nairobi.

Dr Frank Njenga will head the centres that will help relatives seeking information about flight 507 which crashed after take off from Douala, southwest of Cameroon.

KQ flight 507, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, departed from Douala shortly after midnight local time and was due to arrive in Nairobi at 6.15 am but it lost communication with Douala immediately after takeoff.

Seek information :

Shocked relatives and friends were thrown into confusion as they arrived at JKIA early yesterday morning as some were referred to KQ’s Embakasi headquarters while others were told to go to Hotel Inter-Continental within the city centre to seek information.

The airline further threw them into confusion as it gave them leaflets containing a South African telephone number +27 11 2071100 to call and get more information.

KQ said the number was a public enquiry address in South Africa where relatives could seek more information.

It also emerged that most passengers on board the plane were travelling to Johannesburg through Nairobi.

Relatives were advised to seek information from KQ’s staff members based at Embakasi headquarters crisis centre, Hotel Inter-Continental and Unit Three of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport normally used as domestic arrivals gate.

Dr Njenga headed a team of Kenya Airways employees who spoke with weeping relatives and friends of the passengers who arrived at JKIA early yesterday morning but were frustrated at lack of information.

At about 8 am, nine security officials manning the gate to the JKIA crisis management centre turned away some relatives who did not have identity cards.

But Dr Njenga intervened and most of the relatives were allowed into the centre.

Early in the morning, journalists were barred from entering the crisis management centre and some of the weeping relatives blocked television and newspaper photographers from taking their pictures.

Pushed journalists

They also refused to speak with the media as police officers pushed journalists away from the Unit Three domestic arrivals gate.

Douala, where the KQ flight crashed upon takeoff, is the largest city in Cameroon, in the southwest part of the country.

It is the country’s chief port with a population of 1.4 million people. Douala is one of Central Africa’s major industrial centres, and its deepwater port handles most of the country’s overseas trade.

It is home to a variety of commercial, agricultural and industrial institutions.

NATIONALITIES ABOARD the crashed kenya airways.

34- Cameroon

16- India

9 - Kenya all crew

7 - South Africa

6- nigeria

6 - China

6 - Cote d'Ivoire

5 - Britiain

3 - Niger

2 - Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo

1 - Switzerland, Togo, Sweden, Ghana, The Comoros, Senegal, Egypt, Tanzania, Mauritius, Burkina Faso, US, Mali

3 - Nationalities not yet known

Naija, the way you are going, i think the moderators will end up banning you. I suggest you try and stick to just valuable comments or news.

^^ You read My mind:sly:

[LATEST] No chance of survivors from Kenya plane - Cameroon

Story by REUTERS
Publication Date: 5/7/2007
MBANGA PONGO, Cameroon, Monday:

A Kenya Airways plane that crashed after takeoff in Cameroon with 114 people on board is largely submerged in a swamp and there is no chance of survivors, Cameroon's civil protection service said on Monday.


Kenya Airways aircraft
The Boeing 737-800 vanished early on Saturday shortly after leaving Douala for Nairobi in torrential rain. The aircraft was found late on Sunday not far from Douala airport after nearly two days of fruitless searches in the south of the country.

"There are no chances that there will be any survivors because almost the entire body of the plane was buried inside the swamp," Jean-Pierre Nana, director of Cameroon's civil protection department and a member of a crisis working group set up by the prime minister, told Reuters.

The passengers and crew hailed from 27 nations.


Red Cross workers arrive near the scene of a Kenya Airways plane crash in a swampy area close to the village of Mbanga Pongo, 23 km (14 miles) east of the city of Douala, May 7, 2007. A Kenya Airways plane that crashed after takeoff in Cameroon with 114 people on board is largely submerged in a swamp and there is no chance of survivors, Cameroon's civil protection service said on Monday. Photo/REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (CAMEROON)
Early on Monday, rescuers battled through swamps and thick forest to reach the wreckage after parts of the aircraft were found late on Sunday in a swamp, and locals reported making grim discoveries in the thick bush.

"I saw one body and one arm," resident Guiffo Gande told reporters in Mbanga Pongo village, an area of dense mangrove swamps some 20 km (12.4 miles) east of Douala.

"We also saw some seats and a piece of plane about the size of a car door," Gande said, adding that he had not seen the plane's fuselage, engines or tail.

The crash has again thrown the spotlight on air safety in Africa, the continent with the world's worst record.

It has also dealt a severe blow to the image of Kenya Airways, one of the most successful and modern companies in the east African nation.

Rescue efforts resumed near the village at daybreak.

Search aircraft flew overhead, as troops and police carrying gas masks and plastic bags gathered at the end of a muddy road and then hacked deep into the waterlogged forest.

"The crash site is about 4-6 kms (2.5-4 miles) from the end of this road," said local gendarmerie commander Emmanuel Meka, telling journalists they were allowed no further for now.

"Last night we saw lots of mud, but it was dark. So we do not know what we will see today."

Cameroon's state minister for territorial administration, Hamidou Yaya Marafa, said the rescue operation was entering a "new painful phase".

"Our task will be more difficult now, the task of recovering the corpses," he said late on Sunday.

The crash site is more than 100 km (60 miles) from where radar-equipped helicopters, ground search parties and villagers on motorbikes spent most of the weekend combing tropical forest.

Kenya Airways Group Managing Director Titus Naikuni said in Nairobi that local fishermen had led rescuers to the crash site.

He gave no details as to why the plane crashed.

The six-month-old aircraft was carrying 105 passengers and nine crew, most of them African, with others from China, India, Europe and elsewhere. It had originated in Ivory Coast.

Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 begins operation with maiden flight


Tuesday, May 8, 2007

The first flight operation from the new domestic terminal, Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) took place yesterday when Chanchangi Airline’s Lagos-Kaduna flight took off from the terminal to the joy and excitement of the officials of Bi-Courtney Nigeria Limited that built the terminal and members of the airport management.

The Chanchangi aircraft, a Boeing 727 with registration number 5N BEU and flight number NCH 334 left the terminal and took off by 5.15 pm with 70 passengers.

Addressing journalists at the press centre of the terminal after the take-off of the flight, the chairman of Project Implementation Committee, Segun Ahmadu, said that was the first time in Nigeria that such facility would be built for airline’s domestic operations and attributed the achievement to the efficacy of Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

“We have gone to this great extent to let people realise the gains of the PPP, that is the public-private sector participation is not just blowing hot air, it's about bringing in the resources of the private sector together with the ideas and services of the public sector and providing facilities that are commensurate with its plan.

So what we have on ground is that we decided that we would move away from the shanties that we have over there (referring to the existing temporary domestic terminal) or even any part of Nigeria that we call domestic terminal to a contemporary terminal,” Ahmadu said.

He explained that initially no one had any plan to put up the present edifice as terminal; rather, what was initially planned was something akin to a warehouse with the basic facilities, but realising that Nigerians, like other citizens from other parts of the world, desire something that is good, the company elevated the original design to what has finally manifested to be the best terminal in sub-Saharan Africa.

“So we elevated the original design or concept of this facility from what they had in mind, which is just a long room and a car park like we have and then the international and the domestic. We went to South Africa, we went to Miami, we went around the world, looking for the best designer we could get. So this concept was designed by a South African architect, and then modified by our own Nigerian architects who eventually supervised it.”

The chairman of the Project Implementation Committee said that the terminal has five levels including a basement, the ground floor and three other floors.

He said that the user of the terminal can bring all his goods and items without disrupting the flow of operations because a lift takes the user from the pavement to anywhere he wishes to go, adding that the terminal has three approaches–– the first that emanates from under the pavement is for services, for VIP persons and for security. In addition, there is an entrance for passengers who arrive by taxi and those who drive to the terminal.

Ahmadu said that the terminal is structured and planned in a way that will eliminate touts and others who have nothing meaningful to do at the airport, remarking that no opportunity is provided for anybody to loiter at the airport.

For effective management and maintenance, the terminal has been handed over to a management company from Miami, USA, known as Liweth.

Fielding questions from journalists, the chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr Wale Babalakin, assured that the terminal would be devoid of touts and said, “The impression I have about touting is that it is a national malaise that must come to an end. What we try to do is to make it difficult and make it clear that touting is highly prohibited here, it will go a long way in sending the right signals.”

:) Naija,you have to edit those threads instead of adding nother one.It's simple just change those irrelevant ones by replacing them with other related images and info.

Precision Air Scores Well in Safety

Arusha Times (Arusha)

Precision Air has become the first Tanzania airline and the seventh in Africa to enter into IATA Operational Safety Audit Registration (IOSA) Registry.

The acceptance into IOSA Registry shows that Precision Air's safety commitment goes beyond the requirements of Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), according to a statement issued by the company.

Precision Air Managing Director and CEO Alfonse Kioko said that passengers and crew safety is the airline's paramount concern and the achievement of this noble international safety standard puts the airline at par with the best airlines in the world.

"This is good news, which proved that our safety quality principles are of higher degree and this certification is in line with our vision to be the airline of choice," Mr Kioko said adding:

"As we celebrate our success in this field, we should always remember that this indeed is the beginning and the more difficult task is ahead of us in maintaining the standards."

IOSA is an audit that measures an airline's ability to deliver a safe operation based on over 900 Standards and Recommended Practices outlined in the IOSA Standards Manual (ISM). It is not a physical inspection of aircraft; it looks at the management control of the operational safety of an airline.

Precision Air established in 1993, started as a private charter air transport company operating a five-seater piper Aztec aircraft currently offers the widest connections to all major towns in Tanzania including Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga, Kigoma, Bukoba, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Lindi, Mtwara and Arusha.

First flights were scheduled using a seven-seater one engine Cessna 207, one seven-seater Cessna 402, two eleven-seater Cessna 404s and the nineteen-seater LET 410 until mid 1990s when the airline introduced the bigger and more comfortable ATR 42 fleet.

The fleet expansion has gone hand in hand with an increase in the volumes of passenger uplift. The past two years have witnessed a steady growth of total passenger uplift of about 27% rising from 268, 580 passengers in 2004/05 financial year to 340,000 in 2005/06. The projection in the airline's current financial year which starts in April 01 is to uplift 388,348 equivalent to a 14% increase until end of the season in March next year bt ended to uplift over 390,000.

The most significant turn around of 'Tanzania's Finest' as Precision Air is also known, came in 2003 when Kenya Airways acquired a minority 49% shareholding leaving majority 51% shares in the control of one local Tanzanian businessman. Since then, Precision Air has literally turned its image into a professionally run modern airline.

The airline has since increased its frequencies and capacity many folds with its fleet currently comprising eight aircraft. They include four 47-seater ATR 42, one 70-seater ATR 72, one 64-seater ATR 72 and one LET 410. There are plans to phase out the LET series from this year and introduce the Boeing fleet in 2007. it is headquartered in Dar es Salaam providing scheduled, chartered and cargo air services.

Precision Air currently offers the widest connections to all major towns in Tanzania including Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga, Kigoma, Bukoba, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Lindi, Mtwara and Arusha.

Regionally, the carrier connects to Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya as well as to Pemba in Mozambique and Entebbe in Uganda. In January 2007, the carrier successfully completed a one-year lived project of e-ticketing technology adoption, making the fifth airline in Africa to become e-ticket compliant.

Korea and Kenya reach Open Skies Agreement

Korea to grow trade with Kenya and Africa with aviation deal

Written by Wangui Maina
14-May-2007:

Kenya and South Korea’s recent “open skies” aviation agreement could be a stepping stone for the East Asian country to make moves into Africa as its neighbours, Japan and China, have done.

The agreement allows Korean airlines to fly into Kenya and vice versa. Currently, the nation’s flagship carrier, Korean Air, does not fly into the country but code shares with Kenya Airways (KQ), allowing passengers to reach Seoul from Nairobi, via a third destination served by both airlines.

Open skies agreements, which can be bilateral or involve multiple partners, are meant to liberalise the often heavily nationalistic and regulated rules for international aviation between countries. The deal should minimise government intervention on issues of passengers, cargo and the number of scheduled flights.

The international Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979 heralded the era of Open Skies in international aviation.

The agreement between allows for unlimited cargo and passenger movement between the two countries. However according to the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport, Gerishon Ikiara, connecting flight rights to carry on to a third destination, were not included in the deal.

That means that, for example, Korean Air cannot fly into Nairobi, then on to Johannesberg, under this deal.

“If they wished to fly to another destination from Kenya, authority would have to be negotiated,” added Mr Ikiara. In Africa, South Korea has rights to fly into Egypt only.

Officials from Seoul, the Korean capital, said the agreement would allow their airlines greater access to Africa, which they are eying as a region of potential growth. In a statement issued by the South Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the deal would open up more trade opportunities for the two countries.

Several South Korean companies already operate in Kenya, and the country is known for making cars such as Hyundai, and electronic brands like Samsung and Daewoo.

According to Mr Ikiara, Kenya could benefit from technical expertise of Korea — Asia’s third largest economy after Japan and China — as the deal will allow for more technical and training corporation between the two countries.

Some are viewing a less high-handed motivation in the deal, as Kenya pledged to support Korea’s bid to gain a seat on the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) board in September, when the United Nations air travel body holds board member elections.

Korean Air, the largest airline in Korea, has been voted as one of the best in the world in categories such as service quality. And Seoul’s biggest airport, Incheon International, is one of the biggest, and the sixth busiest hub in Asia. A 2006 survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) ranked Incheon one of the world’s best airports.

In January, South Korea signed an open skies agreement with Malaysia. Open skies deals have gained momentum in the industry recently, as airlines have pushed for less regulation and more open competition.

The recent agreement inked between the US and EU countries is seen as a landmark in such deals.
The open skies agreement removed barriers and allowed airlines, for the first time, to offer service from any city in the EU bloc to any US city and vice versa, with no restrictions on the number of flights, aircraft used or routes.

In most cases, government-to-government bilateral agreements often limit where international carriers fly, the number of flights they can schedule and even the fares they can charge.

OceanAir planeja transporte de passageiros e cargas para Angola e Nigeria
A companhia aérea brasileira deverá inaugurar rotas para Lagos e Luanda ainda no primeiro semestre.

Da Redação

São Paulo - A OceanAir Linhas Aéreas decidiu iniciar a operação das rotas internacionais, com saída de São Paulo, para a Cidade do México e não para Luanda (Angola) e Lagos (Nigéria) por considerar a capital do México um mercado mais consolidado em relação às duas capitais africanas.

A informação foi prestada ontem em São Paulo ao Portugal Digital pelo vice-presidente da empresa, Jorge Alberto Vianna, após encontro com a imprensa para anunciar o acordo com a BRA Transportes Aéreos para operar uma malha aérea integrada a partir de 18 de junho no mercado doméstico brasileiro.

As demais rotas internacionais, também com partida da cidade de São Paulo, são para Los Angeles (Estados Unidos) e Lima (Peru).

Segundo Vianna, além de oferecer condições técnicas e operacionais mais vantajosas do que as existentes em Angola e Nigéria, o México possibilita conexões entre a capital e outras cidades do país, inclusive com alguns destinos nos Estados Unidos. "Por essas razões, o México é nossa prioridade", assinalou o vice-presidente da OceanAir. O vôo deverá ser inaugurado em julho, enquanto que os demais ainda não têm data definida, embora não devam ultrapassar o segundo semestre deste ano.

"Consideramos Luanda e Lagos apenas como origem e destino", acrescentou o executivo, referindo-se ao fluxo restrito aos dois sentidos, sem ligação com outros lugares daquelas nações africanas. A empresa também decidiu suspender os vôos que pretendia realizar para Joanesburgo, na África do Sul, "por questões estratégicas de planejamento da empresa", de acordo com o vice-presidente da OceanAir.

Atualmente existe uma ligação semanal entre Luanda e o Rio de Janeiro, operada pela estatal angolana TAAG. A OceanAir planeja dois vôos semanais de São Paulo para Luanda e Lagos.

Vianna afirmou que o vôo para a capital angolana será operado exclusivamente pela empresa, sem acordo com a TAAG. Para viabilizar essas duas rotas para destinos africanos, em dias alternados, a OceanAir já encomendou um Boeing 767, cuja entrega está sendo esperada para julho. Outro Boeing 757 será incorporado à frota atual de 25 aeronaves.

"Existem tráfegos que precisam ser explorados", afirmou o vice-presidente da OceanAir quando perguntado sobre os motivos comerciais que levaram a empresa a criar as rotas para o território africano. Para Luanda, esse tráfego é formado pelos negócios de várias empresas brasileiras das áreas de petróleo e construção civil em Angola, entre elas a Petrobras, Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez e Camargo Correa. "Esse movimento demanda não apenas o transporte de passageiros, mas também de cargas", afirmou Vianna.

Já a rota de São Paulo para a Nigéria – o sexto maior exportador de petróleo da Organização dos Países Exportadores de Petróleo (Opep) – vai atender a uma demanda curiosa. Ponto importante de entrada de brasileiros na África, Lagos também possui um contingente específico de passageiros, especialmente no sentido daquele centro africano para o Brasil. "São pequenos comerciantes que vêm para São Paulo em busca de produtos para revender lá, o chamado comércio formiguinha", explica o vice-presidente da OceanAir.
Ele acrescenta que ao contrário da Europa, onde os africanos enfrentam restrições para entrar, no Brasil esses cidadãos têm facilidade de entrar e sair, garantidas pelos acordos diplomáticos.

Atualmente, a OceanAir – controlada pelo Grupo Synergy, foi a companhia aérea que mais cresceu em 2006 –, opera em 25 cidades. A empresa brasileira iniciou suas atividades em 1998, prestando serviço de táxi aéreo a empresas do setor de petróleo, na Bacia de Campos (RJ).

Com o acordo operacional anunciado ontem com a BRA, as duas companhias passarão a ter cerca de 4% do mercado brasileiro de aviação civil, contra 90% da Gol e da Tam. A frota à disposição do acordo é composta de 27 aeronaves que passam a atender 49 cidades de médio para grande porte, das quais 14 são novos mercados. O investimento inicial é de R$ 20 milhões, segundo o presidente da BRA, Humberto Folegatti.

Para o presidente da OceanAir, German Efromovich, "a parceria com a BRA reflete um novo momento para a aviação brasileira e o passageiro acostumado a voa pela OceanAir poderá contar com o mesmo atendimento diferenciado, agora com ainda mais opções de rotas".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fe/Avianca_Group.png/640px-Avianca_Group.png

Avianca - the national flag air carrier of Colombia - is the second oldest airline in the world

Boeing B787-800 Dreamliner
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/72/AV_Boeing_787.jpg/640px-AV_Boeing_787.jpg

Boeing B767-300ER
http://p.airliners.net/photos/middle/2/7/2/1206272.jpg

OceanAir plans transport of passengers and loads for Angola and Nigeria the Brazilian aerial company will have to still inaugurate routes for Lakes and Luanda no first semester.

Of the Writing

São Paulo - the OceanAir Airlines decided to initiate the operation of the international routes, with exit of São Paulo, for the City of Mexico and it does not stop Luanda (Angola) and Lakes (Nigéria) for considering the capital of Mexico more a consolidated market in relation to the two African capitals. The information was given yesterday in São Paulo to Digital Portugal for the vice-president of the company, Jorge Alberto Vianna, after meeting with the press to announce the agreement with the BRA Air transportation to operate an integrated aerial mesh from 18 of June in the Brazilian domestic market. The too much international routes, also with departure of the city of São Paulo, are for Los Angeles (United States) and Rasp (Peru). According to Vianna, besides offering to conditions more advantageous operational techniques and of the one than the existing ones in Angola and Nigéria, Mexico makes possible connections between the capital and other cities of the country, also with some destinations in the United States. "For these reasons, Mexico is our priority", designated the vice-president of the OceanAir. The flight will have to be inaugurated in July, while that excessively still does not have defined date, even so they do not have to exceed as the semester of this year. "We only consider Luanda and Lakes as origin and destination", added the executive, mentioning itself it the restricted flow to the two directions, without linking with other places of those African nations. The company also decided to suspend the flights that she intended to carry through for Joanesburgo, in Africa of the South, "for strategical questions of planning of the company", in accordance with the vice-president of the OceanAir. Currently a weekly linking between Luanda exists and Rio De Janeiro, operated for state Angolan TAAG. The OceanAir plans two weekly flights of São Paulo for Luanda and Lakes. Vianna affirmed that the flight for the Angolan capital will be operated exclusively by the company, without agreement with the TAAG. To make possible these two routes for African destinations, in alternated days, the OceanAir already ordered Boeing 767, whose delivery is being waited for July. Another Boeing 757 will be incorporated the current fleet of 25 aircraft. "traffics Exist that they need to be explored", it affirmed the vice-president of the OceanAir when asked on the commercial reasons that had taken the company to create the routes for the African territory. For Luanda, this traffic is formed by the businesses of some Brazilian companies of the areas of oil and civil construction in Angola, between them the Petrobras, Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez and Camargo Correa. "This movement demand not only the transport of passengers, but also of loads", affirmed Vianna. Already the route of São Paulo for the Nigéria - the sixth exporting greater of oil of the Organization of the Exporting Countries of Oil (Opep) - goes to take care of to a curious demand. Important point of entrance of Brazilians in Africa, Lakes also possesss a specific contingent of passengers, especially in the direction of that African center for Brazil. "They are small traders who come to São Paulo in search of products to resell there, the call commerce formiguinha", explains the vice-president of the OceanAir. It adds that in contrast of the Europe, where the Africans face restrictions to enter, in Brazil these citizens have easiness to enter and to leave, guaranteed for the agreements diplomatists. Currently, the OceanAir - controlled for the Synergy Group, it was the aerial company that more grew in 2006 -, operates in 25 cities. The Brazilian company initiated its activities in 1998, giving to aerial service of taxi the companies of the oil sector, in the Basin De Campos (RIO DE JANEIRO). With the operational agreement announced yesterday with the BRA, the two company will start to have about 4% of the Brazilian market of civil aviation, against 90% of the Goal and the Tam. The fleet to the disposal of the agreement is composed of 27 aircraft that start to take care of 49 cities of medium for great transport, of which 14 is new markets. The initial investment is of R$ 20 million, according to president of the BRA, Humberto Folegatti. For the president of the OceanAir, German Efromovich, "the partnership with the BRA reflects a new moment for Brazilian aviation and the customary passenger flies it for the OceanAir will be able to count on attendance the same differentiated, now with still more options of routes".

Ethiopian Airlines Introduces E-Ticketing At International Offices

21 May 2007


The Ethiopian Airlines announced that it has introduced electronics ticketing in all its international offices in a bid to enhance its competitiveness.

Airlines Marketing and Sales Operation Director, Yeneneh Tekleyes, told WIC that e-ticketing would help control the growing air transport market effectively and efficiently, besides reducing the cost of paper tickets.
Africa 2007

The system would also avoid the inconvenience passengers may face in losing their tickets, he said, adding that what is expected in e-ticketing is only getting registered and keeping the registration number.

The Airlines fully introduced the new system in its 42 international ticket offices seven months ahead of the deadline set by International Air Transport Association for member countries, according to the Director.

Yeneneh further indicated that the Airlines would also expand the system it introduced at four ticket offices locally to all offices in few months.

The Sabre System, introduced recently by the airlines with 10.5 million dollars has greatly contributed to the new electronics ticketing system, he said.

The introduction of up-to-date technologies, delivery of modern airplanes, efficient customer handling and expansion of its flight destinations have made the airlines preferable to others, the director stated.

Meanwhile, Yeneneh said that the Airlines obtained over 766 million birr from passengers during the past nine months.

The income exceeded that of same period last year by 178 million birr, he added.

South Sudan to Get Two Airports

22 May 2007

THE Government of Southern Sudan is to build two international airports to promote business. Mobior Garang de Mobior, the head of the Alkebulan Investments and Promotions, said the airports would be built in Malakal and Rubeck.

Alkebulan is the agent of Southern Sudan ministry of trade and commerce. It assists investors to start up enterprises in Southern Sudan with necessary documentation.

It also subsidies transport and accommodation costs and speeds up clearing processes of documents.

Mobior, the son of the late former vice-president, Dr. John Garang, said Juba Airport is also being upgraded to international standards.

He said Southern Sudan government was revamping infrastructure by building the new Juba Road.

"Business is booming in all the 10 states of Southern Sudan. It is not only in Juba as people think.

"Business is booming in agro-processing, construction, transport, health and sanitation and in the hospitality sector," Mobior said.

Mobior was speaking to reporters about the business opportunities in Southern Sudan.

He also handed over a business operating certificate to an Asian businessman, R. Nethyanandaw at Emin Pasha Hotel in Kampala.

Alkebulan directors, Allan Ntagi, Stephen Othieno and Nick Mugira attended the hand over ceremony. Mobior said his government had launched a programme to refurbish the entire old industrial sector including palm oil and textile factories.

He disclosed that Progressive Senior Secondary School wants to venture into the Southern Sudan education system.

He invited investors for joint ventures.

Jetlink Express cashes in on lucrative Nairobi-Kisumu route

Story by NATION Correspondent
Publication Date: 2007/05/28

A new airliner has launched direct flights on the Nairobi-Kisumu route.

Jetlink Express, a Kenyan-owned low cost carrier established three years ago, becomes the fourth carrier to enter the route after Fly 540, East African Airlines and Kenya Airways.

The carrier, which is expected to fly at least 5,000 passengers per month, will have two return flights daily to the lake-side town, one in the morning and another in the evening.

Managing director Elly Aluvale, said the entry of the airline will establish a competitive environment, which is healthy for customers.

“Customers have been complaining that the cost of flights to the Kisumu was too high. We hope our entry will reduce these costs to manageable levels,” he said.

Mr Aluvale said there was growth in the number of passengers plying the route and hoped that the company will receive the lion’s share of the cake.

“Six months ago, the total market share for the Kisumu route averaged 9,000 per month, but with the increased capacity on the route the market has grown to some 15,000 passengers per month.”

Said Mr Aluvale: “The number is set to rise as we head towards the elections. That’s why we need to reposition ourselves to benefit from this market.”

Speaking during the opening of their Kisumu office at the weekend, Mr Aluvale said the company had launched an expansion and modernisation programme aimed at enhancing their operations and consolidating its position in the industry.

The carrier is in the process of acquiring two seater Canadian regional jets on a three-year leasehold at a cost of 500,000 US dollars (Sh35 million) to increase its airlines fleet

FG approves N11bn for airports facelift

Kola Oyelere, Kano
Monday, May 28, 2007

THE Federal Government has approved N11billion for the rehabilitation and equipping of all the international airports in the country.

The Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Engineer Mohammed Yusufu, made this known at the weekend in Kano.

He said government was determined to do everything possible to ensure that all airports in the country met international standard.

According to him, the funds set aside for the rehabilitation of all the international airports would be taken frorm the intervention fund, which he said would also be used to provide body bags, hand gloves and new ambulances.

He said that part of the intervention fund would be used to purchase 20 fire service tender vehicles for all the international airports nationwide, adding that the World Bank had offered to support the Federal Government’s move by adding eight fire service tender vehicles to FAAN.

“I want to assure you that within a short time, all these projects would be completed because approvals have been given by the Federal Government. Very soon, the Nigerian public will be proud of what they have while we enjoy the glory of accomplishing out mission”, he said.

Mr Yusuf, who was accompanied by FAAN board chairman, Captain Elendu Ukeje, disclosed that special attention had been focused on Kano International Airport because of its proximity to the home town of Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’Adua, the president-elect.

Virgin Atlantic arrives at Nairobi today

Story by PAUL REDFERN, Nation Correspondent in London
Publication Date: 6/2/2007

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Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural flight to Nairobi from London is due to touch down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) this morning. The A340-300 Airbus, carrying international journalists on a brief weekend visit to Nairobi, will be the first of regular daily flights between London’s Heathrow airport and JKIA, and will add competition to the services already offered by British Airways and Kenya Airways (KQ).

Sir Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic and head of the Virgin Group of Companies will be aboard the airline’s inaugural flight that arrives today.

He will join Vice President Moody Awori and Transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere at a Press conference called to mark the launch of Virgin Atlantic flights in Kenya, at the airport.

A statement said the conference will link the arrival of Virgin to tourism and the economy

Tourism experts believe the extra capacity is needed, as Kenya continues to see a rapid growth in UK tourist numbers. The UK accounts for among the largest number of European tourists that visit Kenya each year. The latest statistics for February of this year continue to show a rising trend in UK arrivals, with 16,779 Britons visiting, an increase of over 20 per cent on the previous February.

Overall, 2006 saw another increase in UK arrivals with 171,409 arrivals from the UK a near 11 per cent increase on 2005.

Potential

The new travel focus tends to be on safaris and eco-tourism lodges, highlighting the need for extra capacity at Nairobi rather than Mombasa.

Virgin will offer a full range of services on its flights, from the upper class option featuring flat beds and a private massage zone, to an economy class offering that provides seat back televisions for all passengers and video on demand.

One key result of the new competition could be a lowering of prices between London and Nairobi but Virgin Atlantic clearly feels there is enormous potential for growth in its new route. Announcing the launch last year, Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson said Nairobi was Virgin Atlantics fourth service to its Africa routes which were expanding at a vast rate.

“Passenger numbers have doubled over the past five years and we predict its popularity will continue to grow in years to come.”

The flights start at Heathrow at 19.15 and arrive at 6.05 the next day.

Return flights depart at 08.20 and arrive at London Heathrow at 14.55.

Kenya’s Tourism ministry has been making efforts to persuade Virgin Atlantic to start its flights to Nairobi for some time. Permanent Secretary Rebecca Nabutola said that Virgin offered “quality and high standards” and was “one of the worlds premier airlines.”

ALGERIA

ANNABA NEW AIROPORT

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NEW TERMINAL FOR CONSTANTINE

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NEW TERMINAL JIJEL


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Transportation Algeria Top of Page
Airports:
142 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 52
over 3,047 m: 10
2,438 to 3,047 m: 27
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 1 (2006)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 90
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 26
914 to 1,523 m: 39
under 914 m: 23 (2006)

Precision Air from Tanzania is to start a new service to Joburg 4x weekly.

Algeria is seeking to market its Safir 43 and Firnas 142 light aircraft in South Africa. The country demonstrated these products of its infant aviation industry at the recent African Aerospace and Defence 2000 exhibition at Waterkloof Air Force Base, near Pretoria, marking the first time the Algerian-manufactured aircraft had been demonstrated outside their home country. “We started manufacturing the aircraft in 1993, although we initiated the project in 1987,” reports Entreprise de Construction Aeronautique (ECA) director-general Redouane Touhami.

Algeria is seeking to market its Safir 43 and Firnas 142 light aircraft in South Africa. The country demonstrated these products of its infant aviation industry at the recent African Aerospace and Defence 2000 exhibition at Waterkloof Air Force Base, near Pretoria, marking the first time the Algerian-manufactured aircraft had been demonstrated outside their home country. “We started manufacturing the aircraft in 1993, although we initiated the project in 1987,” reports Entreprise de Construction Aeronautique (ECA) director-general Redouane Touhami. “They are built under licence from the Czech Republic, but are manufactured completely in Algeria,” he explains. The aircraft were designed by the Zlin company, world-renowned for its light and aerobatic aircraft designs, and are marketed by the Czechs outside Africa as the Zlin 43 and Zlin 142. “We have the rights for the whole of Africa,” Touhami points out. “South Africa is interested in buying these aircraft, as are a number of Arab countries,” he adds. The Firnas 142 is a two-seater and the Safir 43 a four-seater. To date, ECA has built some 60 of the aircraft, for use by the Algerian Air Force, government departments and parastatal corporations in a variety of roles. These include basic training, aerobatic training, aerial surveying of powerlines and pipelines, as well as normal general aviation and utility duties, including banner and glider towing. The Safir 43 is also used as a medical-evacuation aircraft. “We are also considering manufacturing the Zlin 137T agricultural spraying and water-bombing aircraft, and we are thinking of developing a larger aircraft, with nine seats,” reports Touhami. It is likely that ECA-manufactured Z137Ts would be bought by the country’s agriculture ministry. The Firnas 142 is powered by a supercharged six-cylinder in-line piston engine with a maximum take-off power rating of 154 kW, and a cruising rating – with supercharger off – of 103 kW, driving a two-bladed propeller. The aircraft has a top speed of 333 km/h, a cruising speed of 215 km/h, endurance of more than six hours and a maximum range of 1 050 km. The maximum ceiling is 5 000 m. The four-seat Safir 43 has the same powerplant and propellor as the two-seat Firnas 142 and, although the range and endurance of the two types are similar, the Safir 43, is unsurprisingly the slower of the two, with a maximum speed of 307 km/h and a cruising speed of 212 km/h. Both aircraft have fixed tricycle landing gear. The ECA, located near Oran, at the western end of the Algerian coast, was created specifically to develop an Algerian aircraft-manufacturing industry.

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. made in Algeria Planes... made in Algeria the ZLIN-142 was the elementary plane of drive of the Czechoslovakian air forces at the time of the USSR. Many of other countries acquired this type of apparatus for its relatively low robustness and its price, like its needs not very important maintenance revision after flight. Algeria started to acquire this type of apparatus, immediately after having inaugurated its school of military aviation in Tafraoui, or it is used for the primary education training of the pilots. It is into 1987 that the ministry for algerien transport signed a contract with its counterpart of the ex. Czechoslovakian republic, bearing on the assembly of Planes of the Zlin-142 type. The mission was entrusted at the time to the Building firm of Industriels vehicles of Rouïba. The project was entrusted thereafter to the Ministry for the National Defense which A creates the Aeronautical Building firm of Tafraoui-ECA (Oran). It is directed by the Command of the air forces, which has built for several years, of the light planes of aircraft type after having started by the acquisition of light planes ZLIN-142. Gathering military and civil national competences, the E.C.A in record time could arrive to a high degree of control of technologies of Construction, development, assembly, tests and finally control and exploitation of the planes of the type FIRNAS-142 (a two-seater which adds up approximately 150 hours of flight, that is to say the equivalent of 180 missions), and SAFIR-43 (4 places, a plane built with the profit of the command from the air forces and which is currently in exploitation), both, based on the cell of Czech Zlin-142. And enfinun agricultural plane X-3A, built in response to needs for economic national interest and public utility. This last can carry out operations of spreading of plant health products and mainly in the fight antiacridienne. Firnas-142 and Safir-43 are built for the drive and the fundamental formation (in the military academies and civil) like for the operations of diurnal and night aerial navigation, control, maritime surveyance and terrestrial, medical evacuation and help, but also for the postal operations, of communication, tourism... etc. The prospects for the ECA, at the present time, are in the search for partnership for the construction of an aircraft of 12 places for regional transport. Another project, the transformation of the SAFIR-43 in order to it adapted for the medical tranports. The times of construction are 60 days. Among the customers of the ECA several aero clubs appear through the own territory, Sonelgaz, Sonatrach civil Protection, etc. To date, more than 40 Safir-43 were manufactured by the ECA including 20 on behalf of Armee of the air algerienne. The Aeronautical Building firm is a Company in economic matter, which works to satisfy the needs and orders of all its partners while ensuring the whole of the formation and technical follow-up, maintenance, check operations. It has tens of immediately exploitable apparatuses today, as it is able to increase its production according to the national request, and allows has our country a certain independence in the field of basic aeronautics. Those which saw the demonstrations in flight of the Fernas-142 plane, could appreciate the high competences acquired by Algeria as regards Aeronautical Engineering. Source: the review El Djeich

NAMA to begin installation of navigation facilities

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2007

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is to start the upgrading of navigation facilities at the nation’s airport, beginning with Abuja and Kano airports.

Addressing journalists in Lagos, on Friday the Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Ado Sanusi, said the upgrading involved the installation of a package tagged “Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON)”.

TRACON is designed to modernise the country’s air traffic management system, with state;-of-the art surveillance system, including Secondary Surveillance Radar, Integrated Flight and Radar Processing System and other associated facilities.

It is also designed to enhance safety, as aircraft will be under surveillance, with incidence of mid-air collision narrowed to almost zero.

In addition, it will detect any aircraft using the country’s airspace without permission. Sanusi spoke through the General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Supo Atobatele.

Sanusi said that the foreign contractors handling the installation had been mobilised with 10 million euros to start work in earnest at Abuja and Kano airports.

“The cost of the entire project which was signed on April 7, 2003, was 66,500,870 euros, but it suffered a 15-month setback due to changes in the initial agreement on the project, he said.

Sanusi said that the project was resuming in accordance with the initial agreement, including the installation of primary radars which were dropped along the line, but which had now been included.

NAMA has already trained 30 air controllers in the U.S., preparatory to the take-off of the project.

Virgin Atlantic’s arrival heralds fare cuts (London - Nairobi)

JOHN KARIUKI
Special Correspondent

Air fares on the Nairobi-London route dropped last week as major carriers reacted to the entry of Virgin Airlines into Kenya’s most lucrative travel route.

Kenya Airways (KQ) cut its fares from $699 to $550, to go level with Virgin’s while British Airways (BA) was down to $549. And in an unexpected nervous shift, BA offered a seat auction which was mostly significant for its timing.

“There have been online ticket auctions in the past but this is a clear reaction to Virgin’s entry,” said a senior manager with a Nairobi travel company.

Other airlines with indirect Nairobi-London routes have also lowered fares with Emirates down to $550, Qatar $450, Ethiopian Airways $ 470 — all on return flights.

The reduction has been expected ever since Virgin announced entry into the route but industry sources still expressed surprise. Industry analysts predict a further drop as the current high season slows down.

“Virgin put their timing to coincide with the high season; the real pricing war will kick off later in the low season,” said Dodo World travel company’s Bob Inyangula.

Travel analysts say the fare could stabilise at the current level but see it dropping further to an average $400 return.

According to the Kenya Tourist Board, there has been a consistent growth of the passenger load on the Nairobi-London route. Last year, the figure stood at 171,406 passengers, an 11 per cent growth over 2006 while provisional figures for this year, as at February, were 16,779 — a 20 per cent growth over the same period last year. The number is expected to grow significantly by the end of the year. But at the start, Virgin will have to compete with KQ and BA for the lucrative London direct route.

The initial view was that KQ would be hardest hit by the new arrival, but so far indications from major travel companies show Virgin eating more into the share of BA than that of KQ — indeed, the Kenya national carrier may not be that adversely affected after all.

“It is a strong brand and I notice a strong sense of patriotism among Kenyan travellers who are choosing to fly KQ as long as it is available,” said Mr Inyangula.

Marketing manager of Fly Air, Rose Kavaya, supports this view. She said there were more bookings for Kenya Airways in the past week as Kenyans appear to rally to support the national carrier.

Previously, this element of belonging has worked in favour of British Airways, but it may now have to share passengers with Virgin Airlines as they are both from the same country.

“Both are good brands, but Virgin has a greater allure for quality and has a big name internationally that will certainly help swing clients in its favour,” said Suresh Raman, managing director of Somak Travel.

Some in the industry see the swing in the Virgin versus BA rivalry go to Virgin due to the better refined leisure inclination it is known for.

However, the flights schedule are likely to be a strong factor in favour of BA and KQ as they both have day and nights flights. Bookings are notably higher for night flights due to the greater convenience it offers for especially business travellers on a short turnaround trip.

“A day flight means a hotel night that could be avoided by a traveller going to London for a day’s business. In such cases, travellers want to arrive in London in the morning, attend to their business and travel back in the evening — which saves time and cuts hotel costs,” said Mr Raman.

He said that people who are pressed for time are more likely to choose BA or KQ. Virgin flights leave Heathrow at 1915 and arrive at 0605 the next day. Return flights depart from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 0820 and arrive at Heathrow at 1455.

The onward connection point to the United States and other parts of Europe has been thought to favour the two British carriers but local analysts see clear advantages for KQ over the two rival airlines who connect from Heathrow or Gatwick in London while KQ uses Amsterdam.

According to travel agents who spoke to The EastAfrican, most African travellers would rather avoid the stringent security checks in the UK that many consider cumbersome and even hostile. They prefer to fly KQ and connect to US and other overseas destinations via Amsterdam which many consider a lot more friendly, Ms Kavaya said.

Most travel agents also said that the short-lived visa requirement for transit travellers connecting through UK airports has worked against the British carriers in favour of KQ.

“Many travellers have not realised that it was withdrawn and others simply do not care and just want to avoid UK airports altogether,” said Mr Inyangula.

Even as the airlines fight for market share, relations with travel companies over commissions are a crucial factor for walk-in clients.

Currently, Virgin is offering a nine per cent commission to agents while KQ gives six. But BA is on a zero commission policy, which has forced travel companies to put a mark up on the published fare.

“It has created an inconvenience for travel agents having to explain to clients that they have to pay a service charge on top of the published fare,” said Mr Inyangula.

However, travel agents agree that the zero commission rate is the way all airlines will go and agents will have to find a way to justify their mark up to stay in business.

“Survival in this business will depend on adding value,” Mr Raman said.

This will include extras like airport transfers and other services.

Sudan part-privatises national carrier in $175 mln deal

June 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has sold off a large chunk of its unprofitable national carrier in a deal expected to add an estimated $175 million to state coffers over the next two years, government officials said on Wednesday.


A Sudan Airways planeUnder the deal signed on Tuesday, Kuwait’s Aref Investment Group will hold a 49 percent stake in Sudan Airways and Sudan’s privately owned Al-Fiha company 21 percent.

The government will retain a 30 percent stake.

"Aref and al-Fiha will pay the government $175 million over two years," Sudan’s finance ministry said on Wednesday.

Aref said it had already paid $56 million.

" Sudan Airways will keep its name and logo and continue to be the national carrier," the airline’s board chairman, Kamal Abdel Latif, said.

A new board of directors, comprising seven members — three Sudanese, three from the Aref Group and one from Al-Fiha — shall be appointed to run the company. The chairman of the board should be Sudanese.

"We believe that the partnership with Sudan Airways will be the most difficult of all our investments in Sudan," said Ali Zumaya, head of Aref, whose investments in the country total around $2 billion. But he added that he was optimistic about the future of the new partnership.

Sudan Airways said they would add a new aircraft to its fleet as early as next month.

Aref has already drawn up a five-year business plan that includes "fleet modernization, expansion of domestic and international routes and recruitment of more employees," Sudan Airways said on its website.

The company also hopes to proceed with plans for an IPO of 25 percent of its shares within the next five years, the finance ministry, which negotiated the deal, said.

U.S. sanctions, imposed on Sudan in 1997 for its alleged support for terrorism, seriously crippled the airline, whose fleet was dominated by U.S.-manufactured Boeings. Most of its pilots and technicians had also been trained on American aircrafts.

The company owns 11 planes, including a Boeing , three Airbus aircraft and five Fokker aircraft (F50), and has reduced the size of its staff by half to about 1,000.

More destinations, especially in the Gulf and Africa, have been added and last year the airline resumed its regular flights to London, its only destination in Europe, after suspending the route for several years, according to the company.

Luanda To Maputo Air Route To Open Soon

Luanda, 06/07 - The capital cities of Angola and Mozambique will soon be connected by air, through their respective national air companies, on Wednesday here announced the Angolan Airlines (TAAG)`s commercial director, Jose Venancio.

He said so to the press, at Luanda`s "4 de Fevereiro" airport, while receiving a team of the Mozambican Airlines (LAM), led by the chairman of its Administration Council, Jose Viegas.

TAAG`s commercial director, said the two teams will meet Thursday, to among other issues debate the possibility of linking the two capital cities, late this year or in the beginning of 2008. The contacts between the two sides started in Johannesburg (South Africa), in 2005.

Source: http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=536725

These jobs pay better than I thought; some earn more than $2000/mo.
Big risks, big money, dizzying heights
East African Standard
By Erick Wamanji

It is deemed swanky, dazzling and irresistible, an airline job. It is the buzzword in town as an avalanche of young men and girls elbow each other for posts. The cabin crew bug has bitten the society as optimistic applicants take incredible risks to secure the jobs. In the queue are some who resigned from their jobs. Others have taken loans or deferred college admission, and there are those who alter their looks, especially their faces, to improve their chances.

"I didn’t have a birth certificate, so I had to bribe someone at Sheria House to process it for me urgently. Sh5, 000 went down the drain. Then I parted with Sh10, 000 for an urgent passport because I could not apply online without a passport number. I am unemployed but I managed somehow," says Celestine Jeptum* who says she used her school fees to prepare for the interview.

"I used my college fees and borrowed money. I even borrowed suits to take photos. You need to impress them that indeed you are up to the task," she explains.

"I had a gap in my teeth and I had to fill it. I also had marks on my legs. Getting rid of them was the most painful. Getting a mark remover is hell. The process left me with terrible backache," says Jeptum.

"I ran out of cash and my parents were unwilling to spend another shilling on me. They insisted that I had to complete my degree first and pursue the career that took me to school. That’s when I decided to use the tuition fees.

"I bought all kinds of chemicals and cosmetics. It cost money," she says.

A semester is over since she left university, and the only report card she can present is one of regrets.

Jeptum is yet to return to campus and is optimistic of being airborne one day. The chemicals, passport and birth certificate did not help at the interview. She was told to wait for another intake.

Undeterred, she says she will give it another shot when the opportunity arises. But she has pity on friends she met during the interviews. Some had resigned from their jobs only to learn later that they did not meet the requirements for the airline jobs.

"Unfortunately, vacancies are very few. They have to select the very best. But we strongly advice candidates not to resign from their jobs until they have a confirmation letter because these posts are competitive," says Rachel*, a middle-aged woman who coordinates interviews for an airline locally.

A recruiting agency told Society it recently received over 50,000 applications for cabin crew vacancies. The CVs were surprising – from Form Four graduates to those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

"The response was overwhelming. We were surprised that people even in managerial positions wanted to work as cabin crew. It’s an indication that these jobs are being taken seriously," a recruiter said.

College or university education is not a must. Many Form Four leavers often leave degree holders in the queue.

"It takes more than a degree," Lilian explains. "This kind of job needs a warm outgoing personality, a multi-skilled person who is responsible, reliable, punctual and consistent. You may have degrees but the basics of life are wanting," she says.

Arabian nights

"The enthusiasm with which young people apply for cabin crew jobs is stunning. Some applicants are in the middle of their studies, others are employed although the majority are jobless," she said.

Potential Arabian employers are the latest excitement as they spread their wings further and faster. In the list are Qatar Airways, Emirates and recently Etihad Airways. Like the fairy tales, Arabian nights are beckoning literally.

What was previously considered the preserve of beautiful young women now attracts men who jostle for cabin crew jobs as if they were tailored for it.

An airline job is considered glamorous and full of adventure. Once employed, you crisscross the globe for free. Destinations that existed in dreamland are only a flight away.continued: http://www.eastandard.net/mags/society/articles.php?articleid=1143970045

Kenya eyes new aviation status

By Brian Adero

Kenya is on course to acquire the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (Icao) and the US Government’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s ‘Category One’ status that will allow direct flights from Nairobi to US.

Transport minister, Mr Ali Chirau Mwakwere told an international aviation conference in US, last week, that the requisite programmes aimed at improving safety and security in Kenya’s civil aviation were being implemented.

Already, he said, Kenya has completed the flight safety regulations related to Icao’s Annexes One, Six and Eight, which deal with personnel requirements, rules of the air, and air worthiness. Aviation security (Annex 17) and aerodrome regulations (Annex 14) have also been finalised.

Presenting Kenya’s position in aviation development during the just concluded US - Africa Air Transport Summit in Miami, Florida, the minister urged the American travel consumers to change their perception of Kenya.

He said a regional approach for flight safety and security has been adopted in the East African Community.

‘‘The Community has established a Regional Safety and Security Agency for East Africa. The Executive Director and a Technical Director have already been appointed," he said. Mwakwere said that technical support provided by FAA in development and harmonsation of civil aviation regulations are in place. ‘‘The approach is to ensure the optimum utilisation across the three countries," he said.

"Most of Kenya Civil Aviation Authority inspectors have acquired the basic Government Inspectors Course. The group will boost the technical assistance in the on going inspection of major airports," he said.

‘‘As a country, we are faced with a lot challenges such as retention of trained flight safety inspectors whom after training opt to look for employment outside the region".

Mwakwere said lack of well-developed intra-African infrastructure of roads and railways will boost air transport in Africa.

The conference aimed at developing strategies to increase Africa to US air services. To date, only South African Airways, EgyptAir and Ethiopian Airlines provide direct services from Africa to the US.

Africa has 36 direct weekly flights to the US compared to Asia (927), Caribbean (2, 155), Europe (2,303) and Latin America (3, 158).

Kenya’s Ambassador to Washington DC, Mr Peter Ogego, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, Ms Susan McDermott and Mr Cornel Wilson-Hunter, manager Safe Skies for Africa Programme attended the meeting.

Nigeria: Arik Air Begins Operation on Kano, Enugu Routes

Daily Trust (Abuja)
15 June 2007
Posted to the web 15 June 2007

Shakirat Abdulmajeed

Arik Air has commenced addition of two direct daily flights from Lagos to Kano and Abuja to Enugu.

The airline's daily flights to the two new routes will commence on Friday June 15 from the old domestic terminal of the local airport.
Africa 2007

With the addition of these routes, the total number of the airline's daily flights is now 46.

Kano thus becomes the seventh domestic airport to be served by Arik Air.

The new Lagos-kano route and the Enugu-Abuja route build on the success of Arik Air on other major domestic routes.

Added Mike McTighe, Arik Air's Managing Director: "The addition of these routes is an example of our commitment to the growth of Nigerian aviation. These are exciting times for us at Arik Air. Our passengers in Kano can look forward to experiencing the New Experience."

Arik Air, which commenced operation in October 2006, operates daily flights to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Benin and Enugu.

"As we prepare to take delivery of our brand new New Generation state of the art Boeing 737-700 with winglets, more routes will be added in the coming weeks." Added Tighe.:cheers:

Here's the first graphics released of the new $1 billion (1st phase) airport to be built in Durban for 2010 (originally posted by p2bsa)
http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/1187/dubetradeportas3.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k59/DURBAN2010/KSIA-DurbanWestElevation.png

It's Beautiful. So many AeroBridges:omg:

Africa's 30 busiest airports for March 2007. The small number is the total number of passengers for the last 12 months. Note this does not include airports from Nigeria, Sudan and Senegal as they haven't submitted stats yet.

1 Johannesburg 1 662 747 16.7% 17 876 000
2 Cairo 889 599 18.2% 11 001 000
3 Cape Town 767 917 17.6% 7 518 000
4 Sharm el Sheikh 567 707 22.5% 5 242 000
5 Hurghada 526 211 31.3% 5 069 000
6 Casablanca 425 217 21.5% 5 113 000
7 Durban 420 048 26.0% 4 256 000
8 Nairobi 372 674 6.6% 4 484 000
9 Marrakech 301 569 42.5% 2 833 000
10 Algiers 283 528 7.9% 3 524 000
11 Mauritius 221 968 35.8% 2 316 000
12 Addis Ababa 206 366 32.2% 2 427 000
13 Luxor 202 041 -1.5% 2 061 000
14 Monastir 183 231 11.9% 4 262 000
15 Jerba 159 255 9.8%
16 Agadir 133 043 14.1% 1 470 000
17 Port Elizabeth 131 624 9.7% 1 439 000
18 Mombasa 125 368 9.0% 1 251 000
19 St Denis 121 715 34.1% 1 395 000
20 Dar es Salaam 110 475 22.5% 1 309 000
21 Aswan 100 463 -3.0% 864 000
22 Accra 94 966 11.3% 1 104 000
23 Ilha do Sal 73 642 7.5% 774 000
24 Abidjan 73 025 24.3% 857 000
25 Entebbe 72 940 45.0% 748 000
26 East London 68 577 22.6% 696 000
27 Windhoek 56 565 37.0% 663 000
28 George 56 113 17.9% 598 000
29 Antanarivo 55 672 16.2% 726 000
30 Lusaka 53 041 67.1% 641 000

Source: ACI Monthly WTR

Grepz, Durban´s airport really looks very nice. Do you know how many aerobridges it will have?

Yep, those Durban renders are very nice indeed!

Those North African resorts are packing in the tourists if those numbers are anything to go by.

SA Airways to up weekly flights to Nairobi

Written by Wangui Maina
21-June-2007

South African Airways is set to increase its frequency into Nairobi by introducing three new weekly flights at the beginning of next month.

In the move aimed at meeting demand on the Johannesburg-Nairobi route, the airline will offer morning flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays adding to its current daily afternoon flights.

The route between Kenya and South Africa’s biggest cities has proven lucrative, according to the airline’s East Africa and Middle East region head, Aaron Munetsi.

“To secure a strong presence in East Africa, SAA will focus and strengthen its operations on the African continent and will remain committed to increasing travel options,” he said.

The airline painted the increased presence as part of its new focus on domestic and regional flights.
Earlier this month, SAA’s chief executive, Khaya Ngqulu said African nations were a key source market for international tourists to South Africa, making up about 70 per cent of all visitors.

This is one driver behind increased investment in African air routes, as the airline hopes to achieve Sh29 billion in turnaround and restore profitability within 18 months.

SAA’s profitability and market share have declined despite air passenger numbers more than doubling in Africa. In the past few years, the airline has recorded a massive drop in profits, which fell to R65 million (Sh650 million) in 2005/2006 from R648 million (Sh6.4 billion) the year before.

The new African focus could give Kenya Airways a strong run for passengers however, as KQ has banked largely on growing its presence on the continent as well. Regional routes have proved to be quite profitable due to high demand and little supply. This has allowed carriers to almost dictate airfares. Currently, KQ serves over 30 destinations in Africa, with the next biggest being Ethiopian Airlines serving 26.

SAA serves 20 African locations at present, and will make its first recent expansion in September with a new route to Libreville in Gabon.
Internationally, SAA has been rationalising routes, closing down flights to Paris and Zurich last October.

It plans a new flight to Munich later in the year as a replacement.

“We will only focus our operations on the routes that show profit and will add capacity to them, while wrapping up in those cash-negative routes,” stated Mr Ngqulu in earlier interviews.

The airline will also ground six Boeing 747-400 planes that are more expensive to operate, leaving it with a fleet of 32 Airbuses and 21 Boeing 737-800s.
SAA announced it would soon lay off 30 per cent of its workforce towards reshaping itself, with seven separate subsidiaries with independent corporate structures.

Africa's 30 busiest airports for March 2007. The small number is the total number of passengers for the last 12 months. Note this does not include airports from Nigeria, Sudan and Senegal as they haven't submitted stats yet.

1 Johannesburg 1 662 747 16.7% 17 876 000
2 Cairo 889 599 18.2% 11 001 000
3 Cape Town 767 917 17.6% 7 518 000
4 Sharm el Sheikh 567 707 22.5% 5 242 000
5 Hurghada 526 211 31.3% 5 069 000
6 Casablanca 425 217 21.5% 5 113 000
7 Durban 420 048 26.0% 4 256 000
8 Nairobi 372 674 6.6% 4 484 000
9 Marrakech 301 569 42.5% 2 833 000
10 Algiers 283 528 7.9% 3 524 000
11 Mauritius 221 968 35.8% 2 316 000
12 Addis Ababa 206 366 32.2% 2 427 000
13 Luxor 202 041 -1.5% 2 061 000
14 Monastir 183 231 11.9% 4 262 000
15 Jerba 159 255 9.8%
16 Agadir 133 043 14.1% 1 470 000
17 Port Elizabeth 131 624 9.7% 1 439 000
18 Mombasa 125 368 9.0% 1 251 000
19 St Denis 121 715 34.1% 1 395 000
20 Dar es Salaam 110 475 22.5% 1 309 000
21 Aswan 100 463 -3.0% 864 000
22 Accra 94 966 11.3% 1 104 000
23 Ilha do Sal 73 642 7.5% 774 000
24 Abidjan 73 025 24.3% 857 000
25 Entebbe 72 940 45.0% 748 000
26 East London 68 577 22.6% 696 000
27 Windhoek 56 565 37.0% 663 000
28 George 56 113 17.9% 598 000
29 Antanarivo 55 672 16.2% 726 000
30 Lusaka 53 041 67.1% 641 000

Source: ACI Monthly WTR

How can it be that Luanda is not in this list?? it handle more than 1,5milion a year

How can it be that Luanda is not in this list?? it handle more than 1,5milion a year

According to the stats released by Airports Council Intl Luanda only handled 40 548 passengers for March (1 149 000 for the last 12 months). Perhaps March is just a very quite month there or but I suspect it's an error because it does seem too low.

Grepz, Durban´s airport really looks very nice. Do you know how many aerobridges it will have?

12-16 aerobridges. It's designed to initially handle 7.5 million pax but growth at the old airport has been 3-4 times higher than projected so maybe it'll be larger.

So the new Durban airport will be bigger that the Capetown one

Cape Town airport is undergoing a big expansion so I don't think it'll be bigger. The passenger termnal of the new airport has been designed to allow for massive expansion though. Also this is only the 1st phase - there'll also be a cargo terminal which will probably be bigger than CT's but the plans for this haven't been released yet.

Fly540 introduces daily Masai Mara flights
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLY540, is introducing daily flights to the Masai Mara in Kenya from Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi from July 15.
Fly540 is a subsidiary of the African conglomerate, Lonrho, and is the first airline to run flights directly from Nairobi to the Masai Mara.
“We have found that there is a huge demand from the Kenyan tourism industry to make these routes available,” said Don Smith, Fly540 ce.

Brought to you by TravelHub…

Chana Viljoen
(chanav@nowmedia.co.za)

US Experts Arrive to Audit Nigerian Airlines

By Chinedu Eze, 07.02.2007

Technical experts from the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) arrived in the country yesterday to audit three domestic airlines, Arik Air, Virgin Nigeria and Bellview which had been designated to fly tthe Nigeria-US air route by the Federal Government.
The auditing is part of the conditions the airlines have to meet before they will be certified by the regulatory body, FAA to fly to United States.
What is known as auditing is kind of scrutiny by FAA to find out whether the airlines have the technical know-how, facilties, personnel and equipment to meet the conditions stipulated by United States for foreign airlines that fly into their country as commercial operators.
According to the rule also, FAA has to audit Nigeria's regulatory agency, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, so when the team arrived yesterday it was made to witness a mock audit test for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the three Nigerian carriers designated on the lucrative American route.
The mock audit can be described as a dress rehearsal for the the main audit which is expected to take place between July 16 to July 20, 2007.
The mock audit is important because it sets the tone for the team of experts that would be coming later in the month and audit regulatory authority, the NCAA and the designated carriers to ensure they met the set out conditions.
The mock exercise is expected to last for two days. The exercise which centers around the International Air Safety Audit [IASA] is to enable the NCAA audit itself under the supervision of the FAA team which will in turn draw the attention of the authority to grey areas where adjustment needs to be made.

The exercise will also give the NCAA the chance to correct the grey areas for its subsequent preparation for the technical assessment of July 16th to 20th.
The Director-General of NCAA, Dr.Harold Demuren confirmed this yesterday on phone journalists but declined to give details of the exercise.
He said, "Yes, we are having our mock audit to put few things remaining in order, but I cannot give you for now details of the exercise".
THISDAY gathered that during the mock exercise, the whole books of the authority will be audited under the FAA team, including the airlines designated on the American route.
It is expected that at the end of the mock test and the full audit starting from July 16th, the full certification for category one status of the country which will take eight months is expected to kick off.
Throughout the eight months, according to the NCAA boss, the FAA team will remain in the authority to scrutinise the working system of NCAA and ask quetsions where necessary.
It has to be noted that the auditing of NCAA is not peculiar to the regulatory aspect, but an international aviation law which must be obeyed by the regulatory aithority.
NCAA audited FAA when America's airline, North American Airlines began to fly to Nigeria, it should be recalled.

Brussels Airlines to add four flights to East Africa

By MICHAEL WAKABI
Special Correspondent

Belgian flag carrier Brussels Airlines is to introduce four more aircraft for its East African customers.

This is in a review of its operations in the region that will see the line take on competition from Nairobi and Entebbe.

In the realignment that takes effect from December 16, Entebbe will get two new direct flights to Europe per week while Rwanda and Burundi will get an additional service each.

“We are adding a fourth flight to Uganda because we believe in the potential of this market to grow as a conference destination especially after the hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November,” Brussels Airlines manager for Uganda Pierre Declerk said.

Nairobi, however, will suffer a reduction in flights as the line will withdraw the sixth flight that has been operating on Sundays.

Right now, Nairobi is in a situation of overcapacity. We are still a small stand-alone airline and the kind of overcapacity we are seeing in Kenya is something we have to respond to appropriately,”

Mr Declerk, added that the influx of northbound carriers out of Nairobi and expansion by the established ones such as the Kenya Airways/KLM alliance, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had depressed fares to a point where were possible only by filling the cabin with passengers or effectively selling cargo space in baggage holds.

“It is a tricky situation for any airline that is looking at its profitability,” he said.

Mr Declerk said withdrawing the Nairobi flight would have no negative impact on the bottom line since Nairobi bound traffic can still be routed through Entebbe or the remaining five flights.

According to available figures, Brussels Airlines has been getting more passengers to and from other places in East Africa than Nairobi.

Until now, the airline has been flying three times a week to Entebbe, twice to Kigali and once to Bujumbura. These routes have seen buoyant growth in the past year with load factors exceeding 70 per cent. All flights pass through Nairobi on the outward leg but the three destinations have recently seen robust growth as numbers to and from Nairobi declined on those particular services.

Under the new schedule, the Wednesday and Sunday flights will originate in Bujumbura and pass through Entebbe en route to Brussels while the Monday and Friday services from Entebbe will be routed through Nairobi.

British Airways operates three daylight flights to London out of Entebbe weekly — Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. KLM, which added a fourth direct service to Entebbe last month, operates on Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.

“It is a positive development and means a lot in terms of emergency evacuations as you now have a spread of direct northward flights throughout the week,” said an aviation expert.

European airlines have been avoiding flying to Uganda on Tuesdays because it was considered a bad day for business travel. This is changing due to growing leisure travel as peace returns to the north of the country.

The move by Brussels Airlines is also expected to have a positive impact on tourism as the tickets will be fully interchangeable, allowing holders to enter at one point in the region, move around by other means and embark for their return leg at any of the four airports the airlineserves in East Africa.

The Sunday and Wednesday flights from Bujumbura have been routed through Entebbe to raise initial volumes but also because the Burundi capital suffers security restrictions that don’t allow night time flying.

Brussels Airlines is so far the only European airline flying into Kigali and Bujumbura. The additional flights are seen as driven by the need to take more northbound traffic from Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways, which have long been feeding their hubs from there.

Presently, there is no direct service to Tanzania. The northern territories of Mwanza and Arusha are currently served through a code share arrangement with Precision Air which flies to Entebbe. This may change when Brussels reviews its options after it receives a fifth aircraft for its international fleet in 2008.

Angola suspends BA flight licence


British Airways said Tuesday that Angola had suspended its flight licence to operate in the African nation, in a move seen as retaliatory after EU steps to ban Angolan airline TAAG on safety grounds.

"The Angolan CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) took away the operating permit that we had ... effectively because flights from that country were banned by the European Union," a BA spokesman told AFP.

He added that the BA licence "has been temporarily suspended," but the company did not know how long the ban would last.

An EU experts' committee recommended last month that TAAG Angola Airlines was added to a list of carriers banned from flying to the European Union for safety reasons.

The decision was expected to be formally approved on Friday.

TAAG has sought to reassure customers of their safety after one of the carrier's aircraft crash-landed on June 28.

Six people, including an Italian priest, were killed and dozens more injured when a Boeing 737 belonging to the airline crash-landed at an airport in northern Angola.

However, TAAG has said that no "final decision" had yet been taken by the European Union to ban its aircraft from European air space.

That´s a very good initiative taken by Angolan minister! This whole thing is ridiculous, how can an airline that has bought brand new jets be insecure???? Silly!!!:ohno:

I applaud this Angolan minister for what he has done, it only shows me that Angola becomes more emancipated!:cheers:

Read this!

http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=15299

Matt, the EU wouldnt include TAAG in its blacklist as a joke. TAAG is a notoriously erratic airline that does not seem to care for the well being of its passengers. I have flown with it several times - customer service is inexistent. Which is not surprising, seeing that it is run by the Angolan government. I have been following this case quite closely: TAAG has not been following the EU's strict guidelines for airline safety. TAAG was notified of this as early as February, when they were told that they were violating 30 safety norms for flying into the EU. TAAG did nothing. Then they were told that if they failed to adopt the norms, they would be suspended from flying to Europe. TAAG fixed 25 of the problems, but left 5 unfixed. As a result, they are now blacklisted. One of the problems was that the pilot flight manuals were not translated to Portuguese, when most of the pilots are not bilingual and thus do not read Engilsh. What good does a new airplane due, if the pilot cannot refer to the manual? This is not about "Angola becoming emanciated" - that is ridiculous. Human lives are at stake here. This is about AIR SAFETY. A TAAG plane crashed not one week ago and killed 6 people.

And as for retaliation, that is equally ridiculous, stupid, and childish. For once in his life, the Angolan president had some good sense and blocked that measure. TAAG was banned in Europe for not complying with safety measures, i.e. putting passenger lives at risk. What can the Angolan government possibly ban the European airlines for? They are following every Angolan and international safety measure in the book! And how do we Angolans fare after a ban on European airlines? How the hell are we supposed to travel to Angola, when TAAG cant fly to Europe and European airlines cant fly to Angola? The only losers in this are Angolans - we would practically be isolated. Furthermore, the Angolan government is already very stingy in allowing companies to fly to Angola.

For years, Swiss, Lufthansa, and KLM have been asking the government for permission to initiate flights to Angola. The government usually does not reply, but when it does, it rejects them. They are extremely protective of TAAG, so this is to ensure that TAAG does not lose market share. The government usually only accepts such offers if TAAG is able to fly to those countries...since TAAGs fleet is miniscule, it is very hard to accomodate new offers, and thus us Angolans, and any other person that wants to fly to Angola, has very few, and very pricy options.

TAAG is an extremely faulty airline that does not seem to care for customer service, satisfaction, or safety. I hope this measure will wake them up, or at least open the way for new leadership.

Wow, that's shocking if the pilots cannot fluently understand the flight manuals. It's incredible that they're allowed to operate at all like that as it's unbelievably dangerous. However I would have thought that the aircraft supplier would supply manuals in the appropriate language. For any individual outside of the aircraft maunfacturer to do the translating is opening the way for errors to creep in.

The Angolan government is inappropriately protective of TAAG. The frequencies allowed to foreign airlines are ridiculous. The country cannot reach its potential if its air capacity is based on what it's tiny national carrier can supply. SAA has been trying to get multiple dailies to Luanda for years but is stuck with only 3 flights per week. There are other countries with policies to protect their national carriers but Angola has taken it to the extreme.

Blacklion,

1.) I was takena aback to read your comment. I didn´t know that things are so horrendously bad:ohno: Nevertheless, TAAG being unsafe still sounds so weird to my ears, they are no longer flying old cranky but brand new jets....


2.) I can understand their fear that Big international airlines come and "make the game" in Angola and it is of utmost importance to protect and even subsidize a small but hopefully growing airline in the early days (that´s what all of the big airlines of nowadays once had done and what some newly launched airlines in the Arabian Gulf still do, just like Etihad Airways for example)

3.) How can it be that pilots are unable to speak, read and understand English in today´s world???? this is hilarious!

4.) One solution will certainly consist in working STRONGLY together with throngs of high-skilled expatriate workforce in ALLl fields of the airline industry for many years to come if the situation is as bleak and horror-like as you describe it! If Angola lacks the managerial capacities, it has to give its airline industry into the hands of highly skilled expatriates who should help to run the business for a couple of years by simultaneously helping to train Angolan workforce which will most likely be a long process ("thanks" to the war and its consequences that are being felt everwhere):ohno: . Otherwise I don´t know how TAAG can become any better in the forseeable future.

5.) I agree with what Grepz says that it will hold back Angola´s full economic potential if they continue to be so restrictive. Yes, I heard about Lufthansa´s requests to fly to Luanda that has been turned down repeatedly. Same has been the case for TAP which wanted to increase its frequency to Luanda to twice a day. The request was turned down. Although I can fully understand TAAG´s fears, I also have to admit that they urgently have to find ways somehow to let more foreign airlines come to Angola and help those already in the country to increase their frequncies.

But we have the similar problem in Nigeria, Emirates wanted to increase its flights to Lagos from daily to ten times a week and it wanted to open a direct daily flight to Abuja, it was turned down, Luftansa wanted to add daily flights to Abuja from four times a week, requests were tuned down, it was an uphill struggle for British Airways to get ten flights a week from Lagos to London and a daily direct flight from Abuja...it wouldn´t suprise me if this is the case for other airlines, too! Virgin Atlantic had similar problems. Flights in and out of Nigeria are hopelessly overbooked FOR MONTHS IN ADVANCE. But in the long run, this will hurt economies!

As for Angola, hopefully the situation will improve once the new airport is ready for operation.:)

Kenya Airways orders nine 787 planes
Written by Wangui Maina

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r32/guok7/bd-boeing-dreamliner1.jpg
Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Image
10-July-2007: National flag carrier Kenya Airways is among the airlines that have placed orders for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner —the world’s first environment-friendly commercial plane that was launched at the weekend.

Titus Naikuni, the managing director, says Kenya Airways has ordered nine of the 787 planes with the first delivery due in 2010.

The plane that is being touted as the world’s most fuel-efficient is expected to help KQ cut its fuel bill by 20 per cent when all the deliveries are made. Apart from addressing climate change concerns that has made the aviation industry a target of environmental activists in the recent past, Mr Naikuni described the new aircraft as a dramatic development that is set to make air travel more affordable, comfortable and convenient.

It comes with more spacious cabins, bigger windows and lavatory facilities that can accommodate wheelchairs.

Kenya Airways placed its first order of six Boeing 787 planes in March 2006, and signed a deal for additional three in December.

Mr Naikuni stated due to the remarkable success of the Boeing 777, the airline felt it was prudent to add this new revolution to its passengers.

Aviation experts said Boeing’s decision to use high-technology plastic rather than aluminium in construction of the aircraft signals the industry’s decision to use technology as the basis of its response to the tough economic and political realities facing air travel globally. This switch to carbon-fibre reinforced plastic for large parts such as the fuselage and wings is the reason the 787 has been labelled the “greenliner”.

The material creates a structure that is light and strong, significantly reduces the takeoff weight resulting in low fuel consumption. Carbon fibre also reduces maintenance expenses by eliminating rust.

While airlines are responsible for just 2-3 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, rapid growth spurred by low-cost airlines and recent emergence of Asia as the largest travel market has made aviation the number one target in the carbon emissions debate.

According to Boeing’s vice president and general manager of the 787, Mike Bair, every 15 years or so an aviation company has to get it right. “This is Boeing’s first all-new plane in 12 years.”

Boeing’s hyped environmental benefits, passenger comforts and advanced technologies have led to overwhelming 677 orders for the $200 million (Sh14 billion) plane. This means that the plane maker has sold out all delivery positions till 2015.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways is expected to fly the first 787 Dreamliner in May 2008. In Africa, Ethiopian Airways is set to be the first carrier to fly the plane next year.

Final assembly of the plane began in May facilitated by construction of a gigantic, specially out fitted super freighter that flew the wings, fuselage sections and other major parts to Boeing’s wide body plant.

Most of these parts were flown from Japan where up to a third of the plane parts were made. Japanese companies like Fuji Heavy Industry and Toray that made the carbon friendly wings played a major role in the success of Boeing.

According to the manufacturer, once production hits full speed the company expects each plane to spend just three days in final assembly.

It was however not all a smooth sail for Boeing which was at one point faced with the industry-wide shortage of fasteners caused by a surge in demand. This though has not dampened Boeing’s success and believes they will meet all their deliveries on time.

The company also has to reinforce its work force by pumping in extra staff and resources having learnt from the European manufacturer, Airbus, which delayed delivery of the Airbus A380. However, Boeing is not out of the woods as its faced with the challenge of delivering all its orders on time, especially its targeted 100 Dreamliners, a year.

The launch of the plane was no coincident as it was launched on 7-08-07, and broadcasted internationally through satellite television and the Internet in nine languages.

Bravo KQ hope they continue with that trend.

Five more charter flights for Mombasa

By Philip Mwakio

Five new charters flights are expected to start flying tourists into Moi International Airport, Mombasa, as the high season approaches.

The airport manager, Mr Yatich Kangogo, said the flights would be carrying tourists from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Kangogo, however, could not divulge the identity of the flights.

‘‘We expect to have a busy season ahead and our airport is prepared to handle the extra influx of charters,’’ he said.

Currently the airport handles an average of 14 charters a week, but the numbers are expected to increase with more flight rotations occasioned by the demand for seats by tourists flying from key source markets in Europe to the Kenyan Coast.

Precision Air, the Tanzanian owned private airline that feeds the Tanzanian tourism market with overseas clients flying from Europe to Mombasa is also expected to increase its rotations out of Mombasa to Dar es Salaam via Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro international airport.

Orders sorted by customer


Customer EIS† Type Engine
787-3 787-8 787-9 787-10†† TBA††† Options Rights GE RR
Aeroflot 2014 22
Aeroméxico 2011 2
Air Berlin 2013 25 10 15
Air Canada 2010 37 23
Air China 2008 15
Air India 2008 27
Air New Zealand 2011 8 12
Air Pacific 2011 5 3
ALAFCO (Leasing Company) 2012 22 1
All Nippon Airways 2008 30 20 50
Arik Air 2014 3
Arkia Israel Airlines 2012 2 2
Avianca 2010 10 10
Aviation Capital Group 5
Azerbaijan Airlines 2010 3
Boeing Business Jet 34 4 1 1
CASGC 2008 3 2
China Eastern Airlines 2008 15
China Southern Airlines 2008 10
CIT Aerospace (Leasing Company) 2012 10 3
Continental Airlines 2009 8 17
Ethiopian Airlines 2008 8 2
First Choice Airways 2009 12
Garuda Indonesia 2011 10
Hainan Airlines 2008 8
Hong Kong Airlines 2008 10
Icelandair 2010 4 3
ILFC (Leasing Company) 2010 73 1 20 40
Japan Airlines 2008 13 22 15
Jet Airways 2011 10
Kenya Airways 2010 9 4
Korean Air 2010 10 10
LCAL (Leasing Company) 2009 6 9 9
LOT Polish Airlines 2008 8 1 5
Monarch Airlines 2010 6 4
Northwest Airlines 2008 18 50
Pegasus Aviation Finance (Leasing Company) 2009 6
PrivatAir (BBJ) 14
Qantas 2008 15 503 20 30
Qatar Airways 2010 305. 30
Royal Air Maroc 2008 4 1
Royal Jordanian Airlines 2010 2 2
S7 Airlines 2014 15 10
Shanghai Airlines 2008 9
Singapore Airlines 2011 20 20
Travel Service 1 1
TUI Group 2010 11
Uzbekistan Airways 2
Vietnam Airlines 2010 4 11
Virgin Atlantic Airways 2011 15 8 20
Unidentified Customers 12 2
Sub Totals 43 531 136 32 249 121 325 177
TOTALS 742 (677 firm, 65 pending††††) 370

† Entry into service.

Boeing, Arik Air Announce Launch of Nigerian Carrier's Widebody Fleet
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/photorelease/q2/K64025_lg.jpg
________________________________________________________
SEATTLE, April 26, 2007 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Arik Air today announced an order for three 787-9s, two 777-200 LRs (Longer Range) and two 777-300ERs (Extended Range) at the delivery ceremony for two new 737-700s that will soon begin operations from the airline's home base in Lagos, Nigeria. The list-price value of the new order is approximately $1.5 billion. The airplanes were previously listed as unidentified on Boeing's Orders & Deliveries website.

Lee Monson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa, formally announced Arik Air's order for the twin-aisle jets while hosting the airline's chairman, Sir J.A.I. Johnson; the managing director, Mike McTighe; and Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren, director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, as well as a large visiting delegation from Nigeria.

"This is a big day for Boeing and for the advancement of Nigeria's aviation sector," Monson said. "We know from our many strong relationships with African carriers that viable airlines play an instrumental role in countries' economic development. We're proud that acquiring new Boeing jets is integral to Arik Air's plans for modernization as they grow and prosper."

Arik Air is the fourth airline on the African continent to order Boeing's fast-selling 787 Dreamliner, as well as the fourth to order the market-leading 777. Boeing is currently working with Arik Air as the airline moves toward achieving Category 1 status with the FAA so that it may fly direct routes to and from the U.S.

"Arik Air has demonstrated its commitment to providing reliable, world-class air travel to and from Nigeria with an aggressive acquisition plan for the world's most modern and advanced commercial jets," said Arik's McTighe. "This will allow for a staged and strategic expansion plan both regionally and internationally that provides the utmost in passenger comfort and safety."

Launched in 2006, Arik Air is growing its fleet to 16 airplanes by June, and they will serve up to 11 domestic routes. In addition to bringing new airplanes into operation, the airline is also taking a leading role in contributing to the improvement of Nigeria's aviation infrastructure as a whole.

"Nigeria's aviation sector has truly turned a corner and is headed in the right direction," said Dr. Demuren, who was selected last year to lead Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority. "It's very rewarding to be here today witnessing firsthand the unveiling of Arik Air's new Boeing Next-Generation 737s and to know Boeing is committed to work with Nigeria as we implement vast and far-reaching commercial aviation improvements throughout the country."

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, scheduled for entry into service in 2008, provides passengers with a better flying experience, and operators with a more efficient commercial jetliner. With the Dreamliner, Boeing continues its leadership and innovation with a mostly composite airplane that uses 20 percent less fuel per passenger than similarly sized airplanes. The 787 is designed for the environment with lower carbon emissions and quieter takeoffs and landings. Inside the airplane, passengers will find cleaner air, bigger windows, more stowage space and improved lighting.

Since the 787 launch in April 2004, 44 customers worldwide have logged 567 orders worth more than $75 billion at current list prices, making the Dreamliner the most successful commercial airplane launch in history.

The 777 family of airplanes is the market leader in the 300 to 400-seat segment, consistently capturing more than 65 percent of that market since its launch. To date, 52 customers worldwide have placed 952 orders for the efficient, reliable and passenger-pleasing 777 jetliner. Boeing continues to enhance the 777 family with the recent introduction of two new longer-range models and a freighter version currently in development.

Kenya Airways orders nine 787 planes


Boeing, Arik Air Announce Launch of Nigerian Carrier's Widebody Fleet

Wow, Pave the way Africa, pave the way.:banana: :carrot: :banana2: :cucumber: :pepper:

Virgin Nigeria introduces m-ticketing

• Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007

Virgin Nigeria airline has introduced the m-ticketing in an effort to serve its customers better.

Our correspondent reports that m-ticketing enables travellers to purchase flight tickets and bookings through their mobile telephones.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new system in Ikeja, the airline’s e-commerce Manager, Mrs Alaba Olumegbon, said Virgin Nigeria decided to upgrade its system to make air travel processes simpler.

Olumegbon said with the new device, travelers especially busy ones, could see flight schedules and book their flights by logging into the airline’s website through their mobile telephones.

She, however, explained that only WAP enabled phones owners to operate the new system.

The manager said the new device could print boarding passes which would facilitate documentation and check-in procedures through bar coding means.

She noted that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) stipulated that the bar codes must comply with international standards.

Olumegbon gave the assurance that the airline would not fall below the standards.

Also speaking, Mr Jide Akindele, the Director of Sales and Marketing of the Mobile Media Group, builders of the WAP site for Virgin Nigeria, said the airline was the first to adopt such a system in Africa.

Akindele said Nigerians could achieve much with mobile telephones, if given the opportunity.

Akindele said his company studied the Nigeria’s terrain for a year before putting in place the device and gave the assurance that the company would sustain the system.

It was gathered that Virgin Nigeria had been on e-ticketing before the introduction of the m- ticketing system.

^^
m-ticketing. It will be more convenient than e-ticketing IMO. Nice.:)

Congratulations!!!! Let us hope the prices goes down so that it will greatly increase our economy as shown in a several USA studies of low cost airlines. Here is one of the studies
CEA estimates increased passenger spending injects $31.4 million directly into the
economy of the Richmond region, with a total impact of $49.4 million, which is
associated with 728 new jobs.
Full study herehttp://www.flyrichmond.com/Download_...ura_Update.pdf

Quote:
US grants 3 Nigerian airlines right to airspace

Shola Adekola, Lagos - 16.07.2007

THE United States has given three Nigerian carriers waiver to commence operations into the country.

The airlines, namely Virgin Nigeria, Arik and Bellview, are the airlines the federal government designated on the lucrative Lagos-American route under the open skies policy entered into by the two countries in 2001.

The development is coming even as a four-member team from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) arrived in the country yesterday through the Murtala Muhammed Airport to begin the technical audit of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NNAA) today.

On the waiver which has been described as the first of its kind, the three carriers are allowed by the US to commence flights into its airspace pending when the full assessment of the NCAA will last.

The carriers are allowed to operate their flights to the US with leased American registered aircraft.

The approval which has already been forwarded to the NCAA, according to an official in the authority, was attributed to the belief of the US in the nation’s regulatory body based on its excellent performance at last year’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit.

The FAA team while in the country for one week is expected to audit the books of the NCAA, including its safety, maintenance and standard records.

Also, the airlines will be visited by the team to inspect their maintenance structures and administrative set up to ensure they are in line with the records of NCAA.

Good news more flights lets pray for more competition and comparable prices to Europe.

Continental, Delta airlines to begin flights to Nigeria
By Mudiaga Affe
Published: Tuesday, 17 Jul 2007

TWO American airlines are set to commence operations on lucrative Nigeria - United States routes.

The visiting four-member team from the United States Federal Aviation Administration that arrived on Sunday for the initial technical assessment of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and three Nigerian carriers, said this in Lagos on Monday.

The leader of the team, Greg Michael, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday in Lagos, said that Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines would begin services into the country, after meeting all the requirements of the Nigerian aviation regulatory bodies.

Michael said that the team was pleased that the NCAA had worked very hard to make the airspace safe.

The commencement of flight operations by the two carriers will bring to three, the number of American airlines operating into Nigeria.

North American Airlines started operations into Nigeria, July last year under the ‘Open Skies’ Agreement between Nigeria and the US Airlines, with Nigeria designating three carriers, Bellview, Arik and Virgin Nigeria to fly to America.

Delta Airlines is a US-based airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates a large domestic and international network that spans North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Delta Airlines currently flies to 463 destinations in 95 countries.

The Director-General, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren was confident that after the successful passing of the International Air Safety Assessment for the category one audit, Nigerian carriers would fly seamlessly to the US, from Lagos.

Demuren said, “This is the initial assessment of that, initial review if you like. We are happy that they are here. They will still come back to do the theory aspect, so that Nigeria can pass and be certified.”

My Goodness, this was overdue. (Delta ´s and Continental´s coming to Nigeria!!!!) I do hope that they will both offer dailies otherwise the flights will be overbooked. Both need to come to Lagos with 777´s aircraft!

Because of this imcomptent, stupid and sluggish decision -making folks in Nigeria, airports are a far cry from what they could be if dynamic and technocratic people would take it over. Come on, Lagos airport should normally have 20 million passengers a year for the country the size of Nigeria.

Good Tidings
This are signs of things to come for Nigeria Remember these airlines are some of the worlds largest.

Nigeria to phase out old planes

Geriatric aircraft, otherwise called "old aircraft", may soon be off Nigerian skies as the acquisition of new generation aircraft has been extended to the charter section of flight operation.

The commercial airline operators were first to receive the order to embark on fleet renewal, a directive they have already been complying with.

Recently, Embraer, the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, entered the country with the latest of its series, Embraer Legacy 600, to cushion the effort by charter operators who aspire to acquire the product.

The aircraft manufacturing company was brought into the country by Lambert Aviation in conjunction with Flynet Executive Charter Services of Afribank Capital Market.

Under the arrangement, Lambert Aviation played the middle-man role for Flynet who will operate the aircraft on behalf of would be buyers on charter.

The idea, according to Chris Nwajie, was to lessen the financial burden of buyers who will have to be paying parking fees to the Federal Airports Authrity of Nogeria, (FAAN) even at periods when the aircraft was not put to use.

He said the system would make the owners of such aircraft, under the lingering situation, make some profits through the money that would be coming in from the charter operations, to help meet its financial obligation to the relevant aviation agencies.

http://odili.net/news/source/2007/jul/25/553.html

Kenya Airways invests Sh500 million in staff training facility

By Brian Adero

Kenya Airways (KQ) has opened a Sh500 million Leadership Centre located near their Embakasi Headquarters in Nairobi.

The facility will be used to train the airline’s staff and is also available to train staff of other air operators.

Making the announcement, KQ Chief Executive Officer Mr Titus Naikuni also said the airline’s Board of Directors has approved the leasing of a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft to replace a similar airliner that crashed in Cameroon in May 2007. The new aircraft is expected to arrive next year.

KQ has already taken delivery of the first 70-seater Embraer jet, with the second regional jet expected next month.

"At least we will be having the two 70-seaters to try and bridge the gap created by the accident where we lost the third B737-800," he said.

KQ has also opened a Corporate Centre and a Sh21 million service centre for its frequent flyer club members. The airline is a partner on the frequent flyer programme with Air France and KLM, called Flying Blue. Both facilities are located at the Barclays Bank Plaza, Loita Street, Nairobi.

The corporate Centre will serve over 80 corporate members, offering dedicated reservations and ticketing, a call centre, and email address for efficient communication.

It will also have ‘Commercially Important Person (CIP)’ code for recognition at the check in.

Besides Kenya, the Flying Blue Centre will serve Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

"We have a Flying Blue membership of over 80,000 in these 10 countries, who require the assistance and services of the Nairobi service centre," said Naikuni.

Flying Blue has over five million members in the destinations that KQ flies. "These being our most valued customers, and having assessed their needs, it is necessary to tailor our services to meet and exceed their expectations," Naikuni said.

Flying Blue members will use the service centre to request for free award tickets and upgrade to business class using their award miles.

Naikuni said that customers often forget to register their miles automatically at the check-in counters. Such customers will be able to register their miles at the Flying Blue Service Centre after they have flown by providing their original boarding passes and copies of tickets.

ARIK AIR SUPPORTS AVIATION TRAINING IN NIGERIA(11th July 2007)

Arik Air is to host a unique opportunity for Nigerian airline carriers to receive Airline Instructor Training Courses not previously available in the country.

A series of seven training courses will be available at the Arik Air Aviation Centre at Murtala Muhammed Domestic Airport in Lagos run by NCAA recognised specialists from the UK, AACT (Active Aviation Consulting & Training) between 6th and 24th August 2007. Some are renewal courses which were previously conducted in the UK incurring expenses for airlines in Nigeria, and others are new courses that will support national safety standards for the benefit of the aviation industry as a whole.

On completion of the courses, individual airlines will be able to conduct their own training in-house with certified instructors, allowing them to manage their own training processes more efficiently and cost effectively in future.

Active Solutions Consulting Group is one of the largest European independent training, recruitment and consulting solution providers for the air transport, travel and hospitality industries. They provide training for airlines in six continents of the world as well as consultancy support and regulatory matters and have full NCAA recognition for qualification and certification of Nigerian Airline Instructors.

The courses will be run from Arik Air’s new training facility which has all the equipment and infrastructure required by the specialists. Arik Air instructors will also attend the courses to support the airline’s own progressive training and development programme.

The seven courses are: CRM Facilitators Course (four days); Training & Instructional Techniques Course (three days); Fire & Smoke for Instructors (two days); SEP Standards for Instructors (two days); Aviation Medicine for Instructors (three days); Emergency Equipment for Instructors (two days) and Security for Instructors (three days).

Further information about AACT is available on line at www.activescg.com and course reservations can be made by email: enquiries@activescg.com.



Arik to Acquire 15 Aircraft for N200bn
By Chinedu Eze, 07.30.2007

Aiming to join the league of successful airlines in Africa, Arik Air, one of Nigeria's new carriers, has placed order for 15 more airplanes to boost its fleet.
The new order will cost the airline $1.7 billion (about N200 billion) and when purchased it would be the first African carrier to take such bold leap of acquirinig such number of aircraft at the same time.
Some of the aircraft that will be acquired include the dreamliner jet, Boeing777, B737-700 and Q400 (Turboprop) and all the aircraftt would be supplied between 2008 and 2010.
With this order, the airline will achieve its goal of expanding its routes in the continent and in Europe and become a very competitive airline beyond Africa.
A source in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) expressed optimism that with this tempo Arik will soon surpass its competitors and become a leading airline by 2011.
Gbemiga Ogunleye, Arik's head of communication, said that the order for the planes is in line with the airline's commitment to cover not only the Nigerian routes but to compete favourably with mega carriers on the Europe, America and Asian routes.
According to him, the particular orders for four Q400 high-speed turboprop airliners is aimed at dominating the local routes before launching itself into the international routes.
"The new orders will be used to consolidate our domestic routes. We intend to establish our firm presence on the Nigerian routes very well before we launch our international presence. We require the Q400 airliner especially for our Lagos-Port Harcourt service because of airstrip landing restrictions that eliminate the use of jet aircraft on this route" .
Stressing on the order for the Q400 planes which will be delivered in the first quarter of 2008, Gbemiga said that the 72-seater aircraft is a drift from the conventional Q300, which has straight cabin.
The Q400 which has double cabins with 10-business class and 62-economy class, according to the list price of the Q400 airliner, is approximately put at $104 million (about N1.2 billion).
Ogunleye also disclosed that the United States audit team would arrive Nigeria in the next two weeks to assess Arik and after the audit the airline will wet lease aircraft to operate the American route.
"When we eventually get the approval to operate the US route, we are going to lease aircraft from a category one certificated company."

Sonair - a good performing private airline - from Angola gets its first two brand new Boeing 737-700´s. Remember that it already has Airbus A319 aircrafts!

http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=15821

TACV reforça voos para Europa, EUA e Brasil em Novembro

31-07-07
A TACV vai reforçar, a partir de Novembro, as ligações para alguns dos seus destinos mais importantes na Europa, EUA e Brasil. A aquisição de mais um avião - mantendo-se ainda a dúvida se tratará de um Boeing ou de um Airbus -, para assegurar o aumento do tráfego da companhia, foi hoje confirmada pelo administrador da empresa.


A companhia aérea de bandeira cabo-verdiana vai passar a fazer dois voos semanais para Paris e Amesterdão, a partir do Sal e aumenta a frequência - também bissemanal - para Boston, nos EUA, a partir da Praia.

As ligações Lisboa-Praia e Sal-Lisboa serão diárias, a partir de Novembro. A TACV começará também a voar diariamente para Fortaleza, na costa nordeste brasileira.

Iniciam-se ainda novas rotas com destino a Roma e Londres.

Estas são algumas das novidades anunciadas hoje pelo administrador da TACV, Gilles Filletreault, depois de uma reunião com os directores e chefes dos diferentes departamentos da companhia, que aconteceu no Hotel Praia Mar, na Praia.

Neste encontro, os responsáveis da TACV definiram a estratégia da companhia para este Verão e para o próximo e ainda para a próxima temporada de Inverno. Fizeram também uma avaliação do comportamento da TACV a nível comercial.

Relativamente a alguns dos assuntos que têm levantado mais polémica na reestruturação da empresa, como os despedimentos, o acordo com a TAAG e alteração no horário dos turnos do pessoal de cabine, Gilles Filletreault diz que "num processo de mudança é normal que haja inicialmente alguma resistência".

A TACV deixou, entretanto, de fazer os voos para a TAAG, e o PCA da empresa garante que não sabe "em que estado está o acordo". Quanto ao pessoal de cabine que se recusou a viajar do Sal para Lisboa, no dia 10 de Julho, inviabilizando naquele dia a ligação Luanda-Lisboa, "o jurista da TACV está a avaliar a situação", adiantou o responsável da empresa.
http://www.asemana.cv/article.php3?id_article=25488

translation:

TACV strengthens voos for Europe, U.S.A. and Brazil in November 31-07-07 The TACV goes to strengthen, from November, the linkings for some of its more important destinations in the Europe, U.S.A. and Brazil. The acquisition of plus an airplane - remaining still the doubt it will be to Boeing or a Airbus -, to assure the increase of the traffic of the company, today was confirmed by the administrator of the company. The aerial company of flag handle-verdiana goes to start to make two weekly voos for Paris and Amesterdão, from the Salt and increases the frequency - also biweekly - for Boston, in U.S.A., from the Beach. The linkings Lisboa-Praia and Salt-Lisbon will be daily, from November. The TACV will also start to fly daily for Cortaleza, in the Brazilian northeast coast. New routes with destination are still initiated Rome and London. These are some of the new features announced today for the administrator of the TACV, Gilles Filletreault, after a meeting with the directors and heads of the different departments of the company, that happened in the Hotel Beach Sea, in the Beach. In this meeting, the responsible ones of the TACV had still defined the strategy of the company for this Summer and the next one and for the next season to Winter. They had also made an evaluation of the behavior of the TACV the commercial level. Relatively to some of the subjects that have raised polémica more in the reorganization of the company, as the takings leave of, the agreement with the TAAG and alteration in the schedule of the turns of the cabin staff, Gilles Filletreault says that "in a change process it is normal that it has initially some resistance". The TACV left, however, to make the voos for the TAAG, and the PCA of the company guarantees that it does not know "where been it is the agreement". How much to the cabin staff that if refused to travel of the Salt for Lisbon, in day 10 of July, making impracticable in that day the Luanda-Lisbon linking, "the jurist of the TACV is to evaluate the situation", advanced the responsible one of the company

from Sal (SID) airport :

- Amsterdam - frequency increased to 2 x 757 weekly (1 via Munich) flights
- Fortaleza - new 757 daily service
- Las Palmas new 1 x 757 weekly flight
- Lisbon - frequency increased from 4 x 757 to 7 x 737 weekly flights
- London - new 2 x 757 weekly flights
- Munich - frequency increased to 2 x 757 weekly (1 via Amsterdam) flights
- Paris - frequency increased to 2 x 757 weekly flights
- Porto - axed
- Rome - new 2 x 757 weekly flights



from Praia (RAI) airport :

- Boston - frequency increased to 2 x 757 weekly flights
- Fortaleza - axed (moved to Sal)
- Las Palmas 1 x 757 weekly flight
- Lisbon - frequency increased from 5 x 757 to 7 x 737 weekly flights

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3542049/?searchid=3542049&s=TACV#ID3542049

Recife terá novos vôos internacionais da BRA
Publicado em 03.08.2007

A BRA ampliará a oferta de vôos internacionais a partir de Pernambuco até o final deste mês e aumentará o número de opções de destinos no exterior, para quem sai do Recife, em novembro. De acordo com o presidente da Empresa de Turismo de Pernambuco (Empetur), Allan Aguiar, a companhia aérea, por um lado, ampliará a freqüência semanal de vôos para Milão (Itália) de uma para duas e, por outro, começará a voar para o Senegal, no continente africano, a partir do próximo dia 7 de novembro.

“A BRA vai lançar sua segunda freqüência semanal de seu vôo para Milão até a última semana de agosto. O vôo atual sai no domingo e volta na segunda, o novo sairá na quinta-feira e voltará na sexta-feira”, explicou Allan.

A operação com a África tem como meta alimentar o fluxo de turistas com destino ao Pólo de Confecções no Agreste. “Traremos senegaleses sacoleiros, para comprar produtos têxteis no Agreste, em Caruaru, Toritama e Santa Cruz do Capibaribe”, ressaltou o presidente da estatal pernambucana.

I won't believe it until it happens, BRA doesn't have a good reputation in Brazil nor does it have the same importance in the Brazilian market as Tam or Gol. I remember Oceanair stating they would fly to Luanda and Lagos yet authorities in those nations have denied they even asked for permission! Hopefully this materializes.

Chinese airlines to seek KQ partnership

By Brian Adero

Chinese aviation officials say they want their airlines to partner with Kenya Airways (KQ) on direct flights from Kenya to their country. Mr Yang Guoqing, the deputy minister in-charge of China Civil Aviation, says that due to KQ’s wider spread in terms of market expansion, they have identified the national carrier as a strong airline in Africa worth working with.

He said that although China signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (Basa) with Kenya three years ago, there is no need for airlines from China to launch direct flights to Nairobi. "Though the agreement allows airlines from both countries to operate between us, we want our airlines to work with KQ," he said.

He spoke during a visit by a Chinese aviation delegation to Transport minister, Mr Chirau Ali Mwakwere, on Thursday.

KQ flies four times a week to Guangzhou, China. Guoqing said that during an earlier visit to KQ’s Embakasi headquarters, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Titus Naikuni, had talked of KQ’s intention to expand to other parts in China.

With more than 30 airlines serving both domestic and International routes, China’s aviation market is dominated by Air China based in Guangzhou, China Eastern based in Shanghai and China Southern based in Guangzhou.

Guoquing is optimistic that China Southern, which is based in Guangzhou, could soon sign a joint venture with KQ, which will make a lot of contribution to the existing agreements between the two airlines.

Mwakwere assured the delegation that Kenya has made a lot of effort in meeting international aviation standards, which has made Nairobi one of the leading aviation hubs in Africa.

Boeing, Kenya Airways Celebrate Opening of Leadership Center

-- Kenya Airways Launches 'The Pride Centre' in Nairobi to Offer Training and Leadership Development
July 30, 2007: 06:01 PM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Representatives from Boeing and Kenya Airways were on hand this past Thursday to mark the launch of the airline's new training and leadership facility named "The Pride Centre."

Located just outside the Kenyan capital, the newly refurbished facility was purchased by Kenya Airways in 2005 and modeled on Boeing's Leadership Center in St. Louis. A Kenya Airways fact-finding team recently visited Boeing's training facility and Rolls-Royce's Training Centre located just outside its headquarters in Derby, UK. Boeing has consulted with the airline on The Pride Centre's design and layout and is currently working with Kenya Airways' management on course development and exploring opportunities for future on-site training.

Lee Monson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa, was invited as the honored guest at Kenya Airways' inaugural ceremony for The Pride Centre.

"Leadership development is important to Boeing's strategy for continued success," Monson said. "It's rewarding to work with an airline customer that shares an ideology to invest in human resources and is working to develop future leaders -- not just for its own company, but also to the benefit of the entire Kenyan business enterprise."

Beyond airline-specific training tools, such as 787 door trainers that will be installed in 2008, The Pride Centre will serve to develop skill sets at the managerial and executive level through specialized course training based on proven leadership attributes.

Kenya Airways' Managing Director and CEO Titus Naikuni has been a driving force in the airline's strategy to enhance Kenya's infrastructure on a multitude of levels.

"The opening of The Pride Centre is another milestone event for Kenya Airways as we work towards building a more successful tomorrow for the airline and for Kenya as a whole," Naikuni said. "We appreciate Boeing's commitment to our working relationship and value their participation in helping make this training and leadership centre a regional success in East Africa."

By Wole Shadare

HOPES of a quick resumption of direct flight from Nigeria to the United States (U.S.) have brightened as Virgin Nigeria Airlines has entered into a code share agreement with North American Airlines.


advertisement
With the agreement sealed, the airline will begin operations into New York in September this year.

Spokesman for the carrier, Larry Agose, confirmed the development yesterday at the headquarters of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), while on a meeting with the Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren.

Besides, the NCAA will soon begin the publication of airlines' performance chart.

Agose stated that necessary steps had been taken to ensure that the carrier begins direct flights to New York, the route the Federal Government had designated for it.

Code share refers to a practice where a flight operated by an airline is jointly marketed as a flight for one or more other airlines.

Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances.

Simply put, a code share is an arrangement whereby an airline sells seats, under its own name, on another carrier's flight.

Code sharing was first originated in the airline industry in 1990 when Australian airline, Qantas Airways and American Airlines combined services between an array of U.S. and Australian cities.

Most Nigerian carriers like Virgin Nigeria, Arik and Bellview Airlines for now cannot operate to the U.S. with their own equipment until the completion of the audit of the carriers and the NCAA by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The American apex aviation regulatory body is yet to complete its assessment for granting Nigeria and the carriers Category One status.

But pending the certification of the carriers and the Nigerian aviation regulatory body, NCAA, the three designated carriers can operate to the U.S. with leased aircraft from a Category One country.

Nigerian carriers are currently on Category Two and airlines from Category Two countries are either restricted from the U.S. operations or cannot expand services into the U.S

Many countries are taking steps to improve air safety, but many developing countries still have a long way to go.

The airlines' performance chart being proposed by the NCAA would indicate prompt arrivals, delays, flight cancellations, late arrivals and in-flight catering services rendered by domestic carriers to its passengers.

Demuren said yesterday, that there was the need to stimulate the airlines to render good services to their passengers.

He spoke while receiving the Director-General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs. Ify Umenyi, in his office in Lagos.

Demuren stated that because the aviation industry was a service-driven sector, the consumers (passengers) would shun air travel if the services rendered by the airlines and other service providers were not up to standard.

His words: "We are compelled to do this because this agency has been inundated with complaints from air travellers over the low quality of service rendered by some airlines. We are in an industry that relies solely on service delivery and the consumers can no longer be taken for granted because they pay their hard-earned money to fly.

"What we have planned to do is to commence publication of airlines' performance chart indicating prompt arrivals, delays, cancellations and in-flight catering and others. This will stimulate the carriers to doing what is expected of them to their numerous passengers."

Responding, Umenyi promised to work with the aviation regulatory body to ensure that passengers got value for their money.

I guess not by the end of the year but soon, with 2 airports, the sky would be the limit!!!
i think calabar is expanding the old airport, not building an additional one. is that correct?

Emirates to fly cargo to Eldoret Airport
Written by WANGUI MAINA

Eldoret International Airport’s strategy to position itself as a regional cargo hub has received a shot in the arm from increased interest from airlines out to exploit incentives provided by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

Emirates SkyCargo is set to route its cargo flights to the airport through Amsterdam and Nairobi, joining Qatar Airways and Egypt Air.
The airport is also attracting passenger flights, with Fly 540 competing with the dominant player, Aero Kenya. Jet Link is expected to make a maiden flight next Friday.

Last February, KAA constructed a new warehouse and cold rooms, increasing the capacity of the airport form 150 tonnes to 80 tonnes. KAA had also earlier introduced incentives that included free parking for aeroplanes and reduction of landing fees by 50 per cent.


Regular flights

According to Emirates East Africa Cargo Manager, Mr Luke Arrum, it is faster to use Eldoret than Jomo Kenyatta International Airports (JKIA).

The airline introduced regular flights to this airport two years ago passing through Nairobi and Dubai before proceeding to Amsterdam. With the rerouting, however, they will fly direct to Europe.
Eldoret airport has in the past mainly handled inbound goods.

The PS in the Ministry of Transport, Gerrishon Ikiara had in an earlier interview told the Business Daily that the airport was now handing an increased volume of cargo, thus is able to cover its own costs. “We expect firms in the flower business, especially those exporting to the Middle East, to start operating from this airport soon,” he said.

The coming in of these firms will be a boost to Emirates cargo business which is one of the highest on the continent. On average the airline carries up to 11 million tonnes of cargo every month most of which is outbound. Inbound cargo average 15 tonnes on a good day.

Emirates brings two main carriers into the country through the Airbus 310 with a capacity of 34 tonnes and the Boeing 747-400 with 110 cargo capacity.

Mr Arrum said the airline will also utilise passenger planes which carry up to 25 tonnes on the bigger planes and 17 tonnes in the A330 during the peak season.

Currently cargo represents 35 per cent of the airlines business in the country with passenger business representing 65 per cent.
Globally the ratio stands at 80 – 20, with the later representing cargo.

yep thy building a new one nt expandin it

SAA route to Libreville, Gabon to fly soon
Source: South African Airways 16/08/2007

South African Airways (SAA) is moving ahead with the launch of its route to Gabon, with the first flight to Libreville scheduled to depart Johannesburg on Wednesday, 19 September 2007.

The launch of the route is part of SAA's strategy of focusing on its operations in Africa which is a key growth area for the airline. This is part of the broader restructuring drive currently under way at SAA which aims to ensure that the airline becomes profitable on a sustainable basis.

SAA will operate two flights per week between the cities using its Airbus A319 aircraft range.

SA086 from Johannesburg will depart at 17h00 and arrive in Libreville at 21h05 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, while the return flight SA087 will depart Libreville at 09h20 and arrive in Johannesburg at 15h25 on Thursdays and Sundays.

Africa is one of our greatest strengths with over 16 destinations served directly by us. We are paying particular attention to the continent in order to bring the airline back into profitability.

It is a proud moment to welcome Libreville into the family, a destination which we are confident will serve our customers well,” says Rushj Lehutso, SAA General Manager Commercial.

Libreville, situated in West Africa, is the capital and largest city of Gabon. The country has attracted significant foreign interest as a result of its oil reserves, which boomed in 1970.

Oil is Gabon's most important natural resource, and a key driver of economic growth. The oil industry is a major source of foreign exchange, accounting for the majority of exports. Gabon's other natural resources include petroleum as well as timber, manganese and uranium.

There are strong and active trade and economic relations between South Africa and Gabon. During President Thabo Mbeki's state visit there in August 2005, the two countries signed a number of agreements in the fields of education as well as arts and culture.

To celebrate the routes launch, SAA is offering special fares between Johannesburg to Libreville. These are currently available for purchase until 30 November 2007. Travel must be carried out from 19 September and no later than 30 November 2007.

SAA serves the following destinations in Africa: Accra (Ghana), Harare, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Dakar (Senegal), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Entebbe (Uganda), Kinshasa (DRC), Luanda (Angola), Lilongwe, Blantyre (Malawi), Lagos (Nigeria), Lusaka, Livingstone (Zambia), Maputo (Mozambique), Mauritius (Indian Ocean Islands), Windhoek (Namibia), Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire), Nairobi (Kenya).

Gulf Air, Oman Air planning to resume flights to Dar es Salaam

By MIKE MANDE
The EastAfrican

The Tanzania government is negotiating with two Middle Eastern airlines — Gulf Air and Oman Air — to reintroduce international flights to Dar es Salaam.

The two airlines suspended their passenger flights to the country two years ago.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Bernard Membe told The EastAfrican last week that the objective is to have the two airlines reintroduce their flights to Tanzania during the 2007/2008 budget season to enable more tourists and businessmen to visit the country.

Gulf Air flights from Bahrain to Dar es Salaam are expected to start next year.

Gulf Air public relations manager Mohamed Adnan Malek told The EastAfrican from the Bahrain that Gulf Air is in the process of finalising the schedule.

Mr Malek said that Gulf Air is considering several options to introduce a totally revamped flight schedule and enhance existing bilateral air links with Tanzania.

“Gulf Air will return to Tanzania after two years as part of its dynamic expansion programme,” he said.

He said with growing business and leisure potential in Tanzania and the Gulf region, “The timing for Gulf Air services will be just right and the outbound travel from Tanzania will be witnessing dynamic growth.”

Gulf Air redefined its network strategy in Africa and Asia in 2005, terminating operations to Casablanca in Morocco, Dar es Salaam and Colombo in Sri Lanka.

The decision allowed the airline to reallocate assets more effectively, strengthening its network in key areas either by increasing flight frequencies to key destinations or by assigning aircraft for service on high demand sectors.

Meanwhile, Yousef Mohamood Al Raisy, public relations officer of Oman Air, told The EastAfrican from Muscat, Oman that the airline was waiting for the outcome of the final negotiations to resume commercial flight to Julius Nyerere International Airport with the first flight to be operated soon. He did not specify the exact date.

Mr Al Raisy said Oman Air was assessing the circumstances on a daily basis and is satisfied that it should resume flights to Tanzania.

Oman Air is the flagship company of the Sultanate of Oman’s Civil Aviation sector. The airline currently operates direct international flights from Muscat to major Gulf destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Kuwait.

The airline also flies to eight destinations in India — Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow and Jaipur. It also flies to Chittagong in Bangladesh and operates domestic flights from Muscat to Salalah and Khasab. It also flies to Cairo, Beirut and Amman in Jordan.

Emirates to launch new Nairobi, UK route

By Brian Adero

Emirates Airlines has announced the launch of a new service between Nairobi and Newcastle in the United Kingdom through its Dubai hub starting September 1.

The new service brings the number of UK destinations serviced by Emirates to six and will also be Newcastle’s first-ever scheduled long-haul flight.

The Emirates’ Area Manager for East Africa, Mr Ali Al Shamsi, said Kenya has a historical link with the UK and the introduction of the Nairobi Newcastle route will help reinforce the already existing stronger tie between the two countries.

The start of the new daily flight to Newcastle from Nairobi is expected to grow trade and tourism between the two countries and provide links with the wider markets across Europe. UK is a leading source market for the Kenya’s tourism sector.

At the same time, the airline has announced that it will make its South American debut on October 1, with six weekly services to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The flight will be the second after South African Airways introduced flight to Sao Paulo early this year.

South African Airlines flies to Sao Paulo from Nairobi via Johannesburg. During the second half of 2007, Emirates will launch a total of six new routes – Venice, Newcastle Sao Paulo, Ahmedabad, Toronto and Houston.

The airline operates two flights daily to Nairobi from Dubai. It also runs a freighter service to both Nairobi and Eldoret International airports.

Lufthansa’s flights to Accra suspended:down:
July 16th, 2007

According to news reports from Ghana, Lufthansa flights to Accra have been suspended following the expiration of its flight permit on July 14. Flights to Lagos, Nigeria, which is a stop over to Accra, remain unaffected.

Update: Ghana’s Minister for Aviation is quoted by the VOA explaining events that led to Lufthansa’s suspension of its service to Accra: “Lufthansa has been doing seven frequencies; two arising out of bilateral service agreement, and five out of commercial co-operation agreement between the then-Ghana Airways and Lufthansa. Now, the five were given to Lufthansa the five were given to Lufthansa at the instance of Ghana Airways from government, the royalties of which were payable to Ghana Airways. In addition Ghana Airways was entitled to put a certain number of passengers on blocked seats on Lufthansa’s flight between Accra and Lagos, Accra. For no apparent reason, Lufthansa unilaterally, failed to pick up passengers of Ghana Airways. However it continued to use the five frequencies without paying royalties[…]” The airline suspended flights stating that a twice per week frequency “is not financially viable.”



Air Uganda, a new airline set up by Italy-based Meridiana

August 26th, 2007

Air Uganda, a new airline backed up by Italy-based Meridiana, is set to start services from Entebbe in November. The airline intends to serve Nairobi, Kenya 12x per week, Juba in southern Sudan 3x per week, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania 5x per week (with three of these being via Kilimanjaro). The airline will receive the first of two wet-leased DC9s in September, and will replace each with MD87s in the first half of 2008.

They'll renew it, I've flown Accra - Frankfurt and its a very profitable route, be it, in terms of high yielding passengers and cargo.

Nigeria: New Routes Push Virgin Atlantic Profit Up

21 August 2007
Posted to the web 21 August 2007

Chinedu Eze
Lagos

Successful operation in new routes has multiplied Virgin Atlantic Airways gains in its financial year ending, increasing its profit to £47 million.

The airline announced that new routes and growth in fleet were attributable to its record sales, adding that its core sales increased by 13 per cent from £1.88billion the previous year, to £2.14billion.


The number of passengers increased by 10.5 per cent, to 5.1 million, as Virgin Atlantic expanded the number of destinations it serves around the world to include Dubai and Montego Bay. The UK-based airline also added extra services to New York, Las Vegas, the Caribbean, Mumbai, Cape Town, Shanghai and Orlando.

By the end of this year, Virgin Atlantic will be serving 30 destinations, including new routes Chicago, Nairobi, Mauritius and Kingston.

Pre-tax profits for Virgin Atlantic and its leading tour operator Virgin Holidays, excluding Virgin Nigeria Airways, were £46.8 million following a major investment programme in products including the Upper Class Suite, the new Premium Economy cabin, new route infrastructure, and the new London Heathrow Clubhouse, recently voted world's best airport business lounge by Skytrax.

Pretax profits last year were £77.5 million and this year's results were boosted by a strong performance by Virgin Holidays, which expanded its services in the Caribbean and other regions.

It launched a number of new brochures including Family, Cruise and Indian Ocean and has also expanded its accommodation-only offering.

Sir Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic, commented: "The last financial year has seen Virgin Atlantic continue to strengthen the value of its busines through investment in people, new aircraft, new routes and the quality of its product to customers both in the air and on the ground.

We are building a sustainable business fit for the future of more environmentally-conscious travel. Our products have won a string of international awards for their innovation, part of the reason why we are seeing a substantial increase in the number of business travellers choosing Virgin Atlantic.

He added, "Our profits would have been higher had it not been for the frustrating external issues many airlines have had to cope with, such as increased oil prices, the security alerts at Heathrow Airport in the summer of 2006, and the considerable administrative burden arising from the UK government's decision to increase Air Passenger Duty at such short notice."

Substantial investment continued to help th expansion of Virgin Nigeria Airways, the start-up private sector flag carrier for Nigerian which Virgin Atlantic has a 49% stake. Losses at thecarrier were £40.8million but sales increased sharply, from £24million to £83.6million.

Relevant Links

West Africa
Economy, Business and Finance
Company News
Nigeria
Travel and Tourism



Virgin Nigeria Airways will continue to benefit from the need for increased air travel by consumers as the African economy expands.

With Virgin Nigeria Airways' results included, Virgin Atlantic Group's retained profits were £6.6million on turnover of £2.2billion. During the year, Virgin Atlantic Airways' fleet size increased from 34 to 37 and staff numbers, including Virgin Nigeria Airways, rose from 8,939 to 9,877 as the Group continued to invest in its award-winning customer service and route infrastructure.

Virgin Atlantic expects to continue its substantial investment programme during 2007/08, with a focus on new Clubhouses worldwide and a dynamic new check-in experience for customers at London Heathrow's Terminal 3. The new facility will open at the end of 2007, well before T5, enabling Virgin Atlantic passengers to reach the departure gate far more quickly and seamlessly.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200708210290.html

Air Uganda, a new airline set up by Italy-based Meridiana

August 26th, 2007

Air Uganda, a new airline backed up by Italy-based Meridiana, is set to start services from Entebbe in November. The airline intends to serve Nairobi, Kenya 12x per week, Juba in southern Sudan 3x per week, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania 5x per week (with three of these being via Kilimanjaro). The airline will receive the first of two wet-leased DC9s in September, and will replace each with MD87s in the first half of 2008.

^^
I hope this one survives. I can't count the number of Ugandan airlines that have failed to take off. The last one (Victoria airlines) only had one maiden flight and was never heard of again. Uganda definitely needs a national carrier.

Emirates plans 17 weekly flights to Nairobi

By Chris Mburu

Emirates Airlines has notified Kenyan aviation authorities plans to introduce extra three weekly flights from Dubai to Nairobi.

The Middle East Carrier operates a daily evening and day flight to Nairobi, and the new flights would raise the weekly schedules to 17 per week.

But, plans to introduce Dubai-Mombasa flights have been suspended.

The new flights make Emirates the leading foreign operator to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and marks the continued dominance of the airline on Kenya to Middle East routes. Kenya Airways operates a daily flight to Dubai.

Emirates General Manager for East Africa, Mr Ali Al Shamsi, says arrival and departure times of the new flights will be announced later. "We are yet to decide whether to operate the new flights directly or to mount a joint operation through Kampala and Dar es Salaam," he said.

Aviation officials at the Ministry of Transport and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority say the current Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Dubai and Kenya allows for unlimited number of frequencies between Nairobi and Dubai.

Emirates has been flying to Kenya for the last 12 years.

"Outbound load factors from Nairobi are extremely healthy. From three flights a week some years ago, Emirates today enjoys a double daily service between Nairobi and Dubai," he said.

Uganda and Tanzania each have a daily, direct service from Dubai, up from four flights a week four years ago.

"On these routes we operate the Airbus A330-200 aircraft with industry leading features. Last year we registered a 50 per cent revenue growth on our Dar-es-Salaam route and a 40 per cent increase in Entebbe services," Al Shamshi said in an interview.

In October 2004, the airline started a once a weekly freighter service from Nairobi to Amsterdam via Dubai using a Boeing 747-400F offering 110 tonnes of cargo capacity.

The service - Emirates SkyCargo’s first African freighter route – was increased to twice weekly because of increased demand.

"Kenya is the world’s leading horticulture producer, particularly for cut-flowers. Emirates believes that the load factors will continue to grow over time as the potential of East African economies maintain an upswing. We look at Kenya as a high potential area for both passenger and cargo traffic," Al Shamshi said.

Kenya Airways joins alliance

Story by KABURU MUGAMBI
Publication Date: 9/5/2007

After one year’s inspection Kenya Airways yesterday joined global airline alliance SkyTeam after meeting the grouping’s safety and security requirements.The associate programme allows SkyTeam to build a broader network and provide customers with access to additional regions of the world.

Panama national flag carrier Copa Airlines and Air Europa based in Spain also joined SkyTeam yesterday bringing membership to 13 airlines.

Passenger traveling in the three new members would receive the same benefits offered to passengers travelling with the 10 SkyTeam member airlines, including frequent fryer programmes and improved access to airport lounges. The programme allows the alliance to build a broad network and provide customers with access to additional regions of the world.

KLM Royal Airlines vice president for Africa and Middle East Ron Schipper said Kenya Airways is extending the SkyTeam network to a prime market.

“Having African representation will be beneficial to the alliance as passengers travelling to and from this area will have access via the SkyTeam,” he said.

KLM owns 26 per cent of KQ, the government controls 23 per cent, while the remaining shares are held by several individuals with the highest being under four per cent.

KQ managing director Titus Naikuni said the airline is certain to benefit from the expertise of all SkyTeam carriers as well as from greater global recognition and SkyTeam’s worldwide network.

“There will be more visibility of KQ in the world than it is now,” he told reporters at The Panari Hotel.

Through one of the world’s most extensive hub networks, SkyTeam offers its 373 million annual passengers a worldwide system of nearly 15,000 daily flights covering 728 destinations.

Standards

Earlier this year, KQ, Air Europa and Copa Airlines separately signed an agreement outlining their commitment to meet a set of predetermined safety, security and quality standards to be recognised as associate airline. As part of the associate programme, the carriers also adopted a current member’s loyalty programme.

Air Europa and KQ recognised Air France-KLM “Flying Blue” programme, while Copa Airlines accepted Continental’s “One Pass”.

SkyTeam vice president in charge of alliances Dominique Patry said SkyTeam’s associate airline programme illustrates the alliance strategy to develop a global network, with particular emphasis on certain markets.

“Air Europa, Copa and Kenya Airways will give SkyTeam customers access to 25 additional destinations,” he said.

Kenya Airways is now one of the 100 biggest airlines in the world (rated according to passenger kilometres). It entered the top 100 in 99th position. The only other African airlines making the grade are South African Airways (38th) and Egypt Air (85th).

Kenya Airways is now one of the 100 biggest airlines in the world (rated according to passenger kilometres). It entered the top 100 in 99th position. The only other African airlines making the grade are South African Airways (38th) and Egypt Air (85th).

Really? Only with a fleet size of 23 or so planes? Do you happen to have the top 100 list? thanks.

Kenya:Virgin Atlantic changes London flight schedule


http://www.bdafrica.com/images/stories/cargo%20and%20freight/bd-virgin2.jpg
7-September-2007:


UK based airliner, Virgin Atlantic is set to introduce new flight schedules to attract more outbound passengers for its European routes.

The airline, whose daily flights to London take off from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 8:15 am , said its planes will from October depart at 10 am to give passengers arriving from Mombasa time to connect to their flights.

Mr Mike Higgins, the regional manager, said the airline has been missing out on passengers coming from Mombasa and Kilimanjaro. Virgin Atlantic’s passengers have at times been forced to fly in by night to catch the early morning flight making them incur additional costs.

“The new schedule will allow us more time to draw a lot more traffic,” Mr Higgins said. The new schedules will, however, not affect the arrival time into Nairobi, which is 6:15 am.

Since its inaugural flight into Nairobi in June this year, Virgin Atlantic has increased its load factor — percentage of the capacity filled on the plane — month on month during the high session.

The airline’s marketing manager, Nilanthi Manatunga, said that during the first month operations, the airline was at a 50 per cent load factor but had improved to 75 per cent in July and to 85 per cent at the end of August.

“This is good performance for the first three months of operations on the route,” she added. During this period the airline was able to carry over 30,000 in bound passengers in the month of July with close to one half coming in from the US.

However, their performance these past three months mainly rode on the back of increased tourists arrivals. Most airlines flying on the London-Nairobi route were fully booked with the real test of growth set to come during the low season.

Already Virgin Atlantic is set to roll out discounted prices for the low season two weeks before Kenya Airways and British Airways, the two other competitors with direct flights on the route.

“We do not do what our players are doing in the market. We do things our way and have been known to rattle markets,” Mr Higgins said.

The battle to fill seats during the up coming low season has began as British Airways rolled out a new offer the beginning of this month. The offer of $875 (Sh 61,250), excluding tax.

, will apply for online booking and is expected to run till 14th September.

Virgin Atlantic, Britain’s second largest carrier, expects to grow the route by 25 per cent since it began its operations.

Afriqiyah (Libya) to fly to Nairobi

Cyrus Kinyungu in Tripoli, Libya

A Libyan Airline has announced plans to commence flights from Tripoli to Nairobi beginning next year.

Afriqiyah Airways, which is a major airline in North Africa, announced that plans were at an advanced stage to commence the flight connecting Tripoli and East Africa.
"We are at a very advanced stage on starting operations in Kenya. We are currently limited because of the number of aircraft we own," said the airline’s Operations Director, Captain Ahmed Bukshem.

"The need to connect Africa with the rest of the world is our priority. In the next few years we will see this happen," he said adding they also intended to go to Southern Africa.

He said studies to establish the viability of the route is currently underway adding a team will later tour the country to negotiate with Kenya civil Aviation Authority on the operations.

He said the airline could commence flights after October subject to delivery of new jets.

Bukshem said the airline operates a fleet of six leased aircraft, but 23 new jets had been ordered.

He was speaking in Tripoli during the launch of an Airbus A320, the first that the country purchased since the embargo on trade was lifted.

Afriqiyah Airways, which was started in 2001, became the first beneficiary of the lifting of the trade embargo which has been in place for over 16 years after it ordered a fleet of the airbus aircraft family worth $2.8 billion to be supplied over the next 10 years.

‘‘With the lifting of the embargo, Afriqiyah has ordered 23 jets from the airbus family, which range from A320 to the A350 to be supplied within the next decade,’’ said Bukshem.

The airline previously operated a fleet of six leased aircraft due to the embargo. The fleet modernisation, said the airline’s commercial Director, Mr Rammah Ettir, will see the airline become the first carrier in the continent to operate the modern A350 model. The new A 320 has upgrades in environmental and flight controls.

Ettir said passengers in the new jet will enjoy other luxurious additions.

The new developments in Afriqiyah Airways are significant to Kenya considering the agreements entered between Kenya and Libya recently.

In June, President Kibaki paid a visit to Libyan leader, Colonel Muamar Gadaffi and among other issues the duo agreed to start flights between the two nations.

‘‘The Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the two leaders establishes air services between the two states and enables the designated airlines of both countries to commence scheduled commercial flights,’’ said Bukshem.

The two also signed another agreement seeking to promote and facilitate bilateral trade between the two nations.

Great news. More connections with Northern Africa.:banana: :banana: :banana:

KQ passengers to check in online

Story by PHILIP WAHOME
Publication Date: 9/11/2007

Kenya Airways passengers can now pick a seat and print boarding passes at their convenience, after the airline completed the first phase of its online check-in system for six international airports.

The airline’s communications and corporate affairs manager, Michael Okwiri said passengers can check in online at the Jomo Kenyatta International, Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle and Schipol airports.

Other airports where they can enjoy the facility include Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand and the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Drop-off points

Mr Okwiri said that the national airline, (also referred to by its international aviation acronym, ‘KQ’) will have dedicated online check in drop-off points for luggage, after which passengers will proceed to the boarding gates.

“We will make an announcement once the rest of the airports are eligible for Internet check-in,” said Mr Okwiri.

Online booking is an industry trend, in line with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) strategy of making airline travel easier using ICT. Passengers can check in online by visiting the Web site, www.kenya-airways.com .

“There are two kinds of luggage. Baggage and carry-on. You can drop your baggage at a KQ drop-off point at the respective airports where we have online check-ins. Baggage should be dropped at least one hour before your departure, for domestic flights, and at least two hours for Intercontinental flights,” said Mr Okwiri.

This initiative will ease congestion and improve the whole KQ flight take-offs. Check-in will be 30 hours until three hours before departure, whether one is travelling with baggage or carry-on luggage.

Those entitled to check in include KQ customers with e-tickets, those travelling without infants (zero to two years) and booking for a maximum of nine people.

“Please contact your sales office if passengers are more than nine in the booking,” advised Mr Okwiri.

Really? Only with a fleet size of 23 or so planes? Do you happen to have the top 100 list? thanks.

Here you go...

1 American Airlines Group 240 477.8 RPK (million)
2 Air France/KLM 199 510.0
3 UAL 189 049.6
4 Delta Air Lines 186 897.5
5 Continental 144 057.9
6 Northwest 125 599.6
7 British 112 851.0
8 Lufthansa 110 329.5
9 Southwest 108 938.5
10 JAL 100 345.1
11 Qantas 90 899.0
12 Singapore Airlines 89 148.8
13 Emirates 77 946.6
14 Cathay Pacific 72 939.0
15 China Southern 69 582.0
16 US Airways 63 368.5
17 Air China 63 361.6
18 Air Canada Group 62 683.9
19 ANA 58 481.0
20 Thai 53 989.0
21 Iberia 52 493.0
22 Korean Air 52 177.7
23 China Eastern 50 271.9
24 Malaysia 41 099.6
25 Ryanair 39 800.9
26 Alitalia 38 427.0
27 JetBlue 37 529.6
28 Virgin Atlantic 35 278.5
29 Alaska Air Group 33 012.5
30 China Airlines 32 991.0
31 easyJet 31 621.0
32 TAM 26 289.0
33 Scandinavian Airlines 25 733.0
34 Air New Zealand 25 551.0
35 SkyWest 25 458.5
36 THY 25 379.0
37 Saudi Arabian Airlines 25 314.1
38 South African 24 488.0
39 Air Berlin 24 450.0
40 Eva Air 24 277.1
41 Qatar Airways 24 031.6
42 Thomsonfly 24 019.1
43 Austrian 23 372.4
44 Condor 22 945.7
45 Aeroflot 22 406.0
46 AirTran 22 267.5
47 Swiss 22 074.0
48 Asiana 21 924.0
49 Hainan Airlines 20 170.3
50 Air India 19 879.4
51 LAN 19 495.5
52 LTU 18 899.0
53 Finnair 17 923.0
54 Gulf Air 17 401.9
55 TAP 16 667.2
56 ExpressJet 16 571.4
57 Philippine Airlines 16 415.3
58 First Choice 16 090.9
59 El Al 16 054.1
60 Hapag Lloyd 15 988.9
61 Westjet 15 758.5
62 Pakistan 15 124.4
63 Mexicana 15 049.0
64 Garuda 14 894.2
65 GOL 14 819.0
66 Monarch 14 780.8
67 Thomas Cook (UK) 14 758.9
68 Aeromexico 14 610.0
69 Air Europa 14 604.6
70 Frontier 13 731.9
71 Aer Lingus 13 363.0
72 Varig 13 078.3
73 S7 12 497.5
74 Jet Airways 12 307.0
75 Indian 12 297.4
76 Vietnam 12 113.4
77 Virgin Blue 12 094.0
78 Corsair 11 782.6
79 Mesa Air 11 008.1
80 Hawaiian 11 006.1
81 Aerolineas Arg 10 638.8
82 Transavia 10 397.5
83 Shenzhen Airlines 9 979.3
84 XL Airways 9 919.3
85 Egyptair 9 860.9
86 Etihad Airways 9 800.3
87 Shanghai Airlines 9 749.6
88 SriLankan 9 356.3
89 Iran Air 9 332.6
90 Martinair 9 068.0
91 Xiamen Airlines 8 960.8
92 CSA 8 074.5
93 COPA 8 074.1
94 RAM 8 013.8
95 Transaero 7 788.1
96 Avianca 7 776.7
97 TACA 7 761.7
98 Spirit 7 327.1
99 Kenya Airways 7 264.6
100 Sichuan 7 113.2

TAAG will son start to fly to Istanbul


Angola: Governo e TAAG estudam ligação aérea entre Luanda e Istambul

Terça-feira, 11 de Setembro de 2007

A companhia aérea nacional angolana TAAG poderá iniciar brevemente uma nova rota entre Luanda e Istambul, na Turquia, anunciou há dias o ‘Jornal de Angola’.
Refere o periódico que essa poderá ser uma boa solução para contornar a proibição dos voos para a Europa por parte da companhia de bandeira angolana, já que a Turquia tem uma excelente localização estratégica, e serviria de plataforma para movimentar os passageiros que são originários ou que se destinam à Europa de Leste e do Sul, África e Ásia.
Esta matéria foi tema de conversa entre responsáveis governamentais dos dois países, recentemente em Luanda, durante a visita do subsecretário do primeiro-ministro da Turquia. Fontes angolanas garantem que a ideia já passou à fase de estudos e de cálculo de custos.

The only other African airlines making the grade are South African Airways (38th) and Egypt Air (85th).

Is number 94 - RAM, Royal Air Maroc? Which gives 4 African airlines.

The only other African airlines making the grade are South African Airways (38th) and Egypt Air (85th).

Is number 94 - RAM, Royal Air Maroc? Which gives 4 African airlines.

Those airlines were all well managed (otherwise Nigerian Airways would figure in there among some others) or the countries weren´t burdened by wars (otherwise TAAG would be in there today).
However, in 15 years time, the picture will look different, Kenya Airways, Air Arik, Virgin Nigeria and TAAG, Sonair... ...will steadily grow in the years and decades to come! maybe some new airlines will come up, too. Take Etihad, the airlines didn´t exist a few years back, today it is growing, they have just ordered additional planes for $1.5 Bn.

The only other African airlines making the grade are South African Airways (38th) and Egypt Air (85th).

Is number 94 - RAM, Royal Air Maroc? Which gives 4 African airlines.

Yeah, you're right. I missed that one.

TAAG announces flights to Istanbul but no mention of Sao Paulo or Salvador? If I had the widebodies which they seem to have, I'd quickly take the Brazilian market so that it makes it hard for Brazilian carriers like TAM which offer better connections from entering Angola.

Here you go...

1 American Airlines Group 240 477.8 RPK (million)
2 Air France/KLM 199 510.0
3 UAL 189 049.6
4 Delta Air Lines 186 897.5
5 Continental 144 057.9
6 Northwest 125 599.6
7 British 112 851.0
8 Lufthansa 110 329.5
9 Southwest 108 938.5
10 JAL 100 345.1
11 Qantas 90 899.0
12 Singapore Airlines 89 148.8
13 Emirates 77 946.6
14 Cathay Pacific 72 939.0
15 China Southern 69 582.0
16 US Airways 63 368.5
17 Air China 63 361.6
18 Air Canada Group 62 683.9
19 ANA 58 481.0
20 Thai 53 989.0
21 Iberia 52 493.0
22 Korean Air 52 177.7
23 China Eastern 50 271.9
24 Malaysia 41 099.6
25 Ryanair 39 800.9
26 Alitalia 38 427.0
27 JetBlue 37 529.6
28 Virgin Atlantic 35 278.5
29 Alaska Air Group 33 012.5
30 China Airlines 32 991.0
31 easyJet 31 621.0
32 TAM 26 289.0
33 Scandinavian Airlines 25 733.0
34 Air New Zealand 25 551.0
35 SkyWest 25 458.5
36 THY 25 379.0
37 Saudi Arabian Airlines 25 314.1
38 South African 24 488.0
39 Air Berlin 24 450.0
40 Eva Air 24 277.1
41 Qatar Airways 24 031.6
42 Thomsonfly 24 019.1
43 Austrian 23 372.4
44 Condor 22 945.7
45 Aeroflot 22 406.0
46 AirTran 22 267.5
47 Swiss 22 074.0
48 Asiana 21 924.0
49 Hainan Airlines 20 170.3
50 Air India 19 879.4
51 LAN 19 495.5
52 LTU 18 899.0
53 Finnair 17 923.0
54 Gulf Air 17 401.9
55 TAP 16 667.2
56 ExpressJet 16 571.4
57 Philippine Airlines 16 415.3
58 First Choice 16 090.9
59 El Al 16 054.1
60 Hapag Lloyd 15 988.9
61 Westjet 15 758.5
62 Pakistan 15 124.4
63 Mexicana 15 049.0
64 Garuda 14 894.2
65 GOL 14 819.0
66 Monarch 14 780.8
67 Thomas Cook (UK) 14 758.9
68 Aeromexico 14 610.0
69 Air Europa 14 604.6
70 Frontier 13 731.9
71 Aer Lingus 13 363.0
72 Varig 13 078.3
73 S7 12 497.5
74 Jet Airways 12 307.0
75 Indian 12 297.4
76 Vietnam 12 113.4
77 Virgin Blue 12 094.0
78 Corsair 11 782.6
79 Mesa Air 11 008.1
80 Hawaiian 11 006.1
81 Aerolineas Arg 10 638.8
82 Transavia 10 397.5
83 Shenzhen Airlines 9 979.3
84 XL Airways 9 919.3
85 Egyptair 9 860.9
86 Etihad Airways 9 800.3
87 Shanghai Airlines 9 749.6
88 SriLankan 9 356.3
89 Iran Air 9 332.6
90 Martinair 9 068.0
91 Xiamen Airlines 8 960.8
92 CSA 8 074.5
93 COPA 8 074.1
94 RAM 8 013.8
95 Transaero 7 788.1
96 Avianca 7 776.7
97 TACA 7 761.7
98 Spirit 7 327.1
99 Kenya Airways 7 264.6
100 Sichuan 7 113.2

Thanks, fascinating list.

Arik Air Expands Fleet with Boeing 787s, 737s and Additional 777-300ER

PR Newswire

Nigerian carrier latest African airline to opt for Boeing airplanes for fleet growth

Boeing and Arik Air, Nigeria's newest commercial carrier, today announced an order for 10 Next-Generation 737-800s, four 787-9s and one 777-300ER (Extended Range). The order is valued at approximately $1.8 billion at list prices.

The 777-300ER was previously booked as unidentified on Boeing's Orders & Deliveries website. Arik's 10 737-800s and four 787-9s will be added at the next scheduled website update.

In April, Arik Air took delivery of two 737-700s and announced an order for two 777-200LRs (Longer Range), two 777-300ERs and three 787-9s to initiate the largest and most aggressive fleet modernization program in Nigeria's aviation history.

"This additional order for Boeing jets demonstrates our commitment and a purposeful strategy to establish world-class commercial aviation service in Nigeria," said Arik's Managing Director Mike McTighe. "Our selection of a mix of Boeing products to serve our customers regionally and internationally is founded on thorough analysis to conduct the most economic and profitable operations, while providing unmatched comfort and safety for our passengers."

Arik Air is the second African airline to select both the 787 and 777 families of twin-aisle jetliners. The airplanes' design and operational commonality allows airlines more choices and less risk in structuring the most economic, efficient and profitable route planning. Boeing is also working with the airline to help Nigeria achieve U.S. FAA Category 1 status, which would allow Arik Air to fly directly to and from the U.S.

"Arik truly understands the dynamics of airplane economics and fleet planning," said Lee Monson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa. "With a modern, mixed fleet of Boeing jets, the airline will serve its customers well and enhance its capability for growth and success that contributes directly to Nigeria's economic development."

Arik Air is Nigeria's fastest-growing privately owned airline and serves over 11 domestic routes with a fleet of 16 airplanes. The airline also is playing a pivotal role in the improvement of Nigeria's aviation infrastructure.

Additional Information:

The 737-800 is the most popular member of the Next-Generation 737 family, with more than 2,300 airplanes ordered. The 737-800's market success is confirmed by air finance investors, who consistently rank it as the most preferred airplane due to its wide market base, superior performance efficiency and lowest operating costs in its class.

The 777 family of airplanes is popular with passengers and airlines because of its fuel-efficient twin-engine design, high reliability, low operating costs, and comfortable and spacious interior. The 777-300ER is the world's largest long-range twin-engine jetliner capable of carrying 365 passengers up to 7,930 nautical miles (14,685 kilometers). With its twin-engine efficiency, the 777-300ER reduces fuel consumption by more than 20 percent per seat compared to its closest competitor, therefore reducing CO2 emissions by more than 20 percent. To date, Boeing has won 1,004 orders for the 777 from 52 customers worldwide.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, scheduled for delivery beginning in 2008, provides passengers with a better flying experience and operators with a more efficient commercial jetliner. Using 20 percent less fuel per passenger than similarly sized airplanes, the 787 is designed for the environment with lower emissions and quieter takeoffs and landings. Inside the airplane, passengers will find cleaner air, bigger windows, more stowage space and improved lighting. Forty-eight airlines have logged 710 orders and commitments since the 787 launch in April 2004, making the Dreamliner the most successful commercial airplane launch in history.


Hahahaha, That's My airline.:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Most African Airlines are not interested in growth and expansion, the sole thing on their mind is "Money". They over exhaust planes, routes and contribute little or nothing to local infrastructures (Aviation wise).

But Arik Air, is going places. :applause: :applause:

Air Arik is a piece of the Africa of my dreams turn reality, :::::Business , business AND business..... and above all WELL-MANAGED!:cheers:

Angola´s private airline "Air Gemini" plans to take up international routes soon

The airline grew by 80% from 2004-2006 alone and will soon get brand new jets!:)


http://portal.correiodigital.info/noticias.php?idnoticia=4309

hot news.sep 17,2007

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/382470/nigerias_arik_air_modernizes_fleet.html

Nigeria's Arik Air Modernizes Fleet with new Boeing Jets

The Nigeria-based airline, Arik Air, has recently announced that they plan to purchase 15 new Boeing aircraft. This purchase will allow Nigeria's newest airline to expand operations across Africa and the world. The purchase is for a mixture of short range and long range Boeing aircraft. 10 of the 15 new aircraft are to be from the 737 series, specifically the 737-800. Four of the aircraft are for Boeings newest plane, the 787-9. The remaining order was for the largest model of the 777 series aircraft, the 777-300ER. The value of the initial order is approximately 1.8 billion US dollars.

This newest order comes on top of an order last spring for two 777-200LR's, two 777-320ER's and three 787-9's, that were the first new aircraft purchased by a Nigerian airline for in recent times. All of these aircraft will allow Arik Air to become one of the most modern airlines across Africa and the world. Arik Air's managing director Mike McTighe had the following to say at a recent press conference, "This additional order for Boeing jets demonstrates our commitment and a purposeful strategy to establish world-class commercial aviation service in Nigeria. Our selection of a mix of Boeing products to serve our customers regionally and internationally is founded on thorough analysis to conduct the most economic and profitable operations, while providing unmatched comfort and safety for our passengers."

The Boeing Company is currently working with Arik Air, in order to certify them with the US's Federal Aviation Administration, to allow them to fly nonstop to the United States, if they so choose to. Boeing Commerical Airplanes Vice-President of Sales for the Middle East and Africa Lee Monson had the following to say, "Arik truly understands the dynamics of airplane economics and fleet planning. With a modern, mixed fleet of Boeing jets, the airline will serve its customers well and enhance its capability for growth and success that contributes directly to Nigeria's economic development."

About the ordered aircraft: The Boeing 737-800 is a short to medium range airliner, capable of carrying up to 189 passengers in an all coach configuration. With a range of just over 3,000 nautical miles, the 737-800 will allow Arik Air to operate to most African and European destinations. To date, over 1,200 737-800 aircraft have been delivered. The Boeing 777-300ER is the largest aircraft of the 777 family of wide-bodied aircraft.:banana:

British Airways pulls out of Zimbabwe

The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2007

HARARE, Zimbabwe: British Airways is stopping its flights to Zimbabwe, the company said Thursday, citing mounting losses on the route as the southern African nation faces its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980.

With Zimbabwe's international isolation growing, the British airline said in a statement in Harare it will discontinue its three weekly round trip services between Harare and London starting Oct. 28.

Acute fuel shortages in Zimbabwe have forced the airline to bring in fuel by road and refuel its planes in neighboring countries.
:ohno:
Zimbabwe is also suffering acute shortages of food and most basic goods. It has the world's highest official inflation of nearly 7,000 percent. Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 25,000 percent and the International Monetary Fund has forecast it reaching 100,000 percent by the end of the year.

Since 2001, the height of the often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms that disrupted the agriculture-based economy in the former regional breadbasket, the Australian, French, Dutch and Portuguese airlines have withdrawn from Zimbabwe, leaving the state carrier Air Zimbabwe, South African Airways and two other African airlines flying to Harare.


Steve Harrison, British Airways commercial manager for southern Africa, said spiraling operating costs and falling passenger numbers left British Airways with "considerable" losses on the Harare route.

"The economic situation in Zimbabwe has contributed to a decline in market demand. The withdrawal of Harare flights is for commercial reasons as it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify our operation," Harrison said in the statement.

Africa's 10 busiest airports as of June 2007:

1. JOHANNESBURG, ZA 18 410 000 +11.2%
2. CAIRO, EG 11 372 000 +10.1
3. CAPETOWN, ZA 7 807 000 +12.3
4. SHARM EL SHEIKH 5 461 000 +15.6
5. HURGADA, EG 5 288 000 +15.2
6. CASABLANCA, MA 5 269 000 +12.9
7. NAIROBI, KE 4 586 000 +4.8
8. DURBAN, ZA 4 471 000 +17.8
9. LAGOS, NG 4 345 000 +14.2
10.MONASTIR, TN 4 272 000 +3.2

Source: ACI Monthly report

South African Airways will begin 2 weekly Johannesburg - Libreville from 22SEP07.

SA086 JNB1700 - 2105LBV 319 36
SA087 LBV0920 - 1525JNB 319 47

Tunis Air is using the CRJ-900 now.
TU708 TUN1020 - 1115ORN CR9 4
TU708 TUN1535 - 1630ORN CR9 1

TU709 ORN1205 - 1450TUN CR9 4
TU709 ORN1725 - 2010TUN CR9 1
Afriqiyah has announced a new 3x weekly Tripoli-Dusseldorf service and added another A320.
Air Burkina has taken delivery of it's first MD-87.
Emirates will add +3x weekly flights to NBO, from the current 14x weekly
Egypt air has taken delivery of it's 3rd 738.
Turkish Airlines restarted IST-JNB on Monday 17 September 2007

Africa's 10 busiest airports as of June 2007:

1. JOHANNESBURG, ZA +11.2%
2. CAIRO, EG +10.1
3. CAPETOWN, ZA +12.3
4. SHARM EL SHEIKH +15.6
5. HURGADA, EG +15.2
6. CASABLANCA, MA +12.9
7. NAIROBI, KE +4.8
8. DURBAN, ZA +17.8
9. LAGOS, NG +14.2
10.MONASTIR, TN +3.2

Source: ACI Monthly report

GregPz, can you extend the list to top 25 in Africa, i want to see where other airports like Abuja, Accra and Addis Ababa slot in that list.

GregPz, can you extend the list to top 25 in Africa, i want to see where other airports like Abuja, Accra and Addis Ababa slot in that list.

Here you go - the top 26 in Africa as of June 2007

1. JOHANNESBURG, ZA 18 410 000 ... +11.2%
2. CAIRO, EG 11 372 000 ... 10.1
3. CAPETOWN, ZA 7 807 000 ... 12.3
4. SHARM EL SHEIKH 5 461 000 ... 15.6
5. HURGADA, EG 5 288 000 ... 15.2
6. CASABLANCA, MA 5 269 000 ... 12.9
7. NAIROBI, KE 4 586 000 ... 4.8
8. DURBAN, ZA 4 471 000 ... 17.8
9. LAGOS, NG 4 345 000 ... 14.2
10.MONASTIR, TN 4 272 000 ... 3.2
11.TUNIS, TN 3 803 000 ... 3.6
12. ALGIERS, DZ 3 566 000 ... 2.8
13. MARRAKECH, MA 3 034 000 ... 20.5
14.ADDIS ABABA 2 566 000 ... 27.4
15. JERBA, TN 2 514 000 ... NA
16. MAURITIUS 2 421 000 ... 11.2
17. ABUJA, NG 2 137 000 ... 7.1
18. LUXOR, EG 2 021 000 ... (0.4)
19. DAKAR* 1 600 000 ... NA
20. AGADIR, MA 1 487 000 ... 8.7
21. ST DENIS-GILLOT, RE 1 469 000 ... 0.4
22. PORT ELIZABETH, ZA 1 457 000 ... 6.4
23. DAR ES SALAAM, TZ 1 360 000 ... 17.4
24. MOMBASA, KE 1 290 000 ... 15.1
25. LUANDA, AO 1 209 000 ... 17.3
26. ACCRA, GH 1 106 000 ... 12.4

Source: ACI

J'bourg 18 million passengers! thats unfair competition lol! at least Nairobi beat Durban.Hey kulani i always thought Capetown was busier than J'bourg because most tourists flock to Capetown.

A couple of things surprise me, for one I would have thought that Accra would rank higher. A couple of European airlines fly there, I guess whats lacking is a competetive local airline? Secondly whats behind Lagos, Africa's largest city ranking 9th?

Luanda is another airport that should be doing better. It's the strict government regulations that is in places on foreign airlines, keeping frequencies ridiculously low. End result is that Luanda is not only profitable but a total goldmine for foreign airlines.

J'bourg 18 million passengers! thats unfair competition lol! at least Nairobi beat Durban.Hey kulani i always thought Capetown was busier than J'bourg because most tourists flock to Capetown.

Many tourists fly to Joburg first, then Cape Town. So Joburg is sort of the "middle-man" airport.

Lagos should have a looooot more room for more flights ..... Normally it should hover somewhere between 15-20 million passengers.
The problem is, I don´t really know how well statistics are kept in Nigerian airports, maybe their numbers are higher in reality.

Airlines flying into Lagos are

British Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Air France
Lufthansa
Iberia
Alitalia
KLM
Suisse
SN Brussels Airlines (ex- Sabena)
Egypt Air
Royal Air Maroc
Kenya Airways
Emirates
Qatar Airways
Saudi Arabian Airlines (for all I know)
Turkish Airlines
Delta Airlines
South African Airlines
Aeroflot
Air Zimbabwe
Ghana Airways
Airline from gambia whose name I have forgotten
Cameroon Airlines
China Eastern Airlines
...and many national airlines like Aerocontractrs, Air Arik and Virgin Nigeria just to name a few

...I am not sure on TAP and Aeroflot

Malaysian Airlines wanted to enter Nigeria


...European airlines all have daily fights into Lagos (apart from Alitalia). The British airlines together all offer several flights a day to London.

So I doubt that the number is just more than 4 million???




The problem with Luanda´s airport is that

1.) although the many foreign airlines asked to increase their frequency into Angola, they were refused repeatedly.
2.) The new airport has not yet opened

....but if those hurdles are overcome, passenger numbers should leapfrog.

I have forgotten Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA) from Lebanon which offers flights from Beirut to Lagos.

I have forgotten Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA) from Lebanon which offers flights from Beirut to Lagos.

probabily next year Luhtansa will start fly to Luanda, a brazilian company is also traying to get in on the market. Taag will expanda routs soon or later to London, Frankfurt, Houston, Hong Kong and Brussels

The problem is not only the government rules, but also the lack of space in The 4 de Fevereiro International Airport. Probabily the new companys flaying to Luanda will arrive in Luanda between 3:00 am and 5:00 am cose of the lack of the space in the internatinal area. Any way the good news is that i heard from some sources that the works on the new airport still going. But because the space is so misteryous no body knows nothing about. Its 40 km out of Luanda. May be next year we have some good suprise, at list for the first terminal.

Lagos should have a looooot more room for more flights ..... Normally it should hover somewhere between 15-20 million passengers.
The problem is, I don´t really know how well statistics are kept in Nigerian airports, maybe their numbers are higher in reality.

Airlines flying into Lagos are

British Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Air France
Lufthansa
Iberia
Alitalia
KLM
Suisse
SN Brussels Airlines (ex- Sabena)
Egypt Air
Royal Air Maroc
Kenya Airways
Emirates
Qatar Airways
Saudi Arabian Airlines (for all I know)
Turkish Airlines
Delta Airlines
South African Airlines
Aeroflot
Air Zimbabwe
Ghana Airways
Airline from gambia whose name I have forgotten
Cameroon Airlines
China Eastern Airlines
...and many national airlines like Aerocontractrs, Air Arik and Virgin Nigeria just to name a few

...I am not sure on TAP and Aeroflot

Malaysian Airlines wanted to enter Nigeria


...European airlines all have daily fights into Lagos (apart from Alitalia). The British airlines together all offer several flights a day to London.

So I doubt that the number is just more than 4 million???




The problem with Luanda´s airport is that

1.) although the many foreign airlines asked to increase their frequency into Angola, they were refused repeatedly.
2.) The new airport has not yet opened

....but if those hurdles are overcome, passenger numbers should leapfrog.

Matthias I guess you also have to take into account, the planes that their using and the frequency. Not to mention the frequencies and planes used in African flights, most of those aren't daily. Domestic air travel is also a big plus, I don't know how well connected Lagos is to the rest of the country. Denver for example is the 10th busiest airport in the world, yet it lacks a great deal of international services. I don't know I was just surprised by both Accra and Lagos.

probabily next year Luhtansa will start fly to Luanda, a brazilian company is also traying to get in on the market. Taag will expanda routs soon or later to London, Frankfurt, Houston, Hong Kong and Brussels

The problem is not only the government rules, but also the lack of space in The 4 de Fevereiro International Airport. Probabily the new companys flaying to Luanda will arrive in Luanda between 3:00 am and 5:00 am cose of the lack of the space in the internatinal area. Any way the good news is that i heard from some sources that the works on the new airport still going. But because the space is so misteryous no body knows nothing about. Its 40 km out of Luanda. May be next year we have some good suprise, at list for the first terminal.

Bro not sure if space really is a major issue. You see the government owns TAAG and by imposing restrictions on foreign airlines it protects its own product. The thing is competition is great for TAAG and will probably push itself, increasing frequencies ussually lower down prices compared to now flying to Angola is well expensive.

Btw Oceanair has said it might fly to Luanda and Lagos, yet when they got their first 767's they decided to use their inaugural Intl destination to be Mexico city. Heads up towards the end of the year they'll be announcing its intentions, I wouldn't be surprised by next summer we has a GRU-LAD-LOS route.

Matthias I guess you also have to take into account, the planes that their using and the frequency. Not to mention the frequencies and planes used in African flights, most of those aren't daily. Domestic air travel is also a big plus, I don't know how well connected Lagos is to the rest of the country. Denver for example is the 10th busiest airport in the world, yet it lacks a great deal of international services. I don't know I was just surprised by both Accra and Lagos.

All European airlines - apart from Alaitalia which has four flights a week to Lagos - come to Lagos daily. BA and Virgin Atlantic offere more than daily flights to London. The planes that they use range from B777´s A340´s and B747-400 (especially British Airways). To get flights in and out of Lagos is hell ,to put it mildly...flights are ALWAYS overbooked for weeks and most of the time months in advance (I am not kidding), even if airlines like BA and Virgin Atlantic offered three flights a day EACH, they would still be overbooked.

Many Middle Eastern airlines are hopelessly overbooked.

If Nigerian government allowed more frequencies into Lagos and Abuja, numbers would surely leapfrog dramatically.

Btw, I have forgotten another airline called "North American Airline" with direct flights from the USA to Lagos.

As for TAAG, I read that it is planned to privatize the airline so the state will get rid of it. The whole Angolan air sector is revolutionizing.:)

Sonair has brand new jets, Air Gemini is about to buy brand new jets...and I am sure more private airlines will appear in the years to come




Hammelkar, I wish we could get more information about the airport which is u/c in Luanda.
I really don´t know why so little attention is paid to marketing Angola?:ohno: (like I said hundred times before on SSC) But I think the new airport will be ready by 2010.
I also read that Grupo Espirito Santo are about to kick off two new tower projects in Luanda, one of it will be an office and the other a residential tower. (both will have 24 floors):cheers:

Matthias I guess you also have to take into account, the planes that their using and the frequency. Not to mention the frequencies and planes used in African flights, most of those aren't daily. Domestic air travel is also a big plus, I don't know how well connected Lagos is to the rest of the country. Denver for example is the 10th busiest airport in the world, yet it lacks a great deal of international services. I don't know I was just surprised by both Accra and Lagos.

Yes, local flights make up the majority of most of the traffic that get reported on these statistics. Consider the following fact which i just quoted from a report about Official Airline Guide reveals world's busiest routes (http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/OAG+Data/News/Press+Room/Press+Releases+2006/OAG+reveals+the+worlds+busiest+routes+070906) which was recently discussed on the SA aviation forums which reveals Joburg - Cape Town as being in the top 10 busiest routes worldwide with 831 weekly flights and 266 low cost flights on this route. So the key to increasing the airport traffic numbers is local flights and low cost carriers. Nowadays, on a good day, it is cheaper to fly from Joburg to Cape Town than taking a bus, let alone driving there.

South Africa dominates the African list with 6 of the top 10 busiest routes in the region, reflecting the highly competitive market there. Leading the way is Cape Town/Johannesburg with 831 weekly flights followed by Durban/Johannesburg with 588

Lagos should have a looooot more room for more flights ..... Normally it should hover somewhere between 15-20 million passengers.
The problem is, I don´t really know how well statistics are kept in Nigerian airports, maybe their numbers are higher in reality.

Airlines flying into Lagos are

British Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Air France
Lufthansa
Iberia
Alitalia
KLM
Suisse
SN Brussels Airlines (ex- Sabena)
Egypt Air
Royal Air Maroc
Kenya Airways
Emirates
Qatar Airways
Saudi Arabian Airlines (for all I know)
Turkish Airlines
Delta Airlines
South African Airlines
Aeroflot
Air Zimbabwe
Ghana Airways
Airline from gambia whose name I have forgotten
Cameroon Airlines
China Eastern Airlines
...and many national airlines like Aerocontractrs, Air Arik and Virgin Nigeria just to name a few

...I am not sure on TAP and Aeroflot

Malaysian Airlines wanted to enter Nigeria


...European airlines all have daily fights into Lagos (apart from Alitalia). The British airlines together all offer several flights a day to London.

So I doubt that the number is just more than 4 million???


The only passengers that wouldn't be included in these stats are illegal stowaways. Regardless where in the world an airport may be the passenger statistics have to be accurate for the sake of airline safety and security (it's not like boarding a bus!). So yes these figures are accurate. Lagos does have a fair number of international departures but it's still not enough to get it into the big league and domestic air travel is still relatively undeveloped. Also local Nigerian carriers are pretty small. A quick scan of schedules and flight departures shows that it would be unrealistic to expect pax figures to be much higher than 4m. Potential for huge growth obviously exists so maybe we'll see Lagos and Abuja moving up the list in the future. However note that many of the other airports listed are also experiencing very strong growth levels.

nope sorry gregz but lagos is far more than 4 million i remember when the minister of aviation was talking about expanding the lagos airport because traffic had reached about 5 to 6 million ...and besides i'm sure they would not have problems with congestion if all thy had was 4 million passengers..and thy also wouldnt be looking to expand if tht was the case....sso tht figure is inaccurate as of today...p.s tht article was in the guardian somtym late lst month or early this month

Airlines and destinations
Aero Contractors (Nigeria) (Abuja, Accra, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Warri)
Afriqiyah Airways (Cotonou, Tripoli)
Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
Air Niger (Niamey[starts September 3rd])
Alitalia (Accra, Milan-Malpensa)
Arik Air (Abuja, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Port Harcourt)
Bellview Airlines (Abidjan, Abuja, Accra, Banjul, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Freetown, Kano, Libreville,London-Heathrow, Monrovia, Owerri, Port Harcourt)
British Airways (London-Heathrow)
Bravo Air Congo (Kinshasa)
Cameroon Airlines (Abidjan, Bamako, Dakar, Douala)
Chanchangi Airlines (Abuja, Kaduna, Port Harcourt)
China Southern Airlines (Beijing, Dubai)
Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) [Starts December 3, 2007] [2]
EgyptAir (Cairo)
Emirates (Dubai)
Ethiopian Airlines (Accra, Addis Ababa)
Ghana International Airlines (Accra)
Iberia Airlines (Madrid)
IRS Airlines (Abuja, Kano, Maiduguri)
Kenya Airways (Nairobi)
KLM (Amsterdam)
Lufthansa (Accra, Frankfurt)
Middle East Airlines (Beirut)
Nicon Airways (Abuja, Jos, Port Harcourt)
North American Airlines (Baltimore/Washington, New York-JFK)
Overland Airways (Ilorin)
Qatar Airways (Doha)
South African Airways (Johannesburg)
SPDC (Shell Private Airlines) (Warri, Port Harcourt)
Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)
Virgin Atlantic Airways (London-Heathrow)
Virgin Nigeria (Abuja, Accra,

nope sorry gregz but lagos is far more than 4 million i remember when the minister of aviation was talking about expanding the lagos airport because traffic had reached about 5 to 6 million ...and besides i'm sure they would not have problems with congestion if all thy had was 4 million passengers..and thy also wouldnt be looking to expand if tht was the case....sso tht figure is inaccurate as of today...p.s tht article was in the guardian somtym late lst month or early this month

With all due respect I'm not going to argue about these figures. They are released by the Nigerial Airports Authority and verified by the Airports Council International. Every other source I've come across backs up these figures. The number of and type of aircraft movements also indicate levels of around 4m. There are problems with congestion simply because the old terminals were not big enough to handle 4m and because of fire damage in 2000. I'm not aware of the minister of aviation's comments but if that is what he said then he's contradicting his own department's data. And as I've already mentioned airport data is pretty exact as it's very rare for unaccounted for passengers to board aircraft.

I don't want to get into an arguement about this but struggle to see how this sort of statistic can be refuted when there's no guess work involved. In the last few month's we've seen Nigerian airlines such as Arik investing heavily in new aircraft which indicated aviation there is on the verge of taking off so expect to see significant future growth.

Iluvnaija, thanks for the accurate list :) what about Saudi Arabian Airlines, have you forgotten them, they used to fly to Lagos?! And Virgin Nigeria also flies to London, not just Virgin Atlantic or BA.

Malaysian airlines has also applied while ago.

Lagos airport certainly has more than 4 million passengers and they wouldn´t expand the airport when no more flights would fly into Lagos. The figure of 4 million: it is just because statistics are not kept accurately.

Lagos airport certainly has more than 4 million passengers and they wouldn´t expand the airport when no more flights would fly into Lagos. The figure of 4 million: it is just because statistics are not kept accurately.

:ohno: Actually as I've explained the stats certainly are accurate. Nothing I've seen of Lagos airport indicates it receives more passengers. But believe whatever makes you happy.

Matthias I think whats key is to look more at the sizes and fleet of Nigerian carriers and their domestic services. IMHO this is what keepts the capacity lower than what we would imagine.

Btw I'm glad to hear that TAAG has plans for privatization, its the way to go.

nope sorry gregz but lagos is far more than 4 million i remember when the minister of aviation was talking about expanding the lagos airport because traffic had reached about 5 to 6 million ...and besides i'm sure they would not have problems with congestion if all thy had was 4 million passengers..and thy also wouldnt be looking to expand if tht was the case....sso tht figure is inaccurate as of today...p.s tht article was in the guardian somtym late lst month or early this month

A quick look at traffic figures from FAAN for 2003 (http://www.flysouth.co.za/prime/archiveprime/2004-04-30/Nigeria%20Records%207_2m%20Passenger%20Traffic%20in%202003.htm)shows that Lagos was handling
3,362,464 passengers.

Assuming a growth rate of say 15% per annum then the figures would look something like this

2004 - 3,866,833
2005 - 4,446,858
2006 - 5,113,887

So it is possible that they may be using 2005 statistics and not 2006. But then again, i am just doing guess work.

A quick look at traffic figures from FAAN for 2003 (http://www.flysouth.co.za/prime/archiveprime/2004-04-30/Nigeria%20Records%207_2m%20Passenger%20Traffic%20in%202003.htm)shows that Lagos was handling
3,362,464 passengers.

Assuming a growth rate of say 15% per annum then the figures would look something like this

2004 - 3,866,833
2005 - 4,446,858
2006 - 5,113,887

So it is possible that they may be using 2005 statistics and not 2006. But then again, i am just doing guess work.

Yes but there hasn't been growth of 15% pa since 2003!! Actual numbers were 2004 3,576,189 6.0% 2005 3,817,338 6.3%.
The figures I gave are from Jul'06-Jun'07 - the most current available. It's hardly more realiable to make up figures from ones own guesswork. I don't know why some people seem to have such a problem with these stats for Lagos. Afterall Nairobi isn't much more and it's more of an international hub yet people accept it's data. You just don't get unaccounted for passengers on a plane - it would be very scary if that were to happen.

This is my last post on the matter. Feel free to make up your own stats in future. Screw reality.

Yes but there hasn't been growth of 15% pa since 2003!! Actual numbers were 2004 3,576,189 6.0% 2005 3,817,338 6.3%.
The figures I gave are from Jul'06-Jun'07 - the most current available. It's hardly more realiable to make up figures from ones own guesswork. I don't know why some people seem to have such a problem with these stats for Lagos. Afterall Nairobi isn't much more and it's more of an international hub yet people accept it's data. You just don't get unaccounted for passengers on a plane - it would be very scary if that were to happen.

This is my last post on the matter. Feel free to make up your own stats in future. Screw reality.

GregPz, i was just doing some what-if scenarios. Personally i am pretty sure that the ACI stats are accurate. Despite the deficiencies of keeping accurate statistics in Africa, i doubt that there could be such a huge discrepancy between the actual passengers accounted for by Nigerian authorities and the actual passengers passing through the boarding gates at Lagos airport. This would be a really scary scenario to contemplate especially in the aviation industry which i believe is well regulated globally.

Greg...you forget that in this forum anything that makes Nigeria look worse than people would like in any way is deemed false...Forget that stats...it what a few random people here think that counts ;)

Matthias I think whats key is to look more at the sizes and fleet of Nigerian carriers and their domestic services. IMHO this is what keepts the capacity lower than what we would imagine.

Btw I'm glad to hear that TAAG has plans for privatization, its the way to go.

May be that will happen some day but not now! TAAG its a key instrument for the government, i dont think they will privatize right now.

Hey guys have you heard about Delta's recent International expansion announcements. Seems that Delta is officially America's supreme airline in the continent.

Here are some of their new flights/routes to Africa

EQP: 752ER

5)JFK-DKR(Dakar, Senegal):
Starts June 2, 2008: DL 128 JFK 3:50p.m. DKR 4:05a.m. (next day)
Starts June 4, 2008: DL 219 DKR 2:05a.m. JFK 6:15a.m.

EQP: 763ER

6)JFK-NBO (Nairobi, Kenya)
Starts June 2, 2008: DL 128 JFK 3:50p.m. (via DKR) NBO 4:50p.m. (next day)
Starts June 3, 2008: DL 219 NBO 7:30p.m. (via DKR) JFK 6:15a.m. (next day)

EQP: 763ER

Notes: The inbound to NBO from JFK arrives in DKR at 4:05a.m. and departs DKR at 5:40a.m. for NBO.
The outbound from NBO to JFK arrives in DKR at 12:35a.m. and departs DKR at 2:05a.m.
The outbound from NBO to DKR will operate at DL 229 and switch to DL 219 for DKR-JFK.
Total ground time at NBO is 7hr 45min.
The ATL-DKR flight arrives into DKR at 4:39a.m. departing for JNB at 5:54a.m. so there will be two DL 763's on the ground at DKR at the same time.

7)JFK-CAI (Cairo, Egypt)
Starts June 4, 2008: DL 10 JFK 4:20p.m. CAI 10:35a.m.(next day)
Starts June 5, 2008: DL 9 CAI 12:30p.m. JFK 5:40p.m.

EQP: 763ER

10)JFK-LOS (Lagos, Nigeria)
Starts June 9, 2008: DL 142 JFK 6:40p.m. LOS 11:05a.m. (next day)
Starts June 10, 2008: DL 143 LOS 12:50p.m JFK 6:35p.m.

EQP: 763ER

11)JFK-CPT (via DKR) Starts June 2, 2008 subject to DOT approval.

http://airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3630717/?searchid=3630717&s=Delta#ID3630717

Nice to see a genuine U.S airline finally serving Africa's most populous city, I'm also ecstatic about a JFK-NBO route!

I also think its great to have a Cape Town route, but the stop in Dakar seems unecessary.

Here is the artcle alex rooney,

Delta Airlines To Fly Direct To Kenya From US

Delta Airlines, the only major US carrier to operate scheduled services to Africa, will launch direct flights between Nairobi and New York's John F Kennedy Airport (JFK), via Dakar, Senegal effective June next year.

This will be the first air service operated from East Africa to the US and is expected to expedite shipments of goods throughout the US for freight forwarders and cargo shippers.

The four weekly flights, to be launched subject to Kenya, Senegalese and US governments' approvals, will be the only direct service to the US from Kenya.

The service will offer passengers connections via Delta's New York JFK hub to around 45 business and leisure destinations throughout the US including Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Delta's Director of sales for Africa, the Middle East and India, Mr Jimmy Eichelgruen, said: "We are excited to pioneer new routes that expand our global reach and add convenience to the lives of our customers. The new direct service will offer travel options for business and leisure travelers.

The flights will also serve to increase commercial ties between Kenya and the US by providing a convenient travel option for the thousands of American tourists wanting to discover the beauty of Kenya each year, helping to boost the country's growing economy," he said.

Nairobi will be served with a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with 214 seats in a two-class configuration featuring BusinessElite, Delta's award-winning business class service. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi at 4.50 pm Kenya time before departing at 7.30 pm for New York via Dakar.

The new flights will bring in tough competition for airlines connecting Kenya to the US through Europe and the Middle East - Kenya Airways, British Airways, Emirates Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways

Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Kenya Airways is now an associate member of the team.

Delta's new service between Nairobi and New York JFK is one of several new routes between Africa and New York planned for next year, including Lagos, Cape Town (via Dakar) and Cairo.

In December last year, Delta launched nonstop service between Accra and New York JFK, as well as service between Johannesburg and Atlanta (via Dakar) and will launch nonstop service between Lagos and Atlanta in December this year.

The carrier plans to operate service to the US from seven African destinations in six countries by summer next year

Delta and its sister airline Delta Connections flies 315 destinations in 54 countries. The carrier has added more international capacity than all other major US airlines combined, and operates 36 trans-Atlantic markets, with 400 weekly flights to 54 destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 477 worldwide destinations in 103 countries

TAAG Angola Airlines buys more brand new Boeing 777´s jets


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16663

TAAG Angola Airlines buys more brand new Boeing 777´s jets


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16663

Where are they going to serve the 777's? Lisbon seems the best bet but their currently banned from the E.U, so will it temporarily go to Rio?

Where are they going to serve the 777's? Lisbon seems the best bet but their currently banned from the E.U, so will it temporarily go to Rio?

What a crab are you talking again? This is not Angola´s first B777´s, they have already B 777´s. it is not "BanaNa Republic Airline" flying out of Africa with old Caravelle jets of the 50´s, OK. :bash: They are all or predominately fly modern jets, that are not leased but paid IN CASH, ordered in Seattle! And they are brand new and not jets that Western airlines don´t want to fly any more. Africa is not the dustbin of the West, OK.

Haven´t you read what Hammelkar has said?

And TAAG is already flying to Rio and continued flying to Lisbon

It plans to add Istanbul, Hong Kong, London and it is eying to add Frankfurt. Yes, I hope that the airline might privatize but even this is not a must. They are government run airlines in the Gulf that are working well. if you get in professional people, this is no problem

Moreover, various procedures have been taken in the meantime in cooperation with Canada and some other nations to professionalisze the airline.

You should have followed the news regulary or simply keep your lips pursed!

Calm down, why you so angry? lol

Anyways lets put things right, TAAG is currently banned from flying into Europe. The 777's they had have been sold to EuroAtlantic airways. From what I've heard TAAG is flying to Lisbon with a wet leased SAA plane, I'm not sure about the model.

I know that TAAG serves rio, but they do so with older 747 airplanes. So until their removed from the EU's "black list" the question of where these new 777 planes will serve is a legitimate one. After Lisbon, Rio is probably their most important long haul service so I wouldn't be surprised if we'd see them at GIG.

What a crab are you talking again? This is not Angola´s first B777´s, they have already B 777´s. it is not "BanaNa Republic Airline" flying out of Africa with old Caravelle jets of the 50´s, OK. :bash: They are all or predominately fly modern jets, that are not leased but paid IN CASH, ordered in Seattle! And they are brand new and not jets that Western airlines don´t want to fly any more. Africa is not the dustbin of the West, OK.

Haven´t you read what Hammelkar has said?

And TAAG is already flying to Rio and continued flying to Lisbon

It plans to add Istanbul, Hong Kong, London and it is eying to add Frankfurt. Yes, I hope that the airline might privatize but even this is not a must. They are government run airlines in the Gulf that are working well. if you get in professional people, this is no problem

Moreover, various procedures have been taken in the meantime in cooperation with Canada and some other nations to professionalisze the airline.

You should have followed the news regulary or simply keep your lips pursed!

Chill out Matthias, he probably just didn't know. Also, they are serving Lisboa with leased equipment and plan on dry-leasing them to EuroAtlantic airlines so that they can fly under EuroAtlantic's AOC and bypass the EU ban.

They also want to add Dubai and Houston, seeing as they are energy capitals and Angola relies on that (2,000,000 bbd by 2011, IIRC, on par with Kuwait).

BTW check out my thread on African Aviation on Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3607271/)

Alex, they are using SAA Boeing 747-400s

Greg...you forget that in this forum anything that makes Nigeria look worse than people would like in any way is deemed false...Forget that stats...it what a few random people here think that counts ;)

Well if MMA is handlin 4 mil PAX according to the stats, then I guess MMA is handlin 4 mil PAX accordin to the stats. There is no need to resort to absurd outbursts. I have said it before and I will say it again. Such comments can be applied to numerous countries and peoples. The Question is, shall I do the honors?

Iluvnaija spoke about the need to expand the airport in relation to PAX influx. Well the Airport has been congested for more than a decade now. 3/4 Mil PAX is a large number of PAX for the size of the airport. The growth of the airport in terms of PAX is being slowed down due to this. This does not translate to the stats being far from correct, because the issue pf congestion is not a new one. Nigeria is a large market, and once the Lagos Airport is expanded a lot of the Airlines and PAX utilizing other airports such as Dakar, Nairobi, Accra and even other International Airports in Nigeria will divert to MMA. Note that MMA is serving 30/40 Airlines, there is a demand for more airlines, but there isn't an avenue for more airlines to operate in the country.

Aviation is improving internally, but there is still the issue of international safety compliance etc.

Chill out Matthias, he probably just didn't know. Also, they are serving Lisboa with leased equipment and plan on dry-leasing them to EuroAtlantic airlines so that they can fly under EuroAtlantic's AOC and bypass the EU ban.

They also want to add Dubai and Houston, seeing as they are energy capitals and Angola relies on that (2,000,000 bbd by 2011, IIRC, on par with Kuwait).

BTW check out my thread on African Aviation on Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3607271/)

Alex, they are using SAA Boeing 747-400s

Kingofthehill (Great show btw ) didn't they actually sell their two 777's? I'm not disputing their recent purchasing as shown in the article but the extent of their deal with Euro Atlantic Airways.

Thanks for the clarification.

I stand corrected, Euro Atlantic Airways is indeed dry leasing the two 777's and not purchasing them.

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3634274

I can´t believe it, what a shame if this is REALLY true!!!:ohno:

I can´t believe it, what a shame if this is REALLY true!!!:ohno:

It's not too bad, TAAG is dry-leasing them to EuroAtlantic, and EuroAtlantic will operate them for TAAG using their AOC since TAAG is on the black list.

Nifty way for TAAG to make money on the side while they resolve this problem. Sure beats having brand new 777s stored at Luanda.

http://www.presstur.com/site/news.asp?news=11446

It's not too bad, TAAG is dry-leasing them to EuroAtlantic, and EuroAtlantic will operate them for TAAG using their AOC since TAAG is on the black list.

Nifty way for TAAG to make money on the side while they resolve this problem. Sure beats having brand new 777s stored at Luanda.

http://www.presstur.com/site/news.asp?news=11446

Exactly. Dry leasing is somewhat of a type of contract, football clubs do this all the time with giving out players for temporary loans. It's the best way I can relate it to.

One question Kingofthehill, what exactly is the difference between a dry-lease and a wet lease? Because isn't TAAG wet leasing SAA 747?

Nigerian Airlines Acquire 15 New Aircraft
By Chinedu Eze, 10.02.2007



In response to the campaign to modernise their fleet by the Federal Government, many domestic carriers will between next month and next year bring about 15 brand new aircraft to the country to operate both local, regional and international routes. The expected new planes include the popular B737-800 series, B787 (the new dreamline), B767 and even some Embraer planes.
THISDAY learnt that the airline that will bring in these aircraft include Chanchangi, Virgin Nigeria, Bellview and Arik, which already has more than four new aircraft in its fleet. This feat was almost impossible in the past, but the airlines are utilizing the opportunity offered to them by the domestication of Cape Town Convention by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which makes it easy for the airlines to secure funds from international financial organisations.
The arrival of the 15 planes will put an end to the issue of old aircraft in the nation's airspace, which will enhance the actualisation of the Federal Government's policy that stipulates that domestic carriers should modernise their fleet and also satisfy the craving of Nigeria flyers who insist on modern airplanes. Looking at the records, although the airlines are doing away with their old airplanes but about 60 per cent of the aircraft in the country are still old.
The Director-General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren had said that if old planes are well maintained they will be as good as new, but the problem is that old planes are susceptible to breaking down too frequently, sometimes developing faults that cannot be easily discerned. He also noted that due to frequent problems such aircraft develop, airlines may be tempted to cut corners in order not to spend so much money repairing the aircraft.
According to Demuren who described the coming of some of the new planes next month as a 'bang, the new planes are expected in the nation's airspace next month while the remaining will be delivered to the Nigerian airlines by 2008.Arik Airline had earlier placed order for 15 new planes at the cost of $1.7billion from Boeing aircraft manufacturers.The three airlines designated on the Britain and American routes namely Virgin Nigeria,Bellview and Arik have used the opportunity of the Cape Town convention coupled with the waiver granted them by the United States to commence flight operations into its airspace to place order for the new planes for favourable competition with the American and the British carriers.


:cheers: :banana: :banana:

Exactly. Dry leasing is somewhat of a type of contract, football clubs do this all the time with giving out players for temporary loans. It's the best way I can relate it to.

One question Kingofthehill, what exactly is the difference between a dry-lease and a wet lease? Because isn't TAAG wet leasing SAA 747?A wet lease is where the lessor (the provider) provides the aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (an ACMI lease). Essentially, under a wet lease the lessor is simply operating its aircraft with its crew under the name of another airline. A dry lease is a lease of the aircraft only.

Kenyan investor runs into hurdles in efforts to relaunch Uganda carrier
A JOINT REPORT
The EastAfrican

A little known Kenyan company holds the key to the revival of the airline mooted to replace Uganda’s national carrier — which folded up eight years ago — even as President Yoweri Museveni rails at Kenya Airways for dominating the Entebbe route to international destinations.

Sun Group Ltd, about which information is hard to come by, is strongly believed to be a special investment vehicle for Kenyan businessmen keen to join up with the Ugandan government and South Africa’s City Square Trading Ltd in relaunching Victoria International Airlines (VIA), which replaced the defunct Ugandan Airlines.

VIA, which was established in 2006, ceased operations this January, citing stiff competition from other airlines including Kenya Airways, high operating costs and cashflow problems. It was thereupon decided to bring a strategic investor on board.

Sun Group then appeared on the scene and despite its low-key presence in Kenya, its bona fides were convincing enough for Uganda’s Minister for Investment, Prof Semakula Kiwanuka, to enter into negotiations with the firm’s business development manager, William Gatei.

In the new configuration, sources privy to the deal told The EastAfrican, the Kenyan company was to acquire a 73 per cent stake in the carrier including the 60 per cent originally assigned to City Square Trading while the Ugandan government was to retain its 17 per cent, being represented on the airline’s board by Dick Turinawe. The remaining 10 per cent was the subject of negotiation between the three organisations.

But as Sun Group was undertaking due diligence of the carrier before committing pen to paper, the deal started unravelling.

According to Mr Gatei, who spoke to The EastAfrican in Kampala, it all started with the South African firm suddenly introducing new conditions. It demanded that besides paying for the stock, Sun Group also reimburse it $640,00 in shareholder loans advanced to the carrier, pay off third party debts totalling $184,000 and allow it to retain the 10 per cent stake in the reconstituted carrier without it injecting any fresh capital.

The initial shareholders of the carrier were the South African firm, 60 per cent, and Intercop, a company belonging to Swiss national Andy Kutz, which held 20 per cent shares while the Ugandan government held the remaining 20 per cent.

Coincidentally, the new stance adopted by City Trading came hot on the heels of a poorly veiled attack on Kenya Airways by Museveni, who accused the carrier of exploiting Ugandans by charging exorbitant fares and flying out of Entebbe at odd hours because it faces no competition on the busy route.

He was speaking last month during a ceremony to lay the foundation for the 250MW hydroelectric project sponsored by the Aga Khan Foundation for Economic Development at Bujagali in eastern Uganda.

According to Mr Gatei, who insists that the deal is still on despite the hiccup, City Trading seems to have taken its cue from the anti-Kenya Airways tone adopted by the Ugandan head of state when he later announced that the Ugandan government wanted a new national carrier up and running on the Entebbe route in order to introduce much-needed competition.

It would appear the South African firm thought Museveni was talking about Meridiana Africa Air, which was about to launch it services on the Entebbe route, whereas it turned out the president was actually referring to VIA, which has been designated the national Ugandan airline.

Aviation industry analysts say City Square decided to up the ante under the impression that what they thought was Museveni’s sudden favouring of Meridiana would increase the pressure on Sun Group to close the deal as soon as possible.

But before the Sun Group could respond to the new demands by the South Africans, matters became more complicated. Mr Turinawe, the government representative on the airline’s board, threatened to throw in the towel and walk away, accusing the South African firm of scaring away new investors in the troubled carrier.

Mr Turinawe said the demands by City Trading were unreasonable for a carrier that had been in operation for only nine months and was yet to find its footing in the highly competitive aviation industry. The demands would only end up scaring away potential investors and defeat the purpose for which the Uganda government wanted to establish a national carrier, Mr Turinawe added.

Suspicions that the City Square could be holding out for investors from its native South Africa is growing. It had invited a low cost operator, Time (One Time) Ltd, to move in as soon as VIA ran into trouble but Uganda Civil Aviation Authority requirements knocked it out.

Although Mr Gatei was reticent about the ownership structure of the Sun Group while talking to The EastAfrican, saying it could jeopardise the delicate negotiations going on in Kampala, the company’s bid was said to be high-powered enough to be considered by the Ugandan government.

But unless City Square eases its conditions, Uganda will have to wait a lot longer before VIA can assume operations. An earlier attempt in March by Meridiana Air to buy out the South Africans was rejected outright.

In the proposed deal, which was said to have found favour with the Ugandan authorities, Meridiana Air would have bought out both City Square’s 60 per cent and Intercop’s 20 per cent, leaving the government with 10 per cent shares in the carrier.

Reported By Michael Wakabi in Kampala and a Staff Writer in Nairobi

Path to new airline paved with false starts, endless demands

By A STAFF WRITER
The EastAfrican

Since the collapse of Uganda Airlines eight years ago, the country has been uncomfortable with foreign carriers’ domination of its skies, but attempts to have its own airline again have proved problematic.

When Victoria International Airlines (VIA) was unveiled in 2006 and designated Uganda’s national carrier, the sigh of relief was almost audible, but within eight weeks it was back on the ground fighting for its very survival.

Frantic efforts to revive it have been largely in vain. The government’s frustration with this state of affairs has been showing, but solutions have been hard to come by.

Under a new business plan approved by VIA’s board last February, it needed $5 million in new capital, part of which would have been shareholders’ funds and part loans. The plan also envisaged getting the Ugandan government to underwrite a loan from the Uganda Development Bank — after all, national pride was at stake.

But the government would have none of it, insisting that the other shareholders — South Africa’s City Square Trading Ltd and Intercop of Switzerland, holding 60 and 20 per cent shares respectively — attract new investors and secure the loan with company assets before the government committed any more public funds to the carrier.

Uganda originally had a 25 per cent stake in the carrier that was capitalised with $1 million, but this was progressively eroded as operations took up more funds than originally planned for. By the time VIA suspended operations on January 8 this year, an extra $640,000 had been spent, reducing Uganda’s stake to 17 per cent.

In response to the government’s refusal to further fund the carrier, the VIA board invited a South African low-cost operator, Time (One Time) Ltd, which was keen to buy a stake but was discouraged by a Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) requirement that it register half its fleet in Uganda.

UCAA spokesman Ignie Igunduura says the requirement is based on International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) regulations and is intended to give the host country more control of safety oversight.

It was then that VIA board turned to the Sun Group.

Since suspending operations, VIA has had problems raising capital for a comeback. After initially promising an eight-week hiatus, the carrier proposed a new business plan that would have required $10 million to finance. This was followed by largely futile attempts to recruit new shareholders..

But Meridiana Africa Air’s impending entry into service in a couple of a months’ time, makes a successful return for VIA more remote, say aviation analysts. Meridiana Air was officially launched by President Yoweri Museveni last month, when he said the country needs its national carrier up and running as soon as possible.

A couple of Kenyan low-cost airlines have also been eyeing the Ugandan market, but Kenya Airways’ grip on the route has discouraged them. The Entebbe-Nairobi route accounts for an average 150,000 passengers of the annual traffic out of Uganda, but only a small number of these terminate their journeys in Nairobi.

Kenya Airways has long enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the sector, where it has locked out competition by denying other carriers wholesale fares on its flights to Uganda. Still, analysts believe that the growing number of European and Middle Eastern carriers coming to Nairobi, as well as new frequencies by existing airlines, has brought traffic to a point where Kenya Airways will simply not have the capacity to accommodate the growth.

The Ugandan government has been keen to break KQ’s dominance, but its apparent conviction that only South African carriers can do that has been its undoing. An earlier partnership in the mid 1990s between Uganda Airlines and South African Airways — another giant player on the continent —under the trade name Air Alliance, collapsed quickly. Uganda Airlines was then allowed to go into receivership and wound up.

South African Airways turned its attention to Air Tanzania, but that marriage did not last long and was finally dissolved in 2005.

Dar opens up airport services as Swissport monopoly ends

By WILFRED EDWIN
Special Correspondent

Fierce competition is expected in the wake of Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority’s plans to liberalise the country’s aeronautical airport services sector.

Areas to be liberalised are passenger handling, cargo and aircraft services and aviation, which are currently handled by Swissport Tanzania Ltd.

Says a recent survey by TCAA, “A general agreement emerged that the liberalisation of ground handling services is desirable and in line with existing policies.”

This also means that the current exclusive contract enjoyed by the airport ground handling firm Swissport Tanzania Ltd will come to an end, opening up opportunities for more firms to compete for the market.

Swissport, which has been enjoying exclusivity rights since it started its operations as Dahaco in 1984, is listed at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange and commands a Tsh25.9 billion ($20.7 million) market capitalisation.

Swissport says it is bracing itself for competition when its exclusivity — which expired in May but was extended to December— comes to an end.

“We are taking steps to counter the competition when the market eventually opens up,” board chairman Urs Sieber said.

However, for a meaningful liberalisation, the TCAA board led by the chairman Mwantumu Malale, said a number of legal, technical and commercial issues must first be addressed.

Legal aspects to be looked into are regulation and licensing procedures of the services, and requirements of the Fair Competition Commission.

On technical aspects, it has been recommended that TCAA assess and identify necessary key infrastructure facilities that airport operators will then be required to install within a year.

With respect to aviation fuelling, it has been recommended that the possibility of sharing fuel firms be explored.

Currently, fuel is supplied by exclusivity rights, except for the Kilimanjaro International Airport, where BP and Total provide the service.

Swissport Ltd handled 8,100 flights and 11,609 tonnes of cargo over the past six months. In the same period, the firm’s pretax profit grew by 28 per cent to Tsh2.7 billion ($ 2.16 million) while operating revenue grew by 16.7 per cent to Tsh8 billion ($6.4 million).

TAAG starts to fly Luanda - Beijing (China) from 23 of October 2007:cheers:


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16791

TAAG starts to fly Luanda - Beijing (China) from 23 of October 2007:cheers:


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16791

Thats odd that you announce a new long haul flight only two weeks in advance. Doesn't China Southern Airliners operate a 1X weakly service to Luanda?

Good luck to TAAG!

TAAG starts to fly Luanda - Beijing (China) from 23 of October 2007:cheers:


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16791

This is a great news for both Angola and China ! I tried to find the same article in English but didn't find any, anyway from that Portuguese article is it Addis Ababa that will be the transit point for this super long flight ? :cheers:

Thats odd that you announce a new long haul flight only two weeks in advance. Doesn't China Southern Airliners operate a 1X weakly service to Luanda?

Good luck to TAAG!

No, it's Hainan Airlines with a Boeing 767-300ER routed through Dubai.

Good news for Angola to look East, let's hope this does better than Air Zim's routes to Peking, Shanghai and Guangzhou :lol:

Thats odd that you announce a new long haul flight only two weeks in advance. Doesn't China Southern Airliners operate a 1X weakly service to Luanda?

Most probably, it was annouced a time ago but due to the difficulties faced recently....and all the hicups...the information got lost! Yes, it is unprofessional!

However, I think that TAAG will come back on its feet again. They also ceased their contract with SAA jets to Lisbon.

With TAAG , it is not a problem of money (so one aspect has at least been solved) but of management. But TAAG desserves a second chance...they will come out stronger and once private competition increases (mind Sonair which is doing well and Air Gemini that will buy brand new jets and add transcontinenatal routes)...it will be a motivation for TAAG.

TAAG will take up flights to the EU...so their B 777´s jets will also come back


http://www.angonoticias.com/full_headlines.php?id=16819

I take it the E.U ban will be lifted, great news!!!

Nigeria: Airbus Team Meets Arik Air Management:banana::banana:
10.15.2007


A two-man team from aircraft manufacturing giant, Airbus met with the Arik Air management team at the airline's corporate head office last Wednesday.
The Airbus team which was made up of David Dufrenois, Vice President Sales, North and West Africa; and John Parkinson, Area Sales Director, Customer Affairs was at Arik Air to do a presentation on the A350 XWB and A380 aircraft.
The Arik team was led by the chairman, Sir J.I. Arumemi-Johnson and in attendance were the Managing Director, Michael McTighe and other top management team while the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Director General, Dr. Harold Demuren was represented at the presentation by the agency's Director of Air Worthiness, Engineer Patrick Ekunwe.
The presentation by the Airbus team dealt on the Airbus family, the capabilities and basic advantages of the aircraft over its competitors. Dufrenois said Airbus is interested in doing business with Arik Air.
He stressed that the aircraft manufacturer will have to study the suitability of the Murtala Muhammed International Air-port, Ikeja to accommodate the A380.
Airbus will, after the preliminary meeting, send a team of experts to Nigeria to look at facilities such as the runway, terminal building, etc, at the MMIA
Arik Chairman stated that the airline is interested in doing business with Airbus provided the pricing meets Arik's requirements. He added that Arik is looking at the area of Airbus assisting the airline on routes world wide routes.
Commenting on the meeting later, Sir Arumemi-Johnson said there has been no commitment yet on the part of Arik Air, but added that after further discussions, a decision will be made on whether to purchase the Boeing 747-800 or A380 for the airline’s planned large aircraft requirements.
Both British Airways and Emirates airlines are among airlines which have already ordered for the A380 and Arik Chairman said; “Nigerians also deserve a big and comfortable aircraft that will make their travel stress free. In choosing which aircraft to purchase, we will consider price, range, fuel burn and passenger comfort, among others.
Arik Air in its fleet renewal, plan bought four brand new Bombardier CRJ 900 and two brand new Boeing 737-700 aircraft. An additional two Boeing 737-700 which will ply the regional routes will join the Arik fleet next month. The airline has also placed an order for three brand new CRJ900 New Generation aircraft.
Also, the airline recently placed orders for new Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner.
The Arik super hanger model which was unveiled last March and due to begin construction May 2008 will have the capacity to handle big aircraft like the A380 when completed in autumn 2009.


PS: Marevellous news, I hunger for this kind of news! I simply can´t get enough of it!:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

Kenya Based Airline Plans Direct Juba-Dubai Flights

A Kenya-based airline, Delta Connection is planning direct flights from Juba to Dubai soon, its managing director, Mr. Arvin Pahwa has said.

Pahwa was speaking at a dinner to thank Delta Connection clients at Sunflower Camp in Juba. He said opening of a direct flight to the Middle East from Juba will be more convenient and at lower fees.

He observed that Delta is in talks with its partners in the Middle East so that the two can commence direct flights to Dubai in alliance with Kenya Airways. Pahwa revealed that Delta is expecting a new aircraft in two months that will pave way for new ventures on lucrative routes in the south.

"We are now in Yei, Juba, Nairobi and Rumbek and we are planning other flights to Wau, Malakal, Bentiu in sixty days," he said."We thank our customers and other passengers who have been with us for long. We were the first commercial carrier in southern Sudan and today there are over ten airlines. We are ready to venture in to other parts of the country and outside as long as the government tells us to."

Delta Connection clients include business people from Kenya, government officials and Non Government Organisations (NGO's) and UN agencies.

And in a bid to bring on board more customers, Delta Connection has introduced frequent flier cards for passengers to earn free tickets and other prices. Delta Connection flies six times a week on schedule basis and on charter at any time. The airline operates flights to Nairobi, Rumbek, Juba, Yei, and Lokichoggio. It is planning for more flights within southern Sudan. Its Boeing 737-200QC has capacity to carry 109 passengers and cargo payload of 14.5 tonnes. Pahwa said the high cost of flying to Juba is due to high costs of jet fuel and high taxes and this gets transferred to passengers.

"Jet fuel in Juba is three times the price in Nairobi and if it can be lowered, then customers will get value for their money as we will also reduce our prices," Pahwa said.

He said government will soon realise the effect of high landing fees and lower them for the benefit of passengers.

Delta Connection was the first carrier to ply the southern Sudan route, which was dominated by UN aircrafts, which used to charge $800 a return fare.

It is nice to see Arik Air commence playing with the big boys. It is about time that Nigeria has an airline that can rival South Africa Airways and Kenya Airways

Nigeria: Airbus Team Meets Arik Air Management:banana::banana:
10.15.2007
PS: Marevellous news, I hunger for this kind of news! I simply can´t get enough of it!:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

It would be foolish of them to order Airbus AND Boeing. They are already getting 737-700s, 777-200LRs, 777-300ERs, 787s, etc. Typical African move-spend their money as fast as they get it.

BTW, it'll take a while for them to develop the brand recognition needed to be on-par with SAA and Kenya Airways. They have been leaders in African commercial aviation for some time now, and they wont give up that position to Arik Air overnight.

Arik Air seems a little too ambitious, I mean it's good Nigeria is getting a good carrier (now they need a decent skyline :lol:), but they have to build a good reputation internationally, some airline buying everything from Boeing's catalouge isn't going to give them that.

Anyways:


TAAG to ADD
DT560 LAD - ADD: 1330 - 2000
DT561 ADD - LAD: 1000 - 1230
Air Mauritanie has ceased to exist after it couldn't pay $2.7mil to the ILFC, A new airline, called Mauritanie Airways has been formed and will commence flights Nov.8; it will be 10% state-owned, the rest owned by TunisAir and a private entity.
Air Zim has boosted LGW to 5x weekly.
Air Namibia has dropped x1 weekly frequency on the WDH-LGW route, so now it's 2x weekly.

It would be foolish of them to order Airbus AND Boeing. They are already getting 737-700s, 777-200LRs, 777-300ERs, 787s, etc. Typical African move-spend their money as fast as they get it.

BTW, it'll take a while for them to develop the brand recognition needed to be on-par with SAA and Kenya Airways. They have been leaders in African commercial aviation for some time now, and they wont give up that position to Arik Air overnight.

Arik Air seems a little too ambitious, I mean it's good Nigeria is getting a good carrier (now they need a decent skyline ), but they have to build a good reputation internationally, some airline buying everything from Boeing's catalouge isn't going to give them that.

Kingofthehill, sorry, but you are talking rubbish!

Arik Air is not a bush airline but an private airline that is highly professionally run. Its management team is all Western educated and it comes from various ethnic backgrounds and it has big dreams, deep pockets (I could tell you a word where the money comes from but I will leave it here) and it is realising its goals consistently. Well, it is difficult to compare Arik Air with Etihad but when an Arab airlines makes the moves, it is excessively applauded. but when an African Airlines has big dreams and the potential for growth in Nigeria is there, it is laughed at loudly!:ohno:

Of course, SA and Kenya Airways are the biggest airlines in Africa so far but this doesn´t say that no other airline can challenge its position in the years and decades to come. (Bear in mind, that Nigeria Airways once was the biggest airlines with the most modern fleet in Africa in the 70´s and mid 80´s....well, it was a government-run disaster and we know the rest) This time it will be an uphill struggle but we go for it!

The initial domestic network was expected to cover the following cities: Abuja, Calabar, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, and Yola. Preparations are also underway to launch West Coast flights to Accra and Dakar.

In August 2006, the Federal Ministry of Aviation granted Arik Air authorization to fly to Trinidad and Tobago and Amsterdam, London, Madrid in Europe. Moreover, the airline has obtained traffic rights to Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, and Houston in the United States. These international routes to the US, UK and Middle & Far East will be introduced by 2008. These are no pipedreams....

Check out their website: http://www.arikair.com/

And what has a "decent skyline" got to do with good airline management?

Just got that from today´s news!


Arik to order A380 as Airbus studies suitability of Lagos airport

WALE HAASTRUP on 16 October, 2007 00:00:00 | 165 times read

Nigeria may soon join the league of those making orders for the use of Airbus A380 as studies are continuing on whether the Murtala Muhammed International Airport would be suitable for the super jumbo.

Business Day has gathered that the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, is currently studying presentations made to the company if the terminal would be able to accommodate the aircraft. David Dufrenois, Airbus vice president, sales, North and West Africa, disclosed this during a visit to Arik Airline’s office in Lagos.

Dufrenois, who was accompanied by John Parkinson, area sales director, customer affairs, said Airbus would send a team of experts to Nigeria to look at facilities such as the runway, terminal building, and other facilities at the Lagos airport.

He said Airbus was interested in doing business with Arik Air. This comes on the heels of Airbus delivering its first finished A380 super jumbo jet to Singapore Airlines, 18 months behind schedule.

The construction of the A380, able to carry up to 800 passengers, has been beset by persistent and costly delays.

It has also been overshadowed by allegations of insider trading against managers at parent company EADS.

Chief executive Thomas Enders said the delivery of the world’s largest commercial jet aircraft was "the latest milestone in a long journey." Singapore Airlines took delivery of the double-decker plane at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, at a ceremony attended by more than 500 people.

It would be flown to its new home at Singapore’s Changi tomorrow. The aircraft’s first commercial flight will take place on October 25, when the A380 takes off for Sydney.

"I realise how unsettling recent times, particularly the last 18 months, have been, but that only serves to make this achievement all the more impressive," Enders told Airbus employees at the ceremony.

Airbus said on Monday it was on track to meet its target for A380 deliveries in 2008 and did not envisage further delays.

Arik Air chairman Johnson Arumemi Johnson said his airline was interested in doing business with Airbus provided the pricing met Arik’s requirements.

Commenting on the meeting later, Arumemi-Johnson said there was no commitment yet on the part of Arik Air, but added that after further discussions, a decision would be made on whether to purchase the Boeing 747-800 or A380 for the airline’s planned large aircraft requirements.

Both British Airways and Emirates airlines are among airlines which have already ordered for the A380, and Arik chairman said: "Nigerians also deserve a big and comfortable aircraft that will make their travel stress-free. In choosing which aircraft to purchase, we will consider price, range, fuel burn and passenger comfort, among others."

Arik Air in its fleet renewal plan bought four brand new Bombardier CRJ 900 and two brand new Boeing 737-700 aircraft. An additional two Boeing 737-700, which will ply the regional routes, will join the Arik fleet next month.

The airline has also placed an order for three CRJ900 New Generation aircraft.

Also, the airline recently placed orders for new Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner.

The presentation by the Airbus team dealt on the Airbus family, the capabilities and basic advantages of the aircraft over its competitors.

The Arik super hanger model, which was unveiled last March and due to begin construction May 2008, will have the capacity to handle big aircraft like the A380 when completed in 2009.

• Monday, Oct 15, 2007

Arik Air will this week take delivery of two brand new Boeing 737-700NG.

The aircraft, according to the Head of Communication, Arik Airline, Gbemiga Ogunleye will be deployed to the West and East African routes by the first quarter of 2008.

This will be the total of Boeing 737-700 series in the airlines fleet to four, having taken delivery of two brand new Boeing 737-700 WG last June.

Meanwhile, the airline has concluded a two-day management retreat in Lagos.

The retreat, which had top management staff of the airline led by the chairman, Sir Johnson Arumemi and the managing director, Michael McTighe, in attendance, reviewed the operations of the one year old company.

The management retreat also deliberated on ways to make further contribution to the nation’s aviation industry.

The retreat looked at critical issues such as financial challenge in the aviation industry, maintaining a safety culture in Arik Air, as well as managing performance in Arik Air.

The airline at the retreat, resolved to continue its investment in the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

The airline had an inception in September 2006, sponsored 16 students from 15 states of the federation to NCAT for the standard pilot course. The 18 months course cost the airline about N16 million.

The airline also resolved to consolidate its development of the nation’s domestic routes by flying the Maiduguri, Sokoto and Yola routes very soon.

Arik Air Academy, which will recruit young and bright Nigerians from the universities and train them as cabin crew, aircraft engineers, ticketing and reservation officers and station managers will take off in the next quarter as Boeing has offered to provide technical support.
:banana::cheers:

Kingofthehill, sorry, but you are talking rubbish!

Arik Air is not a bush airline but an private airline that is highly professionally run. Its management team is all Western educated and it comes from various ethnic backgrounds and it has big dreams, deep pockets (I could tell you a word where the money comes from but I will leave it here) and it is realising its goals consistently. Well, it is difficult to compare Arik Air with Etihad but when an Arab airlines makes the moves, it is excessively applauded. but when an African Airlines has big dreams and the potential for growth in Nigeria is there, it is laughed at loudly!:ohno:

Of course, SA and Kenya Airways are the biggest airlines in Africa so far but this doesn´t say that no other airline can challenge its position in the years and decades to come. (Bear in mind, that Nigeria Airways once was the biggest airlines with the most modern fleet in Africa in the 70´s and mid 80´s....well, it was a government-run disaster and we know the rest) This time it will be an uphill struggle but we go for it!

The initial domestic network was expected to cover the following cities: Abuja, Calabar, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, and Yola. Preparations are also underway to launch West Coast flights to Accra and Dakar.

In August 2006, the Federal Ministry of Aviation granted Arik Air authorization to fly to Trinidad and Tobago and Amsterdam, London, Madrid in Europe. Moreover, the airline has obtained traffic rights to Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, and Houston in the United States. These international routes to the US, UK and Middle & Far East will be introduced by 2008. These are no pipedreams....

Check out their website: http://www.arikair.com/

And what has a "decent skyline" got to do with good airline management?
Nobody said Arik Air couldn't realise it's goals. All I was concerned about was them adding Airbus planes, when they are already firmly entrenched in the Boeing camp. Why complicate maintainance, crew training, familiarization, etc by adding a whole new type? Your are taking it too serious! If anything I support them and I'm just worried that adding a whole separate manufacturer type will do mar harm than good.

Also, next time don't compare Arik Air to the Middle Eastern airlines run by emirs and their petro-dollars. TAM of Brazil would be a better comparison.
And Lagos-Port of Spain?:nuts:

Nobody said Arik Air couldn't realise it's goals. All I was concerned about was them adding Airbus planes, when they are already firmly entrenched in the Boeing camp. Why complicate maintainance, crew training, familiarization, etc by adding a whole new type? Your are taking it too serious! If anything I support them and I'm just worried that adding a whole separate manufacturer type will do mar harm than good.

Also, next time don't compare Arik Air to the Middle Eastern airlines run by emirs and their petro-dollars. TAM of Brazil would be a better comparison.
And Lagos-Port of Spain?:nuts:

1.) Their management team surely knows what they do, better than both of us. :)Many airlines in the world fly Airbus and Boeing jets at the same time, so where is here the problem?

2.) I was not comparing Air Arik to the Middle Eastern Airlines. Read properly what I said: "Well, it is difficult to compare Arik Air with Etihad but when an Arab airlines makes the moves, it is excessively applauded. but when an African Airlines has big dreams and the potential for growth in Nigeria is there, it is laughed at loudly."

3.) As for Port of Spain, ties between Trinidad and tobago and Nigeria are long-standing, so I don´t see any problem with that. into the bargain, Trinidad and tobago is one of Latin America´s welathiest countries (GDP per head). It´s a hub for oil-refined and chemical products for South America, too!

Africa's 10 Busiest routes in terms of weekly flights 2007:

1. Cape Town - Johannesburg 831 (5th busiest in the world)
2. Durban - Johannesburg 588 (13th busiest in the world)
3. Praslin - Mahe, Seychelles 325
4. Abuja - Lagos 310
5. Cape Town - Durban 175
6. Johannesburg - Port Elizabeth 165
7. Mombasa - Nairobi 160
=8. Cairo - Luxor 140
=8. George - Johannesburg 140
=8. Cape Town - Port Elizabeth 140

Source: OAG

Aviation news:

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines will begin operating direct flights between Praia and London, the capital of the United Kingdom, on October 29. The Praia-London-Praia flights will take place every Monday, while on Wednesdays TACV will offer a Sal-London flight. Meanwhile, connections to Lisbon will increase considerably beginning October 28, when TAP Air Portugal will begin operating four weekly flights between Portuguese capital Lisbon and Praia. Despite this considerable increase in the availability of flights, ticket prices have ye to see a considerable decrease - TACV will fly to Lisbon for approximately 55,000 escudos round trip, while TAP will do the same route for 499 euros (the equivalent of 55,000 escudos).

Announcing the start of the Praia-London and Sal-London flight routes in a press conference, the president of investment and tourist promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos, Victor Fidalgo, affirmed that the flights will increase the competitiveness of Cape Verde’s real-estate market, a sector that is already in what he called “permanent ascension.”

TACV has joined Cabo Verde Investimentos in order to promote Cape Verde as a destination. The first steps toward this promotional drive were taken between September 28 and 30 at the Birmingham Real-Estate Fair in England, where the two institutions contacted various different promoters and announced the new flight routes.

“You cannot promote a destination for tourism or for investments if there is no transportation there. This is why Cabo Verde Investimentos is building a veritable partnership with TACV, and I believe that this association will allow us to increase our competitiveness, given that some of the constraints mentioned by investors and tourists are related to the reduced number of flights connecting Cape Verde to northern Europe,” said Victor Fidalgo, according to news agency Inforpress.

In the opinion of the president of Cabo Verde Investimentos, the new connection between Cape Verde and the United Kingdom “will also increase the islands’ competitiveness and the possibility of reaching the objective of bringing at least half a million tourists to the archipelago by 2010/2011.”

In order to absorb all of these visitors, Fidalgo also announced the creation of two new resorts on the island of Sal, Tortuga Beach and Dunas Beach, investments on the order of 35 million and 60 million euros, respectively.

Fidalgo also announced that TACV hopes to consolidate its position in the European market, particularly in Italy, Portugal, Spain and France.

At least in the case of Portugal, TACV will face additional competition from TAP Air Portugal beginning on October 28. The Portuguese airline will begin direct flights between Lisbon and Praia four times a week at a promotional price of 499 euros round trip. On the same day, TACV, in reaction to TAP’s promotion, will also reduce the price of its flights between Praia and the Portuguese capital to 55,000 escudos.

On TAP’s web site, customers may already make reservations on line for the Praia-Lisbon flights by clicking on the promotional ad the company has prepared for the kick-off of the flight route.

Source: caboverde24.com

Nobody said Arik Air couldn't realise it's goals. All I was concerned about was them adding Airbus planes, when they are already firmly entrenched in the Boeing camp. Why complicate maintainance, crew training, familiarization, etc by adding a whole new type? Your are taking it too serious! If anything I support them and I'm just worried that adding a whole separate manufacturer type will do mar harm than good.

Also, next time don't compare Arik Air to the Middle Eastern airlines run by emirs and their petro-dollars. TAM of Brazil would be a better comparison.
And Lagos-Port of Spain?:nuts:

TAM is quite a big airline my friend, we have a fleet of over 100 planes while Air Arik is just getting started. I think that the bubble for certain Middle Eastern airlines might burst in the future, I don't think this is the case for Emirates but other secondary airlines with overly big ambitions.

Remeber ridiculous routing and poor management led to the demise of Latin America's premier Airline; Varig.

I could tell you a word where the money comes from but I will leave it here

..we believe every word you say.

TAM is quite a big airline my friend, we have a fleet of over 100 planes while Air Arik is just getting started. I think that the bubble for certain Middle Eastern airlines might burst in the future, I don't think this is the case for Emirates but other secondary airlines with overly big ambitions.

Remeber ridiculous routing and poor management led to the demise of Latin America's premier Airline; Varig.

If you are referring to Etihad or Kuwait airways, no way, these airlines are more or less state-sponsored airlines and unique prestige airlines, those emirates are fantastically rich and even if those airlines are big loss-makers (which I doubt at least for Etihad), they will continue to fly!:)

If you are referring to Etihad or Kuwait airways, no way, these airlines are more or less state-sponsored airlines and unique prestige airlines, those emirates are fantastically rich and even if those airlines are big loss-makers (which I doubt at least for Etihad), they will continue to fly!:)

The reality is that Dubai is capturing a huge market share and is becoming a supreme hub. Kuwait city cannot compete with Dubai, this is a fact if they begin with over ambitious routes they'll lose money. They might continue flying, but that doesn't change the fact that they'll have a flawed business plan.

The reality is that Dubai is capturing a huge market share and is becoming a supreme hub. Kuwait city cannot compete with Dubai, this is a fact if they begin with over ambitious routes they'll lose money. They might continue flying, but that doesn't change the fact that they'll have a flawed business plan.

Agreed wih Dubai.... but don´t underestimate Qatar Airways! The guys are going really big with a plan!

Agreed wih Dubai.... but don´t underestimate Qatar Airways! The guys are going really big with a plan!

I have my doubts, people tend to see Qatar Airways as an Emirates "copy cat". Their challenge is for them to offer services exclusive to them, if they go head to head with Emirates they'll lose. :)

1.) Their management team surely knows what they do, better than both of us. :)Many airlines in the world fly Airbus and Boeing jets at the same time, so where is here the problem?
The problem is that adding a new fleet type makes things more complex and brings in factors that could have easily been avoided. I'm not doubting their management team at all, I just think for an airline it's size they should let the Boeings arrive before moving on to Airbus!

3.) As for Port of Spain, ties between Trinidad and tobago and Nigeria are long-standing, so I don´t see any problem with that. into the bargain, Trinidad and tobago is one of Latin America´s welathiest countries (GDP per head). It´s a hub for oil-refined and chemical products for South America, too!
LOL, you are so brainwashed! Port of Spain barely has 1.5 mio people! Sure the oil ties are there, but most of the oil traffic goes to Port Harcourt (PHC) and what goes to Lagos is high-end and flies private or on a dedicated flight. So boggling down a widebody for a few oil executives, of which already get to Nigeria via contracted airlines is a waste of time, and money, IMO, my friend. Also, a Nigerian carrier flying a widebody to the Caribbean is laughable as is.

TAM is quite a big airline my friend, we have a fleet of over 100 planes while Air Arik is just getting started. I think that the bubble for certain Middle Eastern airlines might burst in the future, I don't think this is the case for Emirates but other secondary airlines with overly big ambitions.
I know about TAM, but IMO Arik Air is similar to an early TAM, both with the markets they serve (minus oil; minus subsidized routes) and similarities in the country.

LOL, you are so brainwashed! Port of Spain barely has 1.5 mio people! Sure the oil ties are there, but most of the oil traffic goes to Port Harcourt (PHC) and what goes to Lagos is high-end and flies private or on a dedicated flight. So boggling down a widebody for a few oil executives, of which already get to Nigeria via contracted airlines is a waste of time, and money, IMO, my friend. Also, a Nigerian carrier flying a widebody to the Caribbean is laughable as is.

Kingofthehill, have anyone of us spoken with the management team? NO So do we know their motivations? NO
All we know that Arik Air is the first private Nigerian airline that wants to make it big PROFESSIONALLY! (they were many private airlines but they lacked various ingredienst to make it big) So we should support them instaead of criticizing them in their early days! Let´s wait and see:)


I have my doubts, people tend to see Qatar Airways as an Emirates "copy cat". Their challenge is for them to offer services exclusive to them, if they go head to head with Emirates they'll lose.

Aley Roney, I don´t think so. Qatar Airways is a country that is extremely wealthy. They have natural gas resserves for centuries (!!), I am not kidding! and a growing service and financial sector, it will become the Gulf richest country in the future. (it already is in terms of GDP per head) Local Qatari population is just 200 000 (!!!). They have won the giga-jackpot with all the wealth and wise leadership in the country! Their leadership is extremly western-oriented, at times too much if you ask me! Look at the projects they are doing, everything is just more exclusive than Dubai...and their approach is different in some areas!

Qatar Airways offers twice daily flights out of Frankfurt. they are flying from Munich, too. More cities in Germany will follow! As opposed to Kuwait Airways or Saudi Arabia airlines, Qatar Airways is really giving Emirates a run, Qatar Airways is not just a prestige airline, it is more than that!

Just read an article stating that BA/Comair has put in a bid to buy one Air Malawi 737-300...also saying that Air Malawi has two 737s, now is that correct? I thought they only had the one 737-300, ATR42 and Let-410? If that aircraft is sold, then what does that mean for Air Malawi in terms of continuing flights to JNB, or would they acquire a new aircraft?
If the fact of a second 737 is correct, is that then maybe the 735 leased to RwandairExpress?

Just read an article stating that BA/Comair has put in a bid to buy one Air Malawi 737-300...also saying that Air Malawi has two 737s, now is that correct? I thought they only had the one 737-300, ATR42 and Let-410? If that aircraft is sold, then what does that mean for Air Malawi in terms of continuing flights to JNB, or would they acquire a new aircraft?
If the fact of a second 737 is correct, is that then maybe the 735 leased to RwandairExpress?

Comair brought Air Malawi.

Air Malawi has x1 737-500 leased to Rwandair Express.

The deal also included Air Malawis subsidiaries - Air Malawi Cargo and Lilongwe Airport Handling Company

The article is actually about the fact that Comair did NOT buy Air Malawi as a whole, like unions and the public thought, and that they were only interested in the single aircraft. It's still on airline-news.com and reuters africa.

[

Aley Roney, I don´t think so. Qatar Airways is a country that is extremely wealthy. They have natural gas resserves for centuries (!!), I am not kidding! and a growing service and financial sector, it will become the Gulf richest country in the future. (it already is in terms of GDP per head) Local Qatari population is just 200 000 (!!!). They have won the giga-jackpot with all the wealth and wise leadership in the country! Their leadership is extremly western-oriented, at times too much if you ask me! Look at the projects they are doing, everything is just more exclusive than Dubai...and their approach is different in some areas!

Qatar Airways offers twice daily flights out of Frankfurt. they are flying from Munich, too. More cities in Germany will follow! As opposed to Kuwait Airways or Saudi Arabia airlines, Qatar Airways is really giving Emirates a run, Qatar Airways is not just a prestige airline, it is more than that!


Being wealthy isn't the only factor to take into account. Saudi Arabia has the largest economy of all he gulf countries, it also holds the greatest importance but its far from being a global hub. The thing the Middle Eastern market for a hub that unites east and west isn't big enough for more than one true international hub. With greater range and offers of flights between the West and Asia Doha will have a tough time, especially with a more reconized and established player.

Okay, Germany is just one country what about Asia?

Here's Emirates routes in Asia: Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagoya, Osaka, Seoul, Jakarta, Kualampur, Manila, Bangkok, Dhaka, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Male, Colombo ect.

Not to mention more services to Australia, Europe and expansion into the Americas. They recently beat Qatar Airways in serving Sao Paulo with a 6 weekly, in July of 2008 they'll upgrade it to a daily service plus adding a Dubai-Rio de Janeiro-Buenos Aires flight.

The article is actually about the fact that Comair did NOT buy Air Malawi as a whole, like unions and the public thought, and that they were only interested in the single aircraft. It's still on airline-news.com and reuters africa.

Yes Comair definitely has not bought Air Malawi. They are in negotiations to form a mangement agreement.

A second terminal has been opened at Wilson Airport.

The Sh178 million terminal, which is expected to ease congestion at the airport, was opened by the Transport minister Mr Chirau Ali Mwakwere on Thursday evening.

Opening of the terminal also doubled as the official launch of a new airline, Executive Turbine.

Speaking at the launch, the airline’s Group Managing Director, Mr Mohammed Nyaoga, said the company would offer aircraft leasing, charter services, aircraft contracts and medical evacuations services.

"We will invest and support the aviation industry through training of pilots, engineers and cabin crew," said Nyaoga.

Mwakwere said that the entry of the airline in the country would spur competitiveness in the aviation industry.

"In the short period Executive Turbine has operated in the country, it is encouraging to note that it has put in place facilities to enable it offer excellent services," Mwakwere said.

Nyaoga urged the Government to implement measures aimed at creating a suitable environment that would enable the aviation sector to flourish.

"The Government needs to emphasise on improvement of management and human resources skills in the sector, modernisation of the aviation infrastructure," Nyaoga said.

Wilson is the second busiest airport in Africa, with planes landing and taking off every minute.

"Wilson is the second busiest airport in Africa, with planes landing and taking off every minute".

thats one kick-ass statistic right there and its not the biggest in kenya

"Wilson is the second busiest airport in Africa, with planes landing and taking off every minute".

thats one kick-ass statistic right there and its not the biggest in kenya

Until you see some proper stats, like total passenger numbers, etc., that claim can't be verified

For those that are interested I've posted the latest top 40 African airport stats and rankings on this page http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=15998815#post15998815. I'm no longer posting them in this thread after last time's strong negative reaction from Nigerian forummers who objected to me posting them because Lagos and Abuja airports weren't ranked in the position they wanted them. I'll keep the stats updated in the South African aviation thread.

Until you see some proper stats, like total passenger numbers, etc., that claim can't be verified

i did not come up with that i found it on this website
http://eastandard.net/news/?id=1143976243 plus wilson is just a regional airport so it does not mean that only big ol planes are on traffic it includes small ones too

Until you see some proper stats, like total passenger numbers, etc., that claim can't be verified

Wilson mostly handles chartered flights and cargo.So it definatley is not busy in terms of passenger traffic,but frequency of planes landing and taking off.

For those that are interested I've posted the latest top 40 African airport stats and rankings on this page http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=15998815#post15998815. I'm no longer posting them in this thread after last time's strong negative reaction from Nigerian forummers who objected to me posting them because Lagos and Abuja airports weren't ranked in the position they wanted them. I'll keep the stats updated in the South African aviation thread.

You can leave this forum for all I care. We have forumers in here like Matthias that have contributed a heap to this forum, and just cos You copied and pasted a stat that happened to be criticized you go ranting like this..

Last time I checked, only one person criticized the stat, and you and I know that it was expected. It was basically an observation that was made, but a lot of people on this forum turn every little thing into a heated debate.

Hadly a rant I'm merely letting those that are interested know where I'm posting the list (I've received mail from some forummers asking for them as they are not on the internet). End of story.

Wilson mostly handles chartered flights and cargo.So it definatley is not busy in terms of passenger traffic,but frequency of planes landing and taking off.

^^i cant argue with that considering that it includes light aircraft. And then again why would they lie anyway?

It doesn't surprise me that Wilson was 2nd in Africa for aircraft movement. I couldn't believe the amount of activity when I went there 2 years ago. When airports are ranked according to aircraft movements it's generally the airports that handle light aircraft that top the list.

Until you see some proper stats, like total passenger numbers, etc., that claim can't be verified

These stats refer to light aircrafts in Africa, there are no proper stats (or at least I cant find any) regarding frequency of landings and take-offs for African airports. Wilson Airport has approximately 120,000 landings and take offs annually.

Some articles on the net regarding Wilson Airport....

From Shell Kenya

"Wilson airport is one of the busiest airports in Africa handling close to 90% of all the non-scheduled flights landing in Kenya."

http://www.shell.com/home/content/ke-en/news_and_library/press_releases/2007/aircraft_equipment_13052007.html

---------------
From the Daily Nation

"Wilson, which handles light aircraft, is one of the busiest airports by frequency of take-offs and landings in Africa."

http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/23022004/News/News230220042.html

---------------
From Industry Canada - International Market Research

" Nairobi's Wilson Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in Africa and serves as the regional small aircraft maintenance center."

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/imr-ri.nsf/en/gr120990e.html

When ranked by number of take-offs and landings, Wilson is one of the busiest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071021/lf_afp/nigeriahelicopteroffbeat;_ylt=Aib72qP5aUkaCkD0yomqVdi96Q8F

Home-made helicopters hit northern Nigeria

by Aminu Abubakar 16 minutes ago

KANO (AFP) - Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.
ADVERTISEMENT

"It took me eight months to build this one," he said, sweat pouring from his forehead as he filled the radiator of the banana yellow four-seater which he now parks in the grounds of his university.

The chopper, which has flown briefly on six occasions, is made from scrap aluminium that Abdullahi bought with the money he makes from computer and mobile phone repairs, and a donation from his father, who teaches at Kano's Bayero university.

It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago.

For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.

The cockpit consists of a push-button ignition, an accelerator lever between the seats which controls vertical thrust, a joystick that provides balance and bearing.

A small screen on the dashboard connects to a camera underneath the helicopter for ground vision, a set of six buttons adjusts the screen's brightness while a small transmitter is used for communication.

"You start it, allow it to run for a minute or two and you then shift the accelerator forward and the propeller on top begins to spin. The further you shift the accelerator the faster it goes and once you reach 300 rmp you press the joystick and it takes off," Abdullahi explained from the cockpit.

He said he learned the rudiments of flying a helicopter from the Internet and first got the idea of building one from the films he watches on television.

"I watched action movies a lot and I was fascinated by the way choppers fly. I decided it would be easier to build one than to build a car," he said pacing the premises of the security division of the university which he uses as hanger for his helicopter.

He hoped -- and still does hope -- that the Nigerian government and his wealthy compatriots would turn to him and stop placing orders with western manufacturers.

So far, however, government response to his chopper project has been underwhelming to say the least.

Although some government officials got very excited when they saw him conduct a demonstration flight in neighbouring Katsina state, Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has so far shown no interest in his aircraft.

"No one from the NCAA has come to see what I've done. We don't reward talent in this country," he lamented.

Abdullahi does admit that his first helicopter lacks "some basic facilities like devices for measuring atmospheric pressure, altitude, humidity and the like."

In a country with Nigeria's abysmal air safety record officials may be loath to gamble on one student's home-made helicopter.

But Abdullahi, undeterred, has started work on a new flying machine, which, he says, "will be a radical improvement on the first one in terms of sophistication and aesthetics."

Currently just a spindly metal frame in the back yard, the helicopter will be a two-seater and Abdullahi calculates it will be able to fly at an altitude of 15 feet for three hours at a stretch.

It will be powered by a brand new motor -- albeit Taiwan-manufactured and destined for the Jincheng motorbike so common on the streets of Kano.

Michealda beat me to it here! Nice story and thanks for sharing it with us.

Interesting article.

Any information on the Brussels Airlines/Hewa Bora project to start a little-hub in Kinshasa, with new airline operating under the name AirDC. Apparently getting 2x737-800 and 4xBAe146. When will this be started and what will it mean to hewa bora's current routes in Africa (JNB especially)?

New modern private airline for Angola


Lonrho spreads wings to Angola
Oct 09 2007 03:47 PM

Johannesburg - Investment group Lonrho (LAF) announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement that will lead to the creation of a joint venture with GEFI, (Sociedade de Gestao e Participacoes Financeiras SARL), one of the largest internal investment companies in Angola, to set up a new modern airline in Angola.

The deal is subject to the approval of a final business implementation plan to be submitted shortly.

The airline will be called `Fly 540 Angola', and will replicate Lonrho's successful Fly 540 airline which is already established and operating in Kenya.

Lonrho will utilise the skill and experience available within the existing Fly 540 operation to rapidly develop the new airline to become a major market force in Angola.

GEFI, through its wholly owned aviation subsidiary, Planar, has provisionally agreed to provide Planar's assets to the joint venture including a 1 000m2 hangar; 400m2 of offices and a ticket office on a long term, peppercorn, rental at 4th February International Airport, the main airport in Luanda.

Operations to commence early 2008

Planar currently holds an Air Services Licence which will be used for Fly 540 Angola.

It is planned to commence operations in the domestic market in early 2008.

Initial deployment will be a combination of modern turboprops and regional jets, which will provide regular scheduled services to ten key locations within Angola.

David Lenigas, chairperson and CEO of Lonrho commented: "The results of our market analysis show that the domestic market in Angolan aviation is growing at 20% per year and we also plan to commence international flights in due course.

"This is a significant further step in establishing Fly 540 as an integrated, pan African regional carrier of international standards. We expect Fly 540 to be flying in seven countries by the end of the first quarter of 2008."

- I-Net Bridge

Arik gets more aircraft
By Wole Shadare

ARIK Air has announced the purchase of two new Boeing 737-700s aircraft, which are expected to arrive in the country next month.

Managing Director of the airline, Michael McTighe, disclosed this at a press conference yesterday in commemoration of the first anniversary of the company at the Arik Aviation Centre.

According to McTighe, the aircraft, which will come directly from the factory in Seattle, United States (U.S.), are parts of the airline's long-term commitment to the nation's aviation industry.

His words: "The airline has placed orders for a total of 36 aircraft. These orders include five Boeing 777, seven Boeing 787-900 and these aircraft will be deployed on our intercontinental routes, thus restating our belief that we are a strong partner in the process of restoring confidence in the Nigerian aviation industry both home and abroad."

The airline chief said before his company would venture into regional and international routes, it would first establish itself on the local ones and interconnect them.

He also said that the airline planned to bring in the Boeing 777 after the completion of its super hangar.

Another Chinese Airlines has announced to begin direct flights between China and Angola. It is China´s fourth biggest airline called Hainan Airlines. This will be be the second carrier after China Southern Airlines has taken up flights. More will come in the future! All this is just the start of a long story to come:cheers:



Companhia aérea chinesa anuncia novos vôos para Angola

29/10/2007 - 12h38

Pequim, 29 out (Lusa) - A Hainan Airlines, quarta maior transportadora aérea chinesa, começa em breve a voar para Angola, aproveitando o aumento do mercado africano, divulgou nesta segunda-feira a imprensa oficial da China.

"Deveremos abrir uma nova rota para Angola até o final do ano, devido ao aumento das trocas e contatos entre a China e a África", disse Chen Feng, presidente da transportadora, citado pelo jornal estatal China Daily.

O jornal não adianta mais detalhes sobre a rota aérea, que fará concorrência aos vôos diretos entre Luanda e Cantão da companhia aérea China Southern - anunciados em fevereiro -, até agora a única ligação aérea entre a China e um país africano de língua portuguesa.

Segundo Chen, a estratégia da Hainan Airlines "é completar falhas nas ofertas de destino já existentes".

No fim de agosto de 2006, a transportadora aérea chinesa comprou 100 jatos da construtora brasileira Embraer, pelo preço de US$ 2,7 bilhões.

Nos últimos dois anos, a Hainan Airlines abriu uma série de ligações entre as maiores cidades chinesas e destinos internacionais como Macau, Bruxelas, Seul, Osaka (Japão), Kuala Lumpur (capital da Malásia), Budapeste e São Petersburgo (Rússia).

A empresa, que opera mais de 500 rotas, prevê também sua entrada na bolsa até o final do ano, depois da fusão com transportadoras subsidiárias, sob a marca Grand China.

^

Supposedly they are operating a 1x weekly Beijing-Dubai-Luanda service since this summer.

HU7923 PEK - DXB: 730 - 1230
HU7923 DXB - LAD: 1350 - 1830
HU7924 LAD - DXB: 2030 - 730
HU7924 DXB - PEK: 850 - 2245

TACV (Cape Verde) had added a new flight to London Stansted

VR658 RAI - STN: 0120 - 0810 (from Praia)
VR659 STN - RAI: 0920 - 1420

VR656 SID - STN: 0120 - 0810 (from Sal)
VR657 STN - SID: 0920 - 1420

Has anyone heard in the local press if any airlines will be flying the A380 to African airports (apart from SA)? Emirates to NBO perhaps?

Has anyone heard in the local press if any airlines will be flying the A380 to African airports (apart from SA)? Emirates to NBO perhaps?

It won't happen for somewhat of a long time, apart a need for an upgrade in most of the airports infrastructures, for the next couple of years their won't be that many A380's in use. The major airlines will probably fly them at first in their most profitable or most used air route (i.e London - N.Y)

Btw does this mean their are now 3 airlines serving between Angola and China with one weekly flight? Why doesn't one airline increase their frequency and control the market?

Btw does this mean their are now 3 airlines serving between Angola and China with one weekly flight? Why doesn't one airline increase their frequency and control the market?

Alex to be honest with u I dont think that the Chinese flights to Luanda have begun yet...if you go to Aeroporto Quatro de Fevereiro's wikipedia page, both are "pending government approval". But I will be going to Luanda in Dec and will see once and for all if Chinese airlines have in fact begun service to Luanda already.

Meanwhile, TAAG Angola Airlines has officially began flying to Addis Ababa yesterday. Ethiopia Airlines has already been using this route, quite successfully, so now they will see some competition.

Also, today TAAG began flights to Bangui, Central African Republic :? and they will begin flights to Ndjamena, Chad, soon:wtf:

I am COMPLETELY baffled by the choice of these destination, and I was completely unaware that there was even traffic between these two countries. How can these routes possibly be profitable to TAAG?! Who goes to Bangui and Ndjamena?! But hey, I might be proven completely wrong, and maybe there might even be sizeable traffic between these countries. But I sincerely doubt it.

Alex to be honest with u I dont think that the Chinese flights to Luanda have begun yet...if you go to Aeroporto Quatro de Fevereiro's wikipedia page, both are "pending government approval". But I will be going to Luanda in Dec and will see once and for all if Chinese airlines have in fact begun service to Luanda already.

Meanwhile, TAAG Angola Airlines has officially began flying to Addis Ababa yesterday. Ethiopia Airlines has already been using this route, quite successfully, so now they will see some competition.

Also, today TAAG began flights to Bangui, Central African Republic :? and they will begin flights to Ndjamena, Chad, soon:wtf:

I am COMPLETELY baffled by the choice of these destination, and I was completely unaware that there was even traffic between these two countries. How can these routes possibly be profitable to TAAG?! Who goes to Bangui and Ndjamena?! But hey, I might be proven completely wrong, and maybe there might even be sizeable traffic between these countries. But I sincerely doubt it.

I just find it odd how neither airlines never really commercialized their new routes. Announcing a long haul flight only 2 weeks before the first flight is really weird indeed.

With regards to flying to Central African Republic and Chad, perhaps their trying to appeal to Angolan aid workers who wish to work in Darfur. Afterall Chad is the "gateway" to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. :ohno:

BYE BYE RAM:banana::banana:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071031/wl_africa_afp/senegalmoroccotransportaviation_071031114005&printer=1;_ylt=Ak5Gco1dRE7EPuQuMfGWBVqZsdEF
Like SA with Air tanzania, RAM play a very bad game with V7.
Good start:excellent service, ponctuality since 2003 when Royal air Maroc changed his strategy and investing no more in V7 in favour of an expansion of us: 2 or 1 daily flight in every west african capitals, It was the end of glory for V7 for which his developpement where stop with only 3 B737-700 and a dash.
Dakar airport have 1.8 millions travellers a year (700.000 are tourists) so it was not difficult to make a strong carrier for west africa during 2000-2004 there werent GIA ,air Ivoire, Virgin Nigeria it was so easy ......:ohno::ohno:
Now the futur partern ( maybe a Middle east airlines its the new fashion relationship for SENEGAL transport,industry, tourism....) have large competitor like Delta,SA, RAM, AF, SN......but its a good think because V7 is now a banana airlines with cancelled flight, poor service and the ponctuality a a joke for us, the best employes had leave it, .....
There is a big challenge for the new comer with the liberalisation of the senegalese sky...
i trust the futur of air senegal international
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Air_Senegal_International_B737_6V-AHU.jpg/250px-Air_Senegal_International_B737_6V-AHU.jpg

sorry for my bad english

Well, it is mentioned that TAAG is flying to Bangui and N´djamena. It is a joke!:nuts: Ridiculous, I couldn´t believe what you were telling us but it is true. What do they want in Bangui and N´Djamena, please? There is nothing there!!!

...On a lighter note, the artile below says that TAAG will open up new routes to the following countries by end of this year:




Libreville
Malabo
Accra
Cotonou

Cotonou came as a suprise to me, too???? Why Cotonou????

And where the heck is Lagos in it, please? Leaving out Nigeria is like leaving out a very economic important player within Africa! Nigeria and Angola could forge economic link and not Bangui and Luanda, you need to bring money to these places you don´t go there for business.

Where is Cairo?

Where is Casablanca?

Where is Dakar or Abidjan???

Where is Nairobi???



Angolan Airlines lancera davantage de lignes vers l'Afrique centrale et occidentale

(Les Echos 02/11/2007)

LUANDA -- La compagnie aérienne angolaise Angolan Airlines (TAAG) envisage de lancer davantage de lignes vers des pays d'Afrique centrale et occidentale, a rapporté jeudi l'agence de presse officielle angolaise ANGOP.

Antonio Fernandez, conseiller du conseil des directeurs de la TAAG, cité par ANGOP, a indiqué que l'inauguration mercredi du vol Luanda-Bangui-N'djamena faisait partie du projet d'exploration de cette compagnie nationale.

La TAAG souhaite lancer des vols vers Libreville (Gabon), Malabo (Guinée équatoriale), Cotonou (Bénin) et Accra (Ghana) d'ici la fin de l'année, a fait savoir M. Fernandez.

En Afrique, la compagnie aérienne angolaise gère actuellemnt des lignes vers l'Afrique du Sud, la République du Congo, la République démocratique du Congo, Sao Tomé et Principe, la Namibie, le Zimbabwe, la Zambie et le Cap-Vert.

Well, it is mentioned that TAAG is flying to Bangui and N´djamena. It is a joke!:nuts: Ridiculous, I couldn´t believe what you were telling us but it is true. What do they want in Bangui and N´Djamena, please? There is nothing there!!!

...On a lighter note, the artile below says that TAAG will open up new routes to the following countries by end of this year:




Libreville
Malabo
Accra
Cotonou

Cotonou came as a suprise to me, too???? Why Cotonou????

And where the heck is Lagos in it, please? Leaving out Nigeria is like leaving out a very economic important player within Africa! Nigeria and Angola could forge economic link and not Bangui and Luanda, you need to bring money to these places you don´t go there for business.

Where is Cairo?

Where is Casablanca?

Where is Dakar or Abidjan???

Where is Nairobi???

These random ass routes is a one of many reasons why airlines shouldn't be goverment owned. For one many of the services could have more political reasons than economical ones, however I don't see the political importance in Chad or Central African Republic. I really doubt these services will ever kick off.

Good to see that their opening new routes, I think the problem with African aviation as a whole, apart from the major players (SA, Egypt and Morroco) most other nations have little connectivity to the rest of the continent. Hopefully TAAG could end this trend.

These random ass routes is a one of many reasons why airlines shouldn't be goverment owned. For one many of the services could have more political reasons than economical ones, however I don't see the political importance in Chad or Central African Republic. I really doubt these services will ever kick off.

Good to see that their opening new routes, I think the problem with African aviation as a whole, apart from the major players (SA, Egypt and Morroco) most other nations have little connectivity to the rest of the continent. Hopefully TAAG could end this trend.

If Nigerian Airways which was a huge airline back then hadn´t ended up in the hands of corrupt assholes, things would look different by now. But Arik Air and Virgin Nigeria are doing a good job, have confidence into them....and this will hopefully be a driver for the others, just like Bellview which is modernzing its fleet now.

Air Afrique was once also a very promising airline with good interconnectivity in Africa.

And you have forgotten Egypt Air!

Kenya airways flies to many african cities, more than any airline you would find in the North.

Kenya airways flies to many african cities, more than any airline you would find in the North.

Yes, how could it be forgotten, there are doing a very good job and established great links between African countries.:)

Has anyone heard in the local press if any airlines will be flying the A380 to African airports (apart from SA)? Emirates to NBO perhaps?

they make Lagos International airport fit for the A380, too!

Don´t forget that Air Arik will most likely place orders for the A380!

If Nigerian Airways which was a huge airline back then hadn´t ended up in the hands of corrupt assholes, things would look different by now. But Arik Air and Virgin Nigeria are doing a good job, have confidence into them....and this will hopefully be a driver for the others, just like Bellview which is modernzing its fleet now.

Air Afrique was once also a very promising airline with good interconnectivity in Africa.

And you have forgotten Egypt Air!

Quick question which of those airlines do you see as being the supreme Nigerian airline? Also do you see as Arik Air being the unofficial Nigerian carrier, since Virgin Nigeria is owned by Virgin which is British making it somewhat less "Nigerian".?

I didn't leave out Egypt Air, I mentioned African centers which have good connectivity such as South Africa and Egypt which is home to Africa's two largest carriers.

Kenya airways flies to many african cities, more than any airline you would find in the North.

Kenyan Airways does indeed have good connectivity within Africa, but your also better positioned to serve Africa than North African countries.

Both Kenyan Airways and Egypt Air have a good African connection.

Egypt Air
Algeria
Algiers (Houari Boumedienne Airport)
Libya
Benghazi (Benina International Airport)
Tripoli (Tripoli International Airport)
Morocco
Casablanca (Mohammed V International Airport)
Sudan
Khartoum (Khartoum International Airport)
Tunisia
Tunis (Tunis-Carthage International Airport)

[edit] East Africa
Eritrea
Asmara (Asmara International Airport)
Ethiopia
Addis Ababa (Bole International Airport)
Kenya
Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport)
Uganda
Entebbe (Entebbe International Airport)

[edit] West Africa
Ghana
Accra (Kotoka International Airport)
Nigeria
Kano (Kano International Airport)
Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport)

[edit] South Africa
South Africa
Johannesburg (OR Tambo International Airport)

Kenyan Airways
Benin
Cotonou (Cadjehoun Airport)
Burundi
Bujumbura (Bujumbura International Airport)
Cameroon
Douala (Douala International Airport)
Yaounde (Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport)
Comores
Moroni (Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa (Kinshasa International Airport)
Lubumbashi (Lubumbashi International Airport)
Djibouti
Djibouti (Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport)
Egypt
Cairo (Cairo International Airport)
Ethiopia
Addis Ababa (Bole International Airport)
Ghana
Accra (Kotoka International Airport)
Ivory Coast
Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport)
Kenya
Kisumu (Kisumu Airport)
Lamu (Manda Airport)
Malindi (Malindi Airport)
Mombasa (Moi International Airport)
Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) hub
Malawi
Lilongwe (Kamuzu International Airport)
Mali
Bamako (Senou International Airport)
Mauritius
Port Louis (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport)
Mayotte
Dzaoudzi
Mozambique
Maputo (Maputo International Airport)
Nigeria
Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport)
Republic of the Congo
Brazzaville (Maya-Maya Airport)
Rwanda
Kigali (Kigali International Airport)
Senegal
Dakar (Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport)
Seychelles
Mahe (Seychelles International Airport)
Sierra Leone
Freetown (Lungi International Airport)
South Africa
Johannesburg (Johannesburg International Airport)
Sudan
Khartoum (Khartoum International Airport)
Tanzania
Dar Es Salaam (Dar es Salaam Airport)
Zanzibar (Zanzibar International Airport)
Uganda
Entebbe (Entebbe International Airport)
Zambia
Lusaka (Lusaka International Airport)
Zimbabwe
Harare (Harare International Airport

South African Airways
Africa

[edit] West Africa
Côte d'Ivoire
Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport)
Ghana
Accra (Kotoka International Airport)
Nigeria
Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport)
Senegal
Dakar (Dakar-Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport)

[edit] Central Africa
Angola
Luanda (Quatro de Fevereiro Airport)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa (N'Djili International Airport)

[edit] East Africa
Kenya
Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport)
Malawi
Blantyre (Chileka International Airport)
Lilongwe
Mauritius
Port Louis (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport)
Mozambique
Maputo (Maputo International Airport)
Tanzania
Dar es Salaam (Mwalimu J.K. Nyerere International Airport)
Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro International Airport) seasonal
Zanzibar (Zanzibar Airport)
Uganda
Entebbe (Entebbe International Airport)
Zambia
Lusaka (Lusaka International Airport)
Livingstone
Zimbabwe
Harare (Harare International Airport)
Victoria Falls

[edit] Southern Africa
Namibia
Windhoek (Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport)
Botswana
Gaborone (Sir Seretse Khama International Airport)
South Africa
Cape Town (Cape Town International Airport) Hub
Durban (Durban International Airport)
East London (East London Airport)
Johannesburg (OR Tambo International Airport) Hub
Port Elizabeth (Port Elizabeth Airport)

Quick question which of those airlines do you see as being the supreme Nigerian airline? Also do you see as Arik Air being the unofficial Nigerian carrier, since Virgin Nigeria is owned by Virgin which is British making it somewhat less "Nigerian".?

No, Virgin Nigeria is 51% Nigerian-owned, so I consider it a Nigerian carrier....Virgin is a world wide brand name, good to have a Virgin Nigeria!:)

But if you make me choose either Virgin Nigeria or Air Arik, beyond any doubt it is Air Arik!

I didn't leave out Egypt Air, I mentioned African centers which have good connectivity such as South Africa and Egypt which is home to Africa's two largest carriers.

Cairo is an important centre withnin Africa, Egypt is an African country and their African route network is pretty dense, could be more, of course, but it is OK.

No, Virgin Nigeria is 51% Nigerian-owned, so I consider it a Nigerian carrier....Virgin is a world wide brand name, good to have a Virgin Nigeria!:)

But if you make me choose either Virgin Nigeria or Air Arik, beyond any doubt it is Air Arik!



Cairo is an important centre withnin Africa, Egypt is an African country and their African route network is pretty dense, could be more, of course, but it is OK.

Well its a subsidiary of Virgin Atlantic Airways, its technically a Nigerian carrier no doubt. However Peruvians tend to complain how Lan Peru (49% owned by Lan Chile) isn't really the official "peruvian carrier" like AeroPeru before its fall. Hence why I'm not to surprised you chose Air Arik, plus it looks better.

Btw I think Royal Maroc is expanding to Yaounde and Monrovia

Btw I think Royal Maroc is expanding to Yaounde and Monrovia

They are:

AT599 CMN2010 - 0040+1ROB 73G 4
AT599 CMN2300 - 0330+1ROB 73G 7

AT598 ROB0130 - 0710CMN 73G 5
AT598 ROB0420 - 1000CMN 73G 1

AT509 CMN1600 - 2245NSI 738 15
AT508 NSI2335 - 0640+1CMN 738 15

SN Brussels to be partner in new Congo Airline

November 04, 2007

By Joe Bavier

SB Belgium's national airline SN Brussels will launch a new central African regional carrier early next year in partnership with Congo's Hewa Bora Airways, a senior company official said on Thursday, November 1, 2007. Hewa Bora will own a 51 percent stake in the new Democratic Republic of Congo-based company, which will be called Air DC, and the Belgian firm 49 percent, SN Brussels' Congo director, Johan Martens, told a local radio station.

Routes from the planned hub in the capital Kinshasa have yet to be finalised but Martens said the airline would initially operate flights to Lubumbashi, capital of copper and cobalt rich Katanga province, and the diamond heartland Mbuji-Mayi.

"We will serve in any case the main domestic points in Congo ... and also regional destinations such as Luanda (Angola), Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) and Douala (Cameroon)," he told U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi.

Air DC plans to operate modern Boeing 737s and smaller BA 146 four-engine aircraft, making its fleet among the most modern in the vast, central African country, where air transport is largely dominated by elderly Soviet-era planes.

Congo is among the world's most dangerous countries for air travel. Its record was dubbed an "embarrassment" by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) last year.

At least 80 people have died so far this year in seven crashes in the former Belgian colony, more than 50 of them killed last month when a Russian-built cargo plane plunged into a crowded neighbourhood on the outskirts of Kinshasa.

Elderly planes suffer from a lack of maintenance and spare parts but are often the only way to transport people and goods across Congo, a country the size of western Europe whose infrastructure was torn apart by the 1998-2003 civil war.

Aircraft are often crammed full of passengers and cargo, with accurate manifests the exception.

Hewa Bora, which already offers services to several African destinations as well as to Brussels, is the only Congo-registered airline not included on the European Union's blacklist of carriers banned from flying in Europe. // Reuters

Nigeria, Ghana Advocate Single Sky
By Chinedu Eze, 11.05.2007

Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), are clamouring that both countries should have a single sky for effective and safe Air Traffic Services delivery in the sub –region.
This means that the airspace of both should become one entity and be treated as such by pilots who fly airspaces of both countries and those that operate from airports in the two nations.
Managing Director of NAMA, Captain Ado Sanusi, made the recommendation when he hosted officials of GCAA at the weekend. He said a single airspace was imporant, because it would help the sky to meet up with the challenges of the growing aviation market in the region, while Ghana agreed that it would be the needed synergy to advance aviation development in both countries.
Sanusi said a single sky for West Africa was necessary and realistic, considering the agitation for a high profile aviation sector by member states.
He said such seamless service through a single sky had already taken roots in Europe, Asia and America, saying “it is good for us to start here, in order to improve air traffic services, safety and efficiency.”

He said the single sky would allow for co-operation, equipment integration and man-power development among air traffic service providers in the sub-region, and would be beneficial for stakeholders in the region to always share ideas on procurement, installation and maintenance of equipment to save cost.
The head of the two man delegation, Simeon Allotey who is the Acting Director General ,Ghana Civil Aviation Authority[GCAA],added that having common procedures and co-operation amongst the air traffic service providers were the needed synergy to boost safety and growth in the sub region.
He disclosed that about 35 flights operate between Accra and Lagos, making both countries a major player in the aviation sub-sector of the West Coast.
Allotey accompanied on the trip by Albert Aido Taylor, Director, Air Traffic Services, stated further that a regular meeting amongst the service providers would always promote safety, just as he attributed most of the air accidents to human errors.
The Ghanaian aviation boss and his host stressed the need for the establishment and proper utilization of Safety Management System and Quality Assurance [SMS/QA] in the aviation sector to ensure safety in the African Skies.
Allotey, who was conducted round some of the NAMA facilities before leaving the country, commended the Nigerian government over the transformation of the Lagos Airport, pointing out that the air traffic console and the new Radar system were state of the art equipment that were of global standard.

thanks to Africanflyer.com


New African destinations for Delta Airlines
September 26th, 2007

According to posted schedules, Atlanta-based Delta Airlines will begin services to the following African cities starting in mid-2008:

- New York JFK to Nairobi, Kenya via Dakar, Senegal; 4x per week
- New York JFK to Lagos, Nigeria; daily
- New York JFK to Cairo, Egypt; 5x per week


Angola’s TAAG to serve Beijing
October 31st, 2007

TAAG, Angola’s flag carrier, will begin services to Beijing, China on November 23. Flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Fridays using B772 aircraft.

DT690 LAD - PEK: 1700 - 1530
DT691 PEK - LAD: 1830 - 0230



New low-fare airline for Tanzania
September 11th, 2007

Community Airlines, a Tanzania-based low-fare airline, is expected to start up later this month with two B732s and two turboprops. No route information has been announced.

thanks to Africanflyer.com

Matt i would say B777 instead of B772 :nuts: !? At least B727 but i doubt :cheers:.

Hammelkar, B772 refers to B 777-200ER, these are the jets that they will on the route between Luanda-Beijing!

It is not me who put it like this, it is africanfyler.com:)

AIRSHOW-
Embraer signs $811 mln Virgin Nigeria aircraft deal
Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:58am EST
DUBAI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer (EMBR3.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (EJN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to sell 10 aircraft to Virgin Nigeria in a deal that could be worth $811 million, the planemaker said on Sunday.

Virgin Nigeria agreed to buy seven Embraer 170 aircraft and three 190s, it said in a statement at the Dubai Airshow.

The deal gives the airline the option to buy six more 190s and purchase rights for eight 190 and 195 aircraft, it said.

The deal would be worth $811 million if all options were exercised, Embraer said. (Reporting by John Irish:editing by Dayan Candappa)


:banana::banana::banana:

UAE´s Air Arabia installs its African hub in Rabat in order to take up flights to Côte d´ivoire, Senegal, Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon and Angola shortly.


Les ambitions d’Air Arabia en Afrique


Le monopole d’Air France en Afrique pourrait se fissurer. Mais le transporteur français n’est pas le seul à se faire du souci. Royal Air Maroc est également menacé sur ses destinations africaines. L’intrus vient de Sharjah aux Emirats arabes unis. La compagnie à bas prix Air Arabia a annoncé sa décision d’installer un hub à Rabat pour desservir les capitales africaines et d’absorber en même temps une compagnie marocaine, Regional Airlines.
Aucun détail n’a pour le moment été donné sur ses destinations en Afrique. Le hub de Rabat devrait permettre d’établir un nœud entre les capitales africaines européennes et le Moyen Orient.

Un responsable d’Air Arabia indique toutefois sous couvert d’anonymat que la compagnie pourrait desservir la Côte d’Ivoire, le Sénégal, le Nigeria, le Gabon, l’Angola et le Cameroun.

Seule destination africaine desservie pour le moment par Air Arabia, Karthoum au Soudan.

Le réseau de la compagnie comprend actuellement des destinations vers l’Inde, le Liban, le Qatar, la Syrie, l’Egypte, le Pakistan, la Turquie, l’Arménie ou encore le Népal.

Air Arabia semble avoir les moyens de ses ambitions avec l’acquisition auprès d’Airbus de 35 A320 et une option sur quinze autres appareils.

Publié le 13 novembre 2007.

Brazil´s Ocean Air inaugurates flights between Sao Paulo and Luanda by December 2007. It will be its second international route after Mexico City.


Ocean Air começa a voar para Luanda em dezembro, GRU-LAD



Oct 24 2007, 01:00 PM

Ainda na primeira quinzena de dezembro, a Ocean Air lança sua segunda rota internacional. A companhia vai operar vôos entre São Paulo e Luanda, capital de Ângola, segundo o diretor comercial da empresa, Renato Pascowith, que sai hoje de São Paulo para participar da Feira das Américas, no Rio de Janeiro.

A novidade será um dos destaques da companhia aérea em seu estande na feira, além da primeira rota internacional, entre São Paulo e a Cidade do México. Na Abav 2007, a Ocean Air lança ainda seu programa de relacionamento com agentes de viagens e operadores. Para ampliar as vendas dos profissinais de turismo na empresa, a Ocean Air realizará uma série de encontros em cidades brasileiras entre o próximo mês e abril. Segundo Pascowith, a meta é reunir cerca de 900 agentes de viagens.

Brazil´s Ocean Air inaugurates flights between Sao Paulo and Luanda by December 2007. It will be its second international route after Mexico City.

Awesome news! I've been waiting for the announcement for some time I was starting to think it was all a bluff. Oceanair is doing quite well in Brazil's domestic market and has now firmly established itself as Brazil's third largest airline. However from the 1st month results, its Mexico route yielded very poor numbers. Coupled with little to no advertisement and better brand recognition from Aero Mexico and Varig who operate the route. Hopefully they learn their lesson, does anyone know the frequency? I think TAAG serves Rio with a 3X weekly service, I can see Sao Paulo with something similiar.

I also wonder if and when they'll start up Lagos.

Awesome news! I've been waiting for the announcement for some time I was starting to think it was all a bluff. Oceanair is doing quite well in Brazil's domestic market and has now firmly established itself as Brazil's third largest airline. However from the 1st month results, its Mexico route yielded very poor numbers. Coupled with little to no advertisement and better brand recognition from Aero Mexico and Varig who operate the route. Hopefully they learn their lesson, does anyone know the frequency? I think TAAG serves Rio with a 3X weekly service, I can see Sao Paulo with something similiar.


The people on the forum from where I got the information from were heavily complaining about Brazil´s laziness in establishing more frequent links with Angola, they also want a Rio-Luanda air link.

Persoanlly, I wonder when TAAG will increase its frequencies to Brazil to daily flights and I wonder when TAM will come to Angola. Varig once flew to Angola but had to stop due to the airline´s heavy and unforgivable mismangement.

As for the European ban, it has been lifted, so TAAG is flying with its brand new jets to Europe again.:cheers: TAAG also ordered an additional B777, brand new and not used trash planes!

I also wonder if and when they'll start up Lagos.

Me, too

A new Air Cargo Freighter Service has been launched between Gabon - Europe (only France for now). They take B747 aircraft on their routes.

Visit their website: http://www.skygabon.com/

Here´s some brife news


Transaero to Johannesburg
November 21st, 2007

Transaero will begin service between Moscow (Domodedovo),Russia and Johannesburg, South Africa on December 29. Flights will be operated on Saturdays using B763 aircraft.

UN887 DME - JNB: 2300 - 940
UN888 JNB - DME: 1120 - 500


Ethiopian Cargo leases two B742Fs, to serve Hong Kong
November 16th, 2007

Ethiopian Cargo has leased two B742Fs from Southern Air Inc on an wet lease basis. The first aircraft will join ET on November 17 on a 14-month lease, while the second one will arrive on December 31, on a 19-month lease. Both aircraft will ply the Addis Ababa-Brussels route.

The airline will also start weekly cargo service to Hong Kong effective January 4.


Nile Air to acquire A321s
November 15th, 2007

New Egyptian startup Nile Air has agreed to buy nine A321 aircraft from Airbus. The airline plans to serve Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, Dammam, Kuwait, Dubai, Doha, and Bahrain with passenger, freight, and airmail services from its base in Cairo.


South African to codeshare with SAS
November 15th, 2007

South African Airways and SAS Scandinavian Airlines, both members of Star Alliance, will begin codesharing from European points points served by SAA to Scandinavian as well as South African destinations


1time to Zanzibar
November 15th, 2007

1time is reportedly planning to start services from South Africa to Zanzibar early next year, pending government approval. Flights would be operated twice per week.


India´s Jet Airways to South Africa
November 11th, 2007

Jet Airways is reportedly planning to start services between Mumbai, India and Johannesburg, South Africa begining in April 2008 with a 3x per week frequency. The airline is also said to be interested in serving Durban before the end of the same year.

South African currently flies 4x per week between Johannesburg and Mumbai.


Air Tanzania to get new aircraft
November 11th, 2007

Air Tanzania is reportedly set to receive two used Bombardier Dash 8-Q300s before the end of the year, and two brand new -Q400s next year. The aircraft are to be used on short-range routes, while the airline is also reportedly working on acquiring A320 aircraft to serve international routes.


Senegal’s government to retake control of Air Sénégal
November 1st, 2007

Sénégal’s government will retake control of its flag carrier Air Sénégal International in a move that will see it holding 75% of the company, while Royal Air Maroc will retain 25%. Since 2001, the government held 49% while RAM held the rest.


Angola’s TAAG to serve Beijing
October 31st, 2007

TAAG, Angola’s flag carrier, will begin services to Beijing, China on November 23. Flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Fridays using B772 aircraft.

DT690 LAD - PEK: 1700 - 1530
DT691 PEK - LAD: 1830 - 0230


Ethiopian and Lufthansa in frequent flyer agreement
October 30th, 2007

Effective October 28, members of Ethiopian Airlines’ ShebaMiles and Lufthansa’s Miles & More will be able to earn miles and redeem reward tickets on flights operated by the other airline.

The people on the forum from where I got the information from were heavily complaining about Brazil´s laziness in establishing more frequent links with Angola, they also want a Rio-Luanda air link.

Persoanlly, I wonder when TAAG will increase its frequencies to Brazil to daily flights and I wonder when TAM will come to Angola. Varig once flew to Angola but had to stop due to the airline´s heavy and unforgivable mismangement.

As for the European ban, it has been lifted, so TAAG is flying with its brand new jets to Europe again.:cheers: TAAG also ordered an additional B777, brand new and not used trash planes!


Me, too

Well you have to understand that after Varig went under their was a huge need for TAM to fill the international demand that was left over. TAM has been conservative in first setting up destinations in South America and Europe, their still adding new routes and consolidating the ones they already have. I can see TAM going ahead in a couple of years, Europe, South America and the U.S are the main priorities in this period in time

But I'm not sure an increase in frequency is needed, the thing is their big planes that fill alot of people, people flying to Luanda are going to say there. As opposed to Joburg where SAA frequency to Sao Paulo is 10x weekly and is also used as a continental hub.

TAAG currently flies the 747 to Rio its a real pretty plane with a nice livery. I think they'll focus their 777's to Europe.

Btw from what I've read in 2008 Oceanair will fly to Lagos. It will be a Sao Paulo-Recife-Lagos service.

why do you always want to keep African countries down? It begins to infuriate me again. Trade between Brazil-Angola is growing very well and it is surely just the start of what lies ahead in the years and decades to come and it is not you who can stop it! A 3 weekly service is ridiculous, it is nothing, in short!
I do hope that it grows to twice a day by each carrier (Brazilian and Angolan alike) and all of the Brazilians/Angolans from where I have taken the information are lookinf forward to an increase in service!!!

As for the 747-300 aircraft, they are not pretty planes, are you joking or what? I hope that TAAG will phase them out soon and substitutes them with brand new Dreamliners or A380´s.

why do you always want to keep African countries down? It begins to infuriate me again. Trade between Brazil-Angola is growing very well and it is surely just the start of what lies ahead in the years and decades to come and it is not you who can stop it! A 3 weekly service is ridiculous, it is nothing, in short!
I do hope that it grows to twice a day by each carrier (Brazilian and Angolan alike) and all of the Brazilians/Angolans from where I have taken the information are lookinf forward to an increase in service!!!

As for the 747-300 aircraft, they are not pretty planes, are you joking or what? I hope that TAAG will phase them out soon and substitutes them with brand new Dreamliners or A380´s.

Dude I'm not putting anyone down. I'm just saying its all relative a 3 weekly service on a large plane in such longhaul service seems reasonable to me. Two daily services would probably saturate the market I don't think theirs enough demand to cover it. Last year TAAG upgraded their 2X weekly service and added a third. As a sole player on the route if more demand was warranted why didn't they add more frequencies?

I like them, I told Kingofthehill that they were old but it looks nice, especially the livery. Btw I doubt they would use A380's in Brazil. A dreamliner yes but not the A380.

Oh goodness here we go again with people taking things too personally *rolls eyes*

Whatever you say, 3 flights are low-rate! But steam will pick up....it is all still heating up period! I am dead sure if Angolan government allowed more frequencies, daily flights would even be fully booked. But the government still tries to keep a lid on it because of TAAG´s protection.


In the meantime, Iberia is looking to get direct flights between Madrid and Luanda in order to ease the growing business demand between both countries.

Ministro espanhol quer Iberia a voar para Luanda

2007-11-21 12:38 (GMT)

O ministro do Comércio, Turismo e Indústria espanhol anunciou a intenção de iniciar ligações aéreas com Angola.

Joan Clos adiantou que uma nova ligação aérea vai permitir que os empresários espanhóis cheguem com maior facilidade a Angola.

Num encontro com empresário espanhóis na capital angolana, o governante revelou que em breve chegará a Luanda uma delegação da Iberia para negociar um acordo aéreo.

Durante a sua estada em Angola, o ministro do Comércio, Turismo e Indústria de Espanha deverá reunir-se com o ministro adjunto do primeiro-ministro, Aguinaldo Jaime, e com os ministros do Planeamento e das Finanças, Ana Dias Lourenço e José Pedro de Morais, respectivamente.

Whatever you say, 3 flights are low-rate! But steam will pick up....it is all still heating up period! I am dead sure if Angolan government allowed more frequencies, daily flights would even be fully booked. But the government still tries to keep a lid on it because of TAAG´s protection.


In the meantime, Iberia is looking to get direct flights between Madrid and Luanda in order to ease the growing business demand between both countries.


Well the Angolan government is ridiculously protective of TAAG but the thing is the Angolan airline is the only one that serves Luanda - Rio if their was a need for greater demand they would have increased it to more than 3X weekly. At this period in time (not saying it won't increase) more frequencies are not warranted. With Oceanair serving Sao Paulo and TAAG Rio, I think were good for now.

Good to see Iberia expanding in Africa, their not a big player in the continent compared to AF, BA and Lufthansa but their getting there. I think they also fly to EG, Senegal and other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Well the Angolan government is ridiculously protective of TAAG but the thing is the Angolan airline is the only one that serves Luanda - Rio if their was a need for greater demand they would have increased it to more than 3X weekly. At this period in time (not saying it won't increase) more frequencies are not warranted. With Oceanair serving Sao Paulo and TAAG Rio, I think were good for now.

Trash talk!:ohno: Yeah, you can judge it! The people on the page I got the information from were complaining about the few flights that exist between Brazil and Angola, I think they should know better than you.

Good to see Iberia expanding in Africa, their not a big player in the continent compared to AF, BA and Lufthansa but their getting there. I think they also fly to EG, Senegal and other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Lufthansa is certainly not big European player in Africa, within sub-saharan Africa it only flies to Nigeria (3 destinations), South Africa (two destinations), Accra, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethoipia, if you call this "big" I don´t know what "small" is for you?

The biggest players in Africa are still Air France, Brussels Airlines (former Sabena), KLM and British Airways and FINISH! The rest just have isolated route networks not worthy of note on a global scale..

Trash talk!:ohno: Yeah, you can judge it! The people on the page I got the information from were complaining about the few flights that exist between Brazil and Angola, I think they should know better than you.



Lufthansa is certainly not big European player in Africa, within sub-saharan Africa it only flies to Nigeria (3 destinations), South Africa (two destinations), Accra, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethoipia, if you call this "big" I don´t know what "small" is for you?

The biggest players in Africa are still Air France, Brussels Airlines (former Sabena), KLM and British Airways and FINISH! The rest just have isolated route networks not worthy of note on a global scale..

Again then tell me why TAAG didn't increase their frequency to a daily service? They upgraded it from 2X to 3X!

Well you also have to look at frequency, Brussels airlines has an impressive route network but probably have smaller frequencies. I bet you that Lufthansa carries more African passengers than Brussels airlines.

Again then tell me why TAAG didn't increase their frequency to a daily service? They upgraded it from 2X to 3X!

It has to do something with the Angolan government why are people complaining about two few connections between the two countries????

Well you also have to look at frequency, Brussels airlines has an impressive route network but probably have smaller frequencies. I bet you that Lufthansa carries more African passengers than Brussels airlines.

Give me a break, boy!
SN brusssels flies to most cities in Africa (pretty dense network, same for KLM) on a daily basis or at least five times a week. Lufthansa only has a direct link a day to Lagos, Cape Town and Johannesburg. (Mind: Lufthansa also has a daily flight to cape Town from Munich) The rest is less than once a day.

Again then tell me why TAAG didn't increase their frequency to a daily service? They upgraded it from 2X to 3X!

It has to do something with the Angolan government why are people complaining about few connections between the two countries????

Well you also have to look at frequency, Brussels airlines has an impressive route network but probably have smaller frequencies. I bet you that Lufthansa carries more African passengers than Brussels airlines.

Give me a break, boy!
SN brusssels flies to most cities in Africa (pretty dense network, same for KLM) on a daily basis or at least five times a week. Lufthansa only has a direct link a day to Lagos, Cape Town and Johannesburg. (Mind: Lufthansa also has a daily flight to cape Town from Munich) The rest is less than once a day.

It has to do something with the Angolan government why are people complaining about two few connections between the two countries????



Give me a break, boy!
SN brusssels flies to most cities in Africa (pretty dense network, same for KLM) on a daily basis or at least five times a week. Lufthansa only has a direct link a day to Lagos, Cape Town and Johannesburg. (Mind: Lufthansa also has a daily flight to cape Town from Munich) The rest is less than once a day.

The government is strict with foreign airlines not TAAG. The whole point for their protectionist policy is to help the national airline, when your the only carrier in a given route the government is not going to follow the same policy. Theirs no competition! I've been reading of the airliners.net forum and I've read from aviation experts that the demand at this period in time is quite limited. The fact that theirs a Sao Paulo service is a good thing, it was needed.

You do know many of their services for SN are not direct? And most are not daily. Frankfurt is a top 3 European hub.