general

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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