Is there significance in the fact that the continent’s ‘big 4’ aviation countries have been newsworthy in the past few weeks? The news has not been eye-catching - no orders for fleets of A380s, – but perhaps it heralds the start of major shifts in the industry landscape. South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria have been involved.
South African Airways now unexpectedly finds itself with a new Chairman and Board, and searching for a new CEO. The Chairman resigned before being sacked by the Minister for Public Enterprises and the CEO resigned shortly thereafter. The problems facing SAA thus continue to multiply. It is technically insolvent, has operating losses of USD3m per week plus bail-outs from an unhappy Government, while growing high-quality competition grows. Most significantly there appears to be an absence of a credible strategy for the future and there are considerable stresses and strains as it goes through a rebalancing of the racial composition of its staff.
The rapid African network spread by high-quality Middle East carriers is beginning to furrow brows within both Ethiopian and Kenya Airways. TewoldeGebremariam, CEO Ethiopian, has been vocal with his concerns. Unexpectedly the Ethiopian government has now touched the brakes by denying Etihad its request to serve Addis Ababa. Is this a first protest that the current free-for-all invasion would benefit from some re-balancing? Will there be a move by the airlines for more rather than less regulation and protectionism? Unsurprising has been the comment from Titus Naikuni, CEO Kenya Airways, that African carriers need to combine if they are to survive in the longer term. Kenya Airways has long eyed a more pan- East African (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) role and moved towards it by launching their shares on all three stock exchanges and taking a 49% share in and effectively management control of Tanzania’s Precisionair. How much though of the three majors’ new found interest in helping smaller, struggling neighbouring national carriers is real generosity and how much is opportunist self interest and expansionism? Opinions will be mixed and old suspicions run deep. Kenya is seen by its two former partners in East African Airways as having first tried to dominate and then destroying ithat airline. Kenya and South Africa are both viewed with some equivocation elsewhere in Africa as being too domineering and dominant and more concerned with their own interests than those of less successful neighbours.
The possibility of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian becoming more closely linked is remote. Their ethnic, political and historic backgrounds and even their geography and geographical position are vastly different as are the characters of the two airlines. They can be reasonable and mutually respecting friends but a wedding is unlikely. The resultant competition has in fact been beneficial to African aviation right across the continent and is in the customers’ interests . Apart from all else ,it has made them both provides some useful high frequency and reliable city pair links across the continent as well as two strong hubs on the eastern side of Africa. Both airlines are also large and strong enough to compete with the Gulf invaders . Governments are reluctant to trim the wings of these as they have given previously undreamed of levels of mainly one stop connectivity and capacity between between Africa and much of the rest of the world.
On the western side of the continent Nigeria’s woeful aviation problems continue. There are many reasons but Government’s response of simply throwing more money at them is little more than expensive short term sticking plaster. Infrastructure and aged domestic fleets continue to fall well below international standards. The Government’s Aviation Intervention Fund, aimed at improving quality and safety, is being increased by USD500m to USD800m to fund the purchase of 30 new aircraft to be shared between several domestic operators. Customer confidence will rise a little when they enter service but the underlying problems will remain, disturbingly, unaddressed. A hard-hitting report from a Parliamentary Committee highlighting deep-seated regulatory, management and ministerial deficiencies may just trigger a more rational approach and a more positive future for the whole industry but we’ve been there before . Success will depend on a real determination to bury old hatchets and people genuinely working together rather than scoring personal, departmental or other insular points. Difficult.
Back in East Africa an exotic, if alien, bird has now taken to the skies. Fastjet, with an African Grey Parrot prominent on the tail of its three A319s, has launched its long-heralded low cost operation based on Dar es Salaam. Intended to symbolise all kinds of good things, parrots are not indiginous to East Africa and mean nothing to those who live there. Let’s hope the airline fares better. Mwanza and Kilimanjaro are trumpeted as the first of a sub-Saharan network boasting a fleet of 15 aircraft within a year. Universal USD20 fares dominate publicity although the airline must hope that they can capacity control those as soon as possible. Nairobi, Accra and Luanda , all current homes of Lonrho’s Fly540 which forms the Air Operators Certificate platform for the new airline are targeted as the next bases. The vision is of wide horizons and untapped business potential. Cecil Rhodes would recognise it. Chapter 1 has been delivered, ‘Getting Airborne’. Now Chapter 2 has to be written, ‘Are we sure we’ve got the sums right?’ The first money is now rolling in. So are the aircraft and other leasing bills, the fuel chits, the salaries including an alleged $50,000 a month consultancy fee for Stelios as well as other sundries which make it flow out again probably even faster.
Abidjan based Air Côte d’Ivoire is now airborne with a purely regional network. Air France is a 15% shareholder and appears to have protected Paris rights for itself. It has acknowledged that its investment is defensive against the encroaching non-African longhaul operators who are diverting particularly Asia-bound passengers away from the old habit of transiting Paris en route to everywhere.
The failures of these two months include Low Cost 1Time of South Africa which has entered administration and Zambia’s Zambesi Airlines has ceased operations for a second time this year. But, against all the odds, Air Tanzania and Air Zimbabwe have both re-started limited flying.
And 50 years ago ….. in December 1962, 18 month old Air Afrique ordered its first jet aircraft ,– two DC8-53s. The three leased Lockheed L1649 Starliners were to be returned to Air France. But the good times were progressively to decline intohard times. With 11 bickering national governments as shareholders major difficulties were inevitable. With some feeeling of inevitability in 2002 the once proud airline and well managed airline eventually went of another similar - East African. .
1. EAST AFRICA
Air Tanzania . Like one of those inextinguishable party cake candles, this airline just keeps coming back. Just when you think it really has gone this time it sudenly comes alive again so no surprise that just ahead of the arrival of shiny new fastJet it has relaunched with a daily Dar es Salaam-Mwanza service with one of those venerable and also seemingly similarly inextinguishable 737-200s leased from South Africa. The company is also negotiating for 2 ACMI leased B737-500s from AeroVista of the UAE.
It also plans return to service of the Dash 8-300 under protracted maintenance at Dar es Salaam. It awaits replacement of main landing gear and one engine, in return no doubt for payment, something it has found not so easy. (Oct2012)
Eritrean Airlines has added a B757-200 to its B767-200. It also has a wet leased A319 and A320 (Nov2012)
Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t sit still and continues to act with clear vision and purpose. It has considerable depth and experience in its management and has always been left remarkably uninvolved with local politics. It is seen as a great national asset which has survived all kinds of domestic problems and images.
In a pragmatic move it has defered a thrice weekly Addis-Lome- Sao Paulo service until March 2013 pending granting of Sao Paulo slot times suitable for feeding into and out of ASKY connections in Lome.
With Africa’s first 787-8s already in service, the airline has added 3 more leases for 2015 delivery to take their total of this type to 13. It has secured technical support via a 10 year deal with Lufthansa Technik.
On the training side, Ethiopian’s in- house academy has seen 255 pupils, including 150 maintenance technicians, graduate. The yearly intake is now 1,000 across a variety of disciplines. (Nov 2012)
With an eye to strategically extending its reach in Central Africa , particularly while Air Zimbabwe which should be the dominant carrier, remains a casualty of that country’s unusual politics , Ethiopian has submitted an Expression of Interest in Air Malawi privatisation. The airline has also confirmed that it is close to signing an MoU with the Zambian government for new national carrier. That would make 2 out of 3 of the former Central African Airways countries becoming Ethiopian rather than Zimbabwean partners (Nov2012)
Fastjet : We have talked about this newcomer above but one of the merits of having Stelios on board is clearly the amount of media interest in almost anything it does. The latest story-in early December,- is that it may depart from previous plans and enter the already brisk South African market which is used to Low Cost Carriers, some long standing and others coming and going, by buying the 1-Time presumably largely for its ready made AOC and re-creatable infrastructure.
In the meantime the company has appointed appointed Kyle Haywood, ex CEO of Air Uganda, as its General Manager, Africa. (Oct 2012)
Financially , additional funds may be sought via an additional share sale. Fastjet is AIM listed in Lond
Jetlink (Kenya) has suspended operations citing the blocking of USD 2million ticket sales remission by South Sudan due to foreign exchnage shortages. Their fleet consists of 8 CRJs and a lessor has secured a court order protecting four of them due overdue lease payments. (Nov 2012)
Kenya Airways has secured the licensing approval to launch new low cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet. Domestic and regional points have been specified but an AOC is yet to be obtained and even a final decision to launch is still to be made. We have surmised before that the rationale isn’t too clear and that the new company would be a counterproductive distraction . In the meantime, the first of four B737-300 is undergoing freighter conversion by Boeing Shanghai. 12 freight aircraft are eventually envisaged together with a B747-400F joint service with Air France/KLM from Guangzhou to Nairobi.
An equipment innovation has been the introduction of the EMB-190 four times weekly on the 4 hour sector between Nairobi and Johannesburg. That is a long sector for a narrow narrowbody . Another question will be how the aircraft and its narrow holds cope with large amounts of hold baggage. (October 2012)
The airline has also concluded a code share with China Eastern adding to existing Far East regional ones with Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines (November 2012)
Precision Air , 49% owned by Kenya Airways, has taken delivery of the first of two ATR42-600s. 3 ATR72-600s also on order (Nov2012)
Rwandair has taken delivery of the second of two new CRJ900s on order, replacing two CRJ200s. It has also launched services to Lagos. They plan also to introduce Juba, Mombasa and Lusaka (Oct12)
The airline is hoping to achieve profitability in 2015-16 and if that happens it will go for listing on the local Stock Exchange (Nov 2012)
2.SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA
1Time. Goodbye! ... or maybe not. On 2nd November the company entered provisional liquidation on and ceased flying. All down to USD35mn of short term debt. The Board and the Business Rescue Plan practitioners say there is ‘no reasonable prospect of recovery’. That said Africa’s new Stelios-driven arrival , fastjet, is believed to be considering buying at least the bones of the company although whether or not that would mean taking on the $35 million of debt is not clear. (Oct 2012)
Air Botswana has received the second of two, ex Lufthansa, RJ85s enabling its October network expansion to include Cape Town, Nairobi, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Lanseria. The total fleet is now 4 BAe 146/RJ85, 3 ATR42-500s and 2 ATR72s. The latter are up for sale as they struggle with the Maun heat and Johannesburg altitude (Oct 2012)
Air Malawi: Ethiopian Airlines and Comair plus 9 others have responded to the call for Expressions of Interest in its selloff and future redevelopment. Bids close on 15th December and the process will then move on to selection of final bidders.Air Malawi (2012) Ltd will be the new company formed with 51% Malawian ownership including the Government which will also guarantee the historic debt of the present company. Does “guarantee” mean just that or does it mean “take on and pay off “? There is a significant difference between the two things. It pays to be precise. (Nov 2012)
Air Namibia had a pilots’ strike from 16th to 28th November . Serious disruption ensued. It was all about a pay rise/conditions demands and follows a long history of tension between the Namibia Pilots Assosciation (NAPA) and the company . The revenue lost during the strike is estimated at USD8m. That will not have done a lot to help it afford higher salaries for anyone.(Nov2012)
Air Zimbabwe staggers on . Its IATA membership was rescinded due to an IOSA certification lapse but in the meantime it has restarted four times weekly services between Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls with its own B737-200 and between Harare-Jo’burg also four times per week with its own B767-200. In the past this aircraft has tended to have its scheduled flying curtailed by having to transport Zimbabwe’s President and family members on trips elsewhere. The status of the 2 white tailed A320s is unclear (Nov 2012)
FreshAir (Zimbabwe) On 2 November launched a Low Cost services between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. This was a new 49/51 joint venture between 1Time of South Africa and Nu-Aero of Zimbabwe using 1Time MD87s. It is not clear where this now stands as result of 1-Time suspending operations (Oct 2012)
Korongo Airlines (DRC) launched services on 31st October from Lubumbashi to Mbuji-Mayi following delivery of a second BAe146-200. Kisangani and Goma will come next. (Oct 2012)
LAM has taken delivery of a leased B737-500 and a third E190, but faces funding difficulties in establishing a planned stand-alone longhaul subsidiary. The airline was grounded by a flight and cabin crew strike on 18th November (Nov2012)
Proflight (Zambia) is seeking its own AOC and is looking at possibly buying ATR42 s (Nov 2012)
SAA is another airline whose woes continue. It has been going through an enormous cultural and personnel upheaval partly as result of its need to rebalance its staff to more closely represent the various racial groupings in the new South African society. To do this while maintaining morale, keeping a solid experience base , exiting some people and recruiting others is a daunting task bound to stretch any management. Add to that a less than ideal but fairly recent fleet mix including A340-600s in place of 747-400s,apparent confusion about route strategy and priorities and the need to match Asian and Gulf airlines’ standards and style of service and the difficulties are clear. Plenty to think about in the bath. There is also the impact all of these have had on profitability and a Government being very reluctant to keep pouring money into what should be a successful and profitable business and one can feel the weight on any Chairman CEO’s shoulders as he drives to work on a Monday,- or any, -morning. Unsurprisingly the senior management positions have seen some movements and become seen as unstable. Apart from giving everybody the wobbles that doesn’t encourage top quality people to step forward as replacements. Who really wanted to be Henry V111’s next wife?
The upshot of all this is that the Chairman, six board members and the CEO Siza Mizimela have resigned . It is unclear how truly voluntary these departures have been but in any case relations with Government have deteriorated further. The central financial issue is the latest February 2012 bail-out request, for USD750mn. So far the Government has agreed to guarantee $ 600 of restructuring loans on the basis that they will be sought on the open market . This though is conditional on the presentation of turnaround and financing strategies by to the Ministry of Public Enterprises by 15th December.
In the meantime, the imminent AGM is to expected to reveal a US$145 million operating loss for 2012 and to highlight the weak balance sheet. The debt/equity ratio is minus 359% . In a further restriction of options the Public Enterprise Minister has ruled out the privatization option to improve financial and operating performance. Any management would feel beleagured (October 2012)
SA Express on 2nd November, launched thrice weekly Durban-Harare CRJ200 services by passing the busy Johannesburg hub and the domestic to international and v. v. transfer process. Immigration, customs and secuity checks get in the way. Possible flights from Durban to Malawi have been mentioned .Malawi desparately needs any links it can get to anywhere so should welcome any application to open this one.
On Africa’s nearest approach to an international shuttle route, frequencies between Johannesburg and Gaborone have been increased to 6 daily. (Oct 2012)
Skywise (S Africa) . Yes, its another intended new Low Cost and start up planned for early 2013. The idea is that it could be born out of provisionally liquidated 1Time,(see above) , bringing with it the all important AOC .owever However, fastjet’s early December move ( see above) may spike this . That will not please Glenn Orsmond and Rodney James who are said to be prominent in the Skywise proposal. If it goes ahead ,investment could be from a BEE group and from Dubai. The intended launch fleet would be B737-300s , while fastjet would offer newish and certainly new looking A319s(Nov 2012)
Santaco Airlines is optimistic of now getting airbourne by July 2013. The CEO of Santaco,(S African Taxi Association), says the delay caused by “non-existent relevant skills in the taxi industry”. The transfer of the taxi industry image to the airline industry may not be an ideal start point, especially in a crowded market, but Santaco seems undaunted. (Oct 2012)
Zambezi Airlines again ceased all flying on 19th October thanks to a recurrence of debt problems . A new investor is being sought. (Nov 2012)
3.WEST AFRICA
Aero(Nigeria) took delivery of a leased B737-400. Their total fleet is now 12 comprising 6 B737-400s and 6 -500s. (Oct 2012)
Air Annobon (Equitorial Guinea) plans imminent the launch of domestic services having received the first of two BAE146-300s wet leased from Fair Aviation, S Africa. (Oct 2012)
Air Cote d’Ivoire started flying on 12th November from Abidjan to Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Libreville and Lome, plus Air Burkina codeshares to Cotonou and Ouagadougou. (Nov 2012)
Ariella Airlines (Burkina Faso) BoboDioulasso based start-up has launched domestic flights to Ouagadougou with a wet-leased Spanish MD-83. The company plans B737-800 regional and Paris services . It will be easier to get regional technical support for the 737s.(Oct 2012)
Arik Air Lufthansa Technik has grounded an aircraft due to unpaid bills. No doubt this “misunderstanding” will be resolved. The airline has also been denied the status of national carrier by Nigerian Government who are not happy with “poor domestic performance” (Nov 2012)
ASKY has received the first of the three new Q400NextGen aircraft . 40% shareholder ET placed the order (Nov 2012)
Camair-Co has ordered 2 B787s for 2015 delivery (Oct 2012)
Camair-CoAvic (China) has confirmed the future establishment of an MRO in Cameroon as its sole African site. The delivery of Camair’s 3 MA60 turbo-props is to start early in 2013 (Nov2012)
Ceibu (Equitorial Guinea) has launched 3 weekly B777-200s between Malabo and Madrid. This is a Portuguese wet lease. (Oct2012)
Corsair (France) eff 26 Oct launched 4pw B747-400 sched ops Paris Orly-Dakar on 26th October . It plans to launch 4 weekly A330-300 services between Orly and Abidjan on 2013 (Nov 2012)
Cronos Airlines (Equitoroal Guinea) now flies a single BAE146-200/300 wet-leased from Fair Aviation of South Africa. It operates a domestic network and flies internationally to Douala and Cotonou. (October 2012)
Douniah Airlines (Mali) plans to start flying in January 2013 with a single B737-300. The network will be 3 per week Bamako-Lagos-Douala-Kinshasa and 3 Bamako-Abidjan-Cotonou-Libreville (Nov 2012)
Gambia Bird has launched itself with flights to Dakar. A full West African network is planned to follow plus long haul probes to London Gatwick and Barvelona . The airline is a 90/10 joint venture between Germania Express, the AOC holder, and the Gambian Government. 2 A319s are wet-leased from Germania Express. (Oct 2012)
Hak Air (Nigeria), another Nigerian hopeful entrant has received the first of four B737-400s to launch domestic services. (October 2012)
Med-View Airlines (Nigeria)essentially a Hajj carrier has been granted 2 year AOC effective 8th November 2012 . It plans scheduled domestic services with 2 B737-400s on the Lagos-Abjua-Port Harcourt—Lagos triangle. (Oct 2012)
Overland (Nigeria) has leased a B737-800 from Austrian Airlines (Nov 2012)
Punto Azul (Equitorial Guinea) has leased a Do328 to operate twice weekly between Malabo and Pt Harcourt. That’s a short overwater sector not a lot of utilisation. (Nov 2012)
Starbow of Ghana launched its first regional service from Accra to Cotonou in mid-August 2012 followed by Abidjan on 8th November. Monrovia and Ouagadougou to set to follow (Oct 2012)
4.NORTH AFRICA
Air Arabia Maroc was to launch A320 services between Casablanca, Milan and Toulouse in October 2012. It also plans to launch A320 flights to Gatwick twice weekly from Tangiers and thrice from e Casablanca (Oct 2012)
Air Libya ,a private operator has added 2 B737-400 and one BAe RJ100 to its single BAe146 fleet. It flies to Cairo, Alexandria, Tunis, Khartoum and Istanbul as well as domestic points (Nov 2012)
Afriqiyah started twice weekly Tripoli – Khartoum services on 15th October. On 1st December it plans to continue rebuilding its post revolution network by adding Paris, Rome, Casablanca and Dubai. As a further step it has ordered four more A350-900s bringing their total to ten.
Royal Air Maroc is to return to Gatwick, Stockholm and Copenhagen ops in March 2013. It will also open a route between Casablanca and Praia, Cape Verde.
Whether it is real or simply kiteflying to see if anyone bites , the Moroccan government has hinted of a possible 44% share sale to un-named Gulf carrier (Oct 2012)
Tunisair is seeking an injection of state funds after announcing USD98mn loss for 2011. Competitive pressure on it will intensify with the imminent open-skies agreement with the EU (Nov 2012)
5.NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES
Air Algerie is planning srevices to Lagos and Johannesburg. There is also talk of Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Amsterdam,and New Yorlk. The government is injecting USD750mn for fleet upgrades including 3x ‘150 seat’ aircraft, which one must assu me would be A320 or B737 variants. (November 2012)
Brussels Airlines, which has normally maintained services to its African destinations through thick and thin and done very well by so doing is uncharacteristically withdrawing from Bamako from Jan 2013 .(Oct 2012)
Condor (Germany) is adding to the European winter/South African summer crop of seasonal services and increased frequencies to Capetown with twice weekly B767-300s from Frankfurt. Lufthansa also operates from Munich. The South African Rand is at a tourist-friendly 3 year low this winter while the country’s southern hemisphere rival, Australia, is extremely expensive thanks to increased local rates for accomodation and a very strong Australian dollar. (Oct 2012)
EasyJet is launching three weekly A319 services between Stansted and Marrakech and twice weekly between Stansted and Sharm el Sheik (Oct 2012)
Gulf Air once again ceased Nairobi services in November leaving Cairo, Addis and Khartoum as its sole African points from a once more extensive network. The airline thus continues to reap results of its failure /refusal to give Dubai the vastly increased direct services it sought in 1985 gave birth to Emirates . At the time the airline’s Bahrein based management thought that Dubai was bluffing. They weren’t and from a standing start Emirates was created as a high quality carrier from the outset . The management came from the monopoly handling and general sales agency DNATA. It was flying a single leased A300 and a B727 within six months and has never looked back ( Oct 2012)
Iberia while cutting back on a substantial amount of flying as part of owner IAG’s drive to cut losses and achieve a viable lomg trem future, will in March 2013 relaunch services to both Algiers and Oran in Algeria (Nov2012)
KLM is back in Harare aftera 13 year absence via a routing including Lusaka . A330-200s are used at least initially. (Nov 2012)
Qatar Airways stretched its 20th tentacle into Africa on 31st October with thrice weekly services to Maputo ops. (Oct 202)
Turkish Airlines , another fast grower in Africa although one which has declared its lack of interest in intra-African intermediate sectors as revenue topups (too difficult to capacity manage) , has added Kilimanjaro, Mombasa, Ouagadougou,Yaounde and Douala to its route map . It has now signed Air Service Agreements with 45 of the 54 African states. (Oct 2012)
Vuelling(Spain) will in Apr 2013 launch services from Barcelona to Banjul, Casablanca and Tangier (Oct 2012)
6. MISCELLANEOUS
DRC Kinshasa N’djili Airport’s USD60m runway re-work is nearing completion. A Chinese contractor has the contract (Nov 2012)
Ghana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Airports Construction Corporation for new Accra Airport feasibility study (Oct 2012)
Kenya , fresh from revitalising a Nairobi suburban commuter line and with big plans for a new standard guage from the coast all the way through to Uganda , is also aiming to build a new rail link from the city to Jomo Kenyaatta Airport . Plans have taken a step forward with the opening of Prequalification Bids from 17 potential contractors .
If built, the line would relieve passengers of a frequently highly congested and uninspiring drive into the city which at night projects itself as dismally lit and unwelcoming and by day a place which continually fails to get to grips with simple road maintainence. Some of these negatives will be reduced by the eastern and western bypasses. Hopefully the second of these will, unlike the first, have from day one road markings and signage. Regardless of what happens to the roads though, bright, fast, reliable modern trains completing the journey in minutes would transform the image and realities of gettong to and around Nairobi.(Oct 2012)
Kenya’s cabinet has apprived a total of U$ 1bn for Jomo Kenyatta Airport’s ‘Project Greenfield’ which includes a modern concept new ‘mega terminal’,a second runway, and the reconfiguration of existing terminals. The process of awarding construction contracts has, as previously described , been tortuous but appears now to be complete and the project is scheduled to be be delivered in total by 2017 . That though is still, at most optimistic, still 5 years away. Meanwhile the present facilities are bulging at the seams and the hub transfer bagage system is under particular stress, so the airport authority is to look at alleviating the problems with temporary structures. To help fund the construction an additional US$20 departure tax per person is to be levied. Hopefully the amounts authorised and raised will all find their way to the right place. (Nov 2012)
Mali’s Bamako Airport has lengthened and refurbished its main runway. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Central Bank has barred Arik Air and Aero Contractors from receiving further loans due to outstanding debts. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Ministry of Transport is in a novel and rather extraordinary move to create a ‘pool of 30 efficient new aircraft’ to be ‘given’ to 10 struggling domestic carriers. The government’s ‘Aviation Intervention Fund’ will finance this with US$500m Chinese loan. The Chinese tend to want to see a return on their money so this is not likely to come cheap, whether visibly or invisibly. The means and criteria by which carriers will be able to access this fund are not clear. Talks are underway with Embraer seeking ’fair and concessionary’ pricing. Tax-breaks and debt-renegotiation also mooted for carriers. Will this all be transparent and equally available to all bidders? (Nov 2012).
Nigeria’s Federal Airports Authority has opened a new domestic terminal at Lagos. Additional and better capacity is always welcome but this the location of the facility perpetuates the problem of not being adjacent to and easily accessible from the international building. The upgrade of a further 12 airports started early in 2012. This is a US$120m project again based on Chinese loan funding. (Oct1 2012)
Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Aviation has somewhat ludicrously declared BA and Virgin guilty of price discrimination against Nigerians and re-imposed fines first levied in November 2011. BA is shaken down for US$135mn and Virgin for US$100mn. Directional pricing is common all over the world and the idea that Nigeria is particularly being singled out is not correct. (Nov 2012)
Meanwhile ,Nigeria’s Parliamentary Committee has drafted a damning report on local aviation: “weak regulatory regime… weak oversight …low and declining professional competence in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority…non-adherence to procedures…ministerial interference”. (Nov 2012)
Swaziland’s government has announced that the new Sikhuphe Intl Airport , east of Manzini, is to open early in 2013. Work began 2003 and there has been a huge overspend on the original US$90m estimate. The project is part funded by Taiwan who have always been keen to counter mainland Chinese influence in African countries (Nov 2012)
Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority has contraversially agreed to the construction of a new international airport at Mugumu adjacent to the north-west Serengeti National Park. The project is to start in 2013 and is using private USA-based US$350m funding. This is linked to several new lodges for a US operator. The overall benefit to Tanzania is questionable. Bypassing the traditional road routes from Kilimanjaro/Arusha will make seeing the Serengeti easier but it will localise and isolate expenditure and reduce the trickle down effect into the economy of Northern Tanzania. Environmentally and airport in the vast and unspoiled Serengeti has to be a negative and from the tourists point of view missing the spectacular approach to and views of the whole area from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater removes one of the world’s most impressive to (November 2012)
Tunisia ‘s government is to revive EU open-skies talks which would open Tunisia to EU Low Cost carriers and benefit the country’s inbound tourism. (Oct 2012)
Zimbabwe: The government says that the upgrade of Victoria Falls airport will not be completed in time for the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly. A Chinese contractor is doingthe work with a US$150mn Chinese loan.(Oct 2012)
John Williams
30 November 2012
AFRICAN SNIPPETS October – November 2012
Is there significance in the fact that the continent’s ‘big 4’ aviation countries have been newsworthy in the past few weeks? The news has not been eye-catching - no orders for fleets of A380s, – but perhaps it heralds the start of major shifts in the industry landscape. South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria have been involved.
South African Airways now unexpectedly finds itself with a new Chairman and Board, and searching for a new CEO. The Chairman resigned before being sacked by the Minister for Public Enterprises and the CEO resigned shortly thereafter. The problems facing SAA thus continue to multiply. It is technically insolvent, has operating losses of USD3m per week plus bail-outs from an unhappy Government, while growing high-quality competition grows. Most significantly there appears to be an absence of a credible strategy for the future and there are considerable stresses and strains as it goes through a rebalancing of the racial composition of its staff.
The rapid African network spread by high-quality Middle East carriers is beginning to furrow brows within both Ethiopian and Kenya Airways. TewoldeGebremariam, CEO Ethiopian, has been vocal with his concerns. Unexpectedly the Ethiopian government has now touched the brakes by denying Etihad its request to serve Addis Ababa. Is this a first protest that the current free-for-all invasion would benefit from some re-balancing? Will there be a move by the airlines for more rather than less regulation and protectionism? Unsurprising has been the comment from Titus Naikuni, CEO Kenya Airways, that African carriers need to combine if they are to survive in the longer term. Kenya Airways has long eyed a more pan- East African (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) role and moved towards it by launching their shares on all three stock exchanges and taking a 49% share in and effectively management control of Tanzania’s Precisionair. How much though of the three majors’ new found interest in helping smaller, struggling neighbouring national carriers is real generosity and how much is opportunist self interest and expansionism? Opinions will be mixed and old suspicions run deep. Kenya is seen by its two former partners in East African Airways as having first tried to dominate and then destroying ithat airline. Kenya and South Africa are both viewed with some equivocation elsewhere in Africa as being too domineering and dominant and more concerned with their own interests than those of less successful neighbours.
The possibility of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian becoming more closely linked is remote. Their ethnic, political and historic backgrounds and even their geography and geographical position are vastly different as are the characters of the two airlines. They can be reasonable and mutually respecting friends but a wedding is unlikely. The resultant competition has in fact been beneficial to African aviation right across the continent and is in the customers’ interests . Apart from all else ,it has made them both provides some useful high frequency and reliable city pair links across the continent as well as two strong hubs on the eastern side of Africa. Both airlines are also large and strong enough to compete with the Gulf invaders . Governments are reluctant to trim the wings of these as they have given previously undreamed of levels of mainly one stop connectivity and capacity between between Africa and much of the rest of the world.
On the western side of the continent Nigeria’s woeful aviation problems continue. There are many reasons but Government’s response of simply throwing more money at them is little more than expensive short term sticking plaster. Infrastructure and aged domestic fleets continue to fall well below international standards. The Government’s Aviation Intervention Fund, aimed at improving quality and safety, is being increased by USD500m to USD800m to fund the purchase of 30 new aircraft to be shared between several domestic operators. Customer confidence will rise a little when they enter service but the underlying problems will remain, disturbingly, unaddressed. A hard-hitting report from a Parliamentary Committee highlighting deep-seated regulatory, management and ministerial deficiencies may just trigger a more rational approach and a more positive future for the whole industry but we’ve been there before . Success will depend on a real determination to bury old hatchets and people genuinely working together rather than scoring personal, departmental or other insular points. Difficult.
Back in East Africa an exotic, if alien, bird has now taken to the skies. Fastjet, with an African Grey Parrot prominent on the tail of its three A319s, has launched its long-heralded low cost operation based on Dar es Salaam. Intended to symbolise all kinds of good things, parrots are not indiginous to East Africa and mean nothing to those who live there. Let’s hope the airline fares better. Mwanza and Kilimanjaro are trumpeted as the first of a sub-Saharan network boasting a fleet of 15 aircraft within a year. Universal USD20 fares dominate publicity although the airline must hope that they can capacity control those as soon as possible. Nairobi, Accra and Luanda , all current homes of Lonrho’s Fly540 which forms the Air Operators Certificate platform for the new airline are targeted as the next bases. The vision is of wide horizons and untapped business potential. Cecil Rhodes would recognise it. Chapter 1 has been delivered, ‘Getting Airborne’. Now Chapter 2 has to be written, ‘Are we sure we’ve got the sums right?’ The first money is now rolling in. So are the aircraft and other leasing bills, the fuel chits, the salaries including an alleged $50,000 a month consultancy fee for Stelios as well as other sundries which make it flow out again probably even faster.
Abidjan based Air Côte d’Ivoire is now airborne with a purely regional network. Air France is a 15% shareholder and appears to have protected Paris rights for itself. It has acknowledged that its investment is defensive against the encroaching non-African longhaul operators who are diverting particularly Asia-bound passengers away from the old habit of transiting Paris en route to everywhere.
The failures of these two months include Low Cost 1Time of South Africa which has entered administration and Zambia’s Zambesi Airlines has ceased operations for a second time this year. But, against all the odds, Air Tanzania and Air Zimbabwe have both re-started limited flying.
And 50 years ago ….. in December 1962, 18 month old Air Afrique ordered its first jet aircraft ,– two DC8-53s. The three leased Lockheed L1649 Starliners were to be returned to Air France. But the good times were progressively to decline intohard times. With 11 bickering national governments as shareholders major difficulties were inevitable. With some feeeling of inevitability in 2002 the once proud airline and well managed airline eventually went of another similar - East African. .
1. EAST AFRICA
Air Tanzania . Like one of those inextinguishable party cake candles, this airline just keeps coming back. Just when you think it really has gone this time it sudenly comes alive again so no surprise that just ahead of the arrival of shiny new fastJet it has relaunched with a daily Dar es Salaam-Mwanza service with one of those venerable and also seemingly similarly inextinguishable 737-200s leased from South Africa. The company is also negotiating for 2 ACMI leased B737-500s from AeroVista of the UAE.
It also plans return to service of the Dash 8-300 under protracted maintenance at Dar es Salaam. It awaits replacement of main landing gear and one engine, in return no doubt for payment, something it has found not so easy. (Oct2012)
Eritrean Airlines has added a B757-200 to its B767-200. It also has a wet leased A319 and A320 (Nov2012)
Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t sit still and continues to act with clear vision and purpose. It has considerable depth and experience in its management and has always been left remarkably uninvolved with local politics. It is seen as a great national asset which has survived all kinds of domestic problems and images.
In a pragmatic move it has defered a thrice weekly Addis-Lome- Sao Paulo service until March 2013 pending granting of Sao Paulo slot times suitable for feeding into and out of ASKY connections in Lome.
With Africa’s first 787-8s already in service, the airline has added 3 more leases for 2015 delivery to take their total of this type to 13. It has secured technical support via a 10 year deal with Lufthansa Technik.
On the training side, Ethiopian’s in- house academy has seen 255 pupils, including 150 maintenance technicians, graduate. The yearly intake is now 1,000 across a variety of disciplines. (Nov 2012)
With an eye to strategically extending its reach in Central Africa , particularly while Air Zimbabwe which should be the dominant carrier, remains a casualty of that country’s unusual politics , Ethiopian has submitted an Expression of Interest in Air Malawi privatisation. The airline has also confirmed that it is close to signing an MoU with the Zambian government for new national carrier. That would make 2 out of 3 of the former Central African Airways countries becoming Ethiopian rather than Zimbabwean partners (Nov2012)
Fastjet : We have talked about this newcomer above but one of the merits of having Stelios on board is clearly the amount of media interest in almost anything it does. The latest story-in early December,- is that it may depart from previous plans and enter the already brisk South African market which is used to Low Cost Carriers, some long standing and others coming and going, by buying the 1-Time presumably largely for its ready made AOC and re-creatable infrastructure.
In the meantime the company has appointed appointed Kyle Haywood, ex CEO of Air Uganda, as its General Manager, Africa. (Oct 2012)
Financially , additional funds may be sought via an additional share sale. Fastjet is AIM listed in Lond
Jetlink (Kenya) has suspended operations citing the blocking of USD 2million ticket sales remission by South Sudan due to foreign exchnage shortages. Their fleet consists of 8 CRJs and a lessor has secured a court order protecting four of them due overdue lease payments. (Nov 2012)
Kenya Airways has secured the licensing approval to launch new low cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet. Domestic and regional points have been specified but an AOC is yet to be obtained and even a final decision to launch is still to be made. We have surmised before that the rationale isn’t too clear and that the new company would be a counterproductive distraction . In the meantime, the first of four B737-300 is undergoing freighter conversion by Boeing Shanghai. 12 freight aircraft are eventually envisaged together with a B747-400F joint service with Air France/KLM from Guangzhou to Nairobi.
An equipment innovation has been the introduction of the EMB-190 four times weekly on the 4 hour sector between Nairobi and Johannesburg. That is a long sector for a narrow narrowbody . Another question will be how the aircraft and its narrow holds cope with large amounts of hold baggage. (October 2012)
The airline has also concluded a code share with China Eastern adding to existing Far East regional ones with Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines (November 2012)
Precision Air , 49% owned by Kenya Airways, has taken delivery of the first of two ATR42-600s. 3 ATR72-600s also on order (Nov2012)
Rwandair has taken delivery of the second of two new CRJ900s on order, replacing two CRJ200s. It has also launched services to Lagos. They plan also to introduce Juba, Mombasa and Lusaka (Oct12)
The airline is hoping to achieve profitability in 2015-16 and if that happens it will go for listing on the local Stock Exchange (Nov 2012)
2.SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA
1Time. Goodbye! ... or maybe not. On 2nd November the company entered provisional liquidation on and ceased flying. All down to USD35mn of short term debt. The Board and the Business Rescue Plan practitioners say there is ‘no reasonable prospect of recovery’. That said Africa’s new Stelios-driven arrival , fastjet, is believed to be considering buying at least the bones of the company although whether or not that would mean taking on the $35 million of debt is not clear. (Oct 2012)
Air Botswana has received the second of two, ex Lufthansa, RJ85s enabling its October network expansion to include Cape Town, Nairobi, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Lanseria. The total fleet is now 4 BAe 146/RJ85, 3 ATR42-500s and 2 ATR72s. The latter are up for sale as they struggle with the Maun heat and Johannesburg altitude (Oct 2012)
Air Malawi: Ethiopian Airlines and Comair plus 9 others have responded to the call for Expressions of Interest in its selloff and future redevelopment. Bids close on 15th December and the process will then move on to selection of final bidders.Air Malawi (2012) Ltd will be the new company formed with 51% Malawian ownership including the Government which will also guarantee the historic debt of the present company. Does “guarantee” mean just that or does it mean “take on and pay off “? There is a significant difference between the two things. It pays to be precise. (Nov 2012)
Air Namibia had a pilots’ strike from 16th to 28th November . Serious disruption ensued. It was all about a pay rise/conditions demands and follows a long history of tension between the Namibia Pilots Assosciation (NAPA) and the company . The revenue lost during the strike is estimated at USD8m. That will not have done a lot to help it afford higher salaries for anyone.(Nov2012)
Air Zimbabwe staggers on . Its IATA membership was rescinded due to an IOSA certification lapse but in the meantime it has restarted four times weekly services between Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls with its own B737-200 and between Harare-Jo’burg also four times per week with its own B767-200. In the past this aircraft has tended to have its scheduled flying curtailed by having to transport Zimbabwe’s President and family members on trips elsewhere. The status of the 2 white tailed A320s is unclear (Nov 2012)
FreshAir (Zimbabwe) On 2 November launched a Low Cost services between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. This was a new 49/51 joint venture between 1Time of South Africa and Nu-Aero of Zimbabwe using 1Time MD87s. It is not clear where this now stands as result of 1-Time suspending operations (Oct 2012)
Korongo Airlines (DRC) launched services on 31st October from Lubumbashi to Mbuji-Mayi following delivery of a second BAe146-200. Kisangani and Goma will come next. (Oct 2012)
LAM has taken delivery of a leased B737-500 and a third E190, but faces funding difficulties in establishing a planned stand-alone longhaul subsidiary. The airline was grounded by a flight and cabin crew strike on 18th November (Nov2012)
Proflight (Zambia) is seeking its own AOC and is looking at possibly buying ATR42 s (Nov 2012)
SAA is another airline whose woes continue. It has been going through an enormous cultural and personnel upheaval partly as result of its need to rebalance its staff to more closely represent the various racial groupings in the new South African society. To do this while maintaining morale, keeping a solid experience base , exiting some people and recruiting others is a daunting task bound to stretch any management. Add to that a less than ideal but fairly recent fleet mix including A340-600s in place of 747-400s,apparent confusion about route strategy and priorities and the need to match Asian and Gulf airlines’ standards and style of service and the difficulties are clear. Plenty to think about in the bath. There is also the impact all of these have had on profitability and a Government being very reluctant to keep pouring money into what should be a successful and profitable business and one can feel the weight on any Chairman CEO’s shoulders as he drives to work on a Monday,- or any, -morning. Unsurprisingly the senior management positions have seen some movements and become seen as unstable. Apart from giving everybody the wobbles that doesn’t encourage top quality people to step forward as replacements. Who really wanted to be Henry V111’s next wife?
The upshot of all this is that the Chairman, six board members and the CEO Siza Mizimela have resigned . It is unclear how truly voluntary these departures have been but in any case relations with Government have deteriorated further. The central financial issue is the latest February 2012 bail-out request, for USD750mn. So far the Government has agreed to guarantee $ 600 of restructuring loans on the basis that they will be sought on the open market . This though is conditional on the presentation of turnaround and financing strategies by to the Ministry of Public Enterprises by 15th December.
In the meantime, the imminent AGM is to expected to reveal a US$145 million operating loss for 2012 and to highlight the weak balance sheet. The debt/equity ratio is minus 359% . In a further restriction of options the Public Enterprise Minister has ruled out the privatization option to improve financial and operating performance. Any management would feel beleagured (October 2012)
SA Express on 2nd November, launched thrice weekly Durban-Harare CRJ200 services by passing the busy Johannesburg hub and the domestic to international and v. v. transfer process. Immigration, customs and secuity checks get in the way. Possible flights from Durban to Malawi have been mentioned .Malawi desparately needs any links it can get to anywhere so should welcome any application to open this one.
On Africa’s nearest approach to an international shuttle route, frequencies between Johannesburg and Gaborone have been increased to 6 daily. (Oct 2012)
Skywise (S Africa) . Yes, its another intended new Low Cost and start up planned for early 2013. The idea is that it could be born out of provisionally liquidated 1Time,(see above) , bringing with it the all important AOC .owever However, fastjet’s early December move ( see above) may spike this . That will not please Glenn Orsmond and Rodney James who are said to be prominent in the Skywise proposal. If it goes ahead ,investment could be from a BEE group and from Dubai. The intended launch fleet would be B737-300s , while fastjet would offer newish and certainly new looking A319s(Nov 2012)
Santaco Airlines is optimistic of now getting airbourne by July 2013. The CEO of Santaco,(S African Taxi Association), says the delay caused by “non-existent relevant skills in the taxi industry”. The transfer of the taxi industry image to the airline industry may not be an ideal start point, especially in a crowded market, but Santaco seems undaunted. (Oct 2012)
Zambezi Airlines again ceased all flying on 19th October thanks to a recurrence of debt problems . A new investor is being sought. (Nov 2012)
3.WEST AFRICA
Aero(Nigeria) took delivery of a leased B737-400. Their total fleet is now 12 comprising 6 B737-400s and 6 -500s. (Oct 2012)
Air Annobon (Equitorial Guinea) plans imminent the launch of domestic services having received the first of two BAE146-300s wet leased from Fair Aviation, S Africa. (Oct 2012)
Air Cote d’Ivoire started flying on 12th November from Abidjan to Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Libreville and Lome, plus Air Burkina codeshares to Cotonou and Ouagadougou. (Nov 2012)
Ariella Airlines (Burkina Faso) BoboDioulasso based start-up has launched domestic flights to Ouagadougou with a wet-leased Spanish MD-83. The company plans B737-800 regional and Paris services . It will be easier to get regional technical support for the 737s.(Oct 2012)
Arik Air Lufthansa Technik has grounded an aircraft due to unpaid bills. No doubt this “misunderstanding” will be resolved. The airline has also been denied the status of national carrier by Nigerian Government who are not happy with “poor domestic performance” (Nov 2012)
ASKY has received the first of the three new Q400NextGen aircraft . 40% shareholder ET placed the order (Nov 2012)
Camair-Co has ordered 2 B787s for 2015 delivery (Oct 2012)
Camair-CoAvic (China) has confirmed the future establishment of an MRO in Cameroon as its sole African site. The delivery of Camair’s 3 MA60 turbo-props is to start early in 2013 (Nov2012)
Ceibu (Equitorial Guinea) has launched 3 weekly B777-200s between Malabo and Madrid. This is a Portuguese wet lease. (Oct2012)
Corsair (France) eff 26 Oct launched 4pw B747-400 sched ops Paris Orly-Dakar on 26th October . It plans to launch 4 weekly A330-300 services between Orly and Abidjan on 2013 (Nov 2012)
Cronos Airlines (Equitoroal Guinea) now flies a single BAE146-200/300 wet-leased from Fair Aviation of South Africa. It operates a domestic network and flies internationally to Douala and Cotonou. (October 2012)
Douniah Airlines (Mali) plans to start flying in January 2013 with a single B737-300. The network will be 3 per week Bamako-Lagos-Douala-Kinshasa and 3 Bamako-Abidjan-Cotonou-Libreville (Nov 2012)
Gambia Bird has launched itself with flights to Dakar. A full West African network is planned to follow plus long haul probes to London Gatwick and Barvelona . The airline is a 90/10 joint venture between Germania Express, the AOC holder, and the Gambian Government. 2 A319s are wet-leased from Germania Express. (Oct 2012)
Hak Air (Nigeria), another Nigerian hopeful entrant has received the first of four B737-400s to launch domestic services. (October 2012)
Med-View Airlines (Nigeria)essentially a Hajj carrier has been granted 2 year AOC effective 8th November 2012 . It plans scheduled domestic services with 2 B737-400s on the Lagos-Abjua-Port Harcourt—Lagos triangle. (Oct 2012)
Overland (Nigeria) has leased a B737-800 from Austrian Airlines (Nov 2012)
Punto Azul (Equitorial Guinea) has leased a Do328 to operate twice weekly between Malabo and Pt Harcourt. That’s a short overwater sector not a lot of utilisation. (Nov 2012)
Starbow of Ghana launched its first regional service from Accra to Cotonou in mid-August 2012 followed by Abidjan on 8th November. Monrovia and Ouagadougou to set to follow (Oct 2012)
4.NORTH AFRICA
Air Arabia Maroc was to launch A320 services between Casablanca, Milan and Toulouse in October 2012. It also plans to launch A320 flights to Gatwick twice weekly from Tangiers and thrice from e Casablanca (Oct 2012)
Air Libya ,a private operator has added 2 B737-400 and one BAe RJ100 to its single BAe146 fleet. It flies to Cairo, Alexandria, Tunis, Khartoum and Istanbul as well as domestic points (Nov 2012)
Afriqiyah started twice weekly Tripoli – Khartoum services on 15th October. On 1st December it plans to continue rebuilding its post revolution network by adding Paris, Rome, Casablanca and Dubai. As a further step it has ordered four more A350-900s bringing their total to ten.
Royal Air Maroc is to return to Gatwick, Stockholm and Copenhagen ops in March 2013. It will also open a route between Casablanca and Praia, Cape Verde.
Whether it is real or simply kiteflying to see if anyone bites , the Moroccan government has hinted of a possible 44% share sale to un-named Gulf carrier (Oct 2012)
Tunisair is seeking an injection of state funds after announcing USD98mn loss for 2011. Competitive pressure on it will intensify with the imminent open-skies agreement with the EU (Nov 2012)
5.NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES
Air Algerie is planning srevices to Lagos and Johannesburg. There is also talk of Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Amsterdam,and New Yorlk. The government is injecting USD750mn for fleet upgrades including 3x ‘150 seat’ aircraft, which one must assu me would be A320 or B737 variants. (November 2012)
Brussels Airlines, which has normally maintained services to its African destinations through thick and thin and done very well by so doing is uncharacteristically withdrawing from Bamako from Jan 2013 .(Oct 2012)
Condor (Germany) is adding to the European winter/South African summer crop of seasonal services and increased frequencies to Capetown with twice weekly B767-300s from Frankfurt. Lufthansa also operates from Munich. The South African Rand is at a tourist-friendly 3 year low this winter while the country’s southern hemisphere rival, Australia, is extremely expensive thanks to increased local rates for accomodation and a very strong Australian dollar. (Oct 2012)
EasyJet is launching three weekly A319 services between Stansted and Marrakech and twice weekly between Stansted and Sharm el Sheik (Oct 2012)
Gulf Air once again ceased Nairobi services in November leaving Cairo, Addis and Khartoum as its sole African points from a once more extensive network. The airline thus continues to reap results of its failure /refusal to give Dubai the vastly increased direct services it sought in 1985 gave birth to Emirates . At the time the airline’s Bahrein based management thought that Dubai was bluffing. They weren’t and from a standing start Emirates was created as a high quality carrier from the outset . The management came from the monopoly handling and general sales agency DNATA. It was flying a single leased A300 and a B727 within six months and has never looked back ( Oct 2012)
Iberia while cutting back on a substantial amount of flying as part of owner IAG’s drive to cut losses and achieve a viable lomg trem future, will in March 2013 relaunch services to both Algiers and Oran in Algeria (Nov2012)
KLM is back in Harare aftera 13 year absence via a routing including Lusaka . A330-200s are used at least initially. (Nov 2012)
Qatar Airways stretched its 20th tentacle into Africa on 31st October with thrice weekly services to Maputo ops. (Oct 202)
Turkish Airlines , another fast grower in Africa although one which has declared its lack of interest in intra-African intermediate sectors as revenue topups (too difficult to capacity manage) , has added Kilimanjaro, Mombasa, Ouagadougou,Yaounde and Douala to its route map . It has now signed Air Service Agreements with 45 of the 54 African states. (Oct 2012)
Vuelling(Spain) will in Apr 2013 launch services from Barcelona to Banjul, Casablanca and Tangier (Oct 2012)
6. MISCELLANEOUS
DRC Kinshasa N’djili Airport’s USD60m runway re-work is nearing completion. A Chinese contractor has the contract (Nov 2012)
Ghana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Airports Construction Corporation for new Accra Airport feasibility study (Oct 2012)
Kenya , fresh from revitalising a Nairobi suburban commuter line and with big plans for a new standard guage from the coast all the way through to Uganda , is also aiming to build a new rail link from the city to Jomo Kenyaatta Airport . Plans have taken a step forward with the opening of Prequalification Bids from 17 potential contractors .
If built, the line would relieve passengers of a frequently highly congested and uninspiring drive into the city which at night projects itself as dismally lit and unwelcoming and by day a place which continually fails to get to grips with simple road maintainence. Some of these negatives will be reduced by the eastern and western bypasses. Hopefully the second of these will, unlike the first, have from day one road markings and signage. Regardless of what happens to the roads though, bright, fast, reliable modern trains completing the journey in minutes would transform the image and realities of gettong to and around Nairobi.(Oct 2012)
Kenya’s cabinet has apprived a total of U$ 1bn for Jomo Kenyatta Airport’s ‘Project Greenfield’ which includes a modern concept new ‘mega terminal’,a second runway, and the reconfiguration of existing terminals. The process of awarding construction contracts has, as previously described , been tortuous but appears now to be complete and the project is scheduled to be be delivered in total by 2017 . That though is still, at most optimistic, still 5 years away. Meanwhile the present facilities are bulging at the seams and the hub transfer bagage system is under particular stress, so the airport authority is to look at alleviating the problems with temporary structures. To help fund the construction an additional US$20 departure tax per person is to be levied. Hopefully the amounts authorised and raised will all find their way to the right place. (Nov 2012)
Mali’s Bamako Airport has lengthened and refurbished its main runway. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Central Bank has barred Arik Air and Aero Contractors from receiving further loans due to outstanding debts. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Ministry of Transport is in a novel and rather extraordinary move to create a ‘pool of 30 efficient new aircraft’ to be ‘given’ to 10 struggling domestic carriers. The government’s ‘Aviation Intervention Fund’ will finance this with US$500m Chinese loan. The Chinese tend to want to see a return on their money so this is not likely to come cheap, whether visibly or invisibly. The means and criteria by which carriers will be able to access this fund are not clear. Talks are underway with Embraer seeking ’fair and concessionary’ pricing. Tax-breaks and debt-renegotiation also mooted for carriers. Will this all be transparent and equally available to all bidders? (Nov 2012).
Nigeria’s Federal Airports Authority has opened a new domestic terminal at Lagos. Additional and better capacity is always welcome but this the location of the facility perpetuates the problem of not being adjacent to and easily accessible from the international building. The upgrade of a further 12 airports started early in 2012. This is a US$120m project again based on Chinese loan funding. (Oct1 2012)
Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Aviation has somewhat ludicrously declared BA and Virgin guilty of price discrimination against Nigerians and re-imposed fines first levied in November 2011. BA is shaken down for US$135mn and Virgin for US$100mn. Directional pricing is common all over the world and the idea that Nigeria is particularly being singled out is not correct. (Nov 2012)
Meanwhile ,Nigeria’s Parliamentary Committee has drafted a damning report on local aviation: “weak regulatory regime… weak oversight …low and declining professional competence in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority…non-adherence to procedures…ministerial interference”. (Nov 2012)
Swaziland’s government has announced that the new Sikhuphe Intl Airport , east of Manzini, is to open early in 2013. Work began 2003 and there has been a huge overspend on the original US$90m estimate. The project is part funded by Taiwan who have always been keen to counter mainland Chinese influence in African countries (Nov 2012)
Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority has contraversially agreed to the construction of a new international airport at Mugumu adjacent to the north-west Serengeti National Park. The project is to start in 2013 and is using private USA-based US$350m funding. This is linked to several new lodges for a US operator. The overall benefit to Tanzania is questionable. Bypassing the traditional road routes from Kilimanjaro/Arusha will make seeing the Serengeti easier but it will localise and isolate expenditure and reduce the trickle down effect into the economy of Northern Tanzania. Environmentally and airport in the vast and unspoiled Serengeti has to be a negative and from the tourists point of view missing the spectacular approach to and views of the whole area from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater removes one of the world’s most impressive to (November 2012)
Tunisia ‘s government is to revive EU open-skies talks which would open Tunisia to EU Low Cost carriers and benefit the country’s inbound tourism. (Oct 2012)
Zimbabwe: The government says that the upgrade of Victoria Falls airport will not be completed in time for the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly. A Chinese contractor is doingthe work with a US$150mn Chinese loan.(Oct 2012)
John Williams
30 November 2012
AFRICAN SNIPPETS October – November 2012
Is there significance in the fact that the continent’s ‘big 4’ aviation countries have been newsworthy in the past few weeks? The news has not been eye-catching - no orders for fleets of A380s, – but perhaps it heralds the start of major shifts in the industry landscape. South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria have been involved.
South African Airways now unexpectedly finds itself with a new Chairman and Board, and searching for a new CEO. The Chairman resigned before being sacked by the Minister for Public Enterprises and the CEO resigned shortly thereafter. The problems facing SAA thus continue to multiply. It is technically insolvent, has operating losses of USD3m per week plus bail-outs from an unhappy Government, while growing high-quality competition grows. Most significantly there appears to be an absence of a credible strategy for the future and there are considerable stresses and strains as it goes through a rebalancing of the racial composition of its staff.
The rapid African network spread by high-quality Middle East carriers is beginning to furrow brows within both Ethiopian and Kenya Airways. TewoldeGebremariam, CEO Ethiopian, has been vocal with his concerns. Unexpectedly the Ethiopian government has now touched the brakes by denying Etihad its request to serve Addis Ababa. Is this a first protest that the current free-for-all invasion would benefit from some re-balancing? Will there be a move by the airlines for more rather than less regulation and protectionism? Unsurprising has been the comment from Titus Naikuni, CEO Kenya Airways, that African carriers need to combine if they are to survive in the longer term. Kenya Airways has long eyed a more pan- East African (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) role and moved towards it by launching their shares on all three stock exchanges and taking a 49% share in and effectively management control of Tanzania’s Precisionair. How much though of the three majors’ new found interest in helping smaller, struggling neighbouring national carriers is real generosity and how much is opportunist self interest and expansionism? Opinions will be mixed and old suspicions run deep. Kenya is seen by its two former partners in East African Airways as having first tried to dominate and then destroying ithat airline. Kenya and South Africa are both viewed with some equivocation elsewhere in Africa as being too domineering and dominant and more concerned with their own interests than those of less successful neighbours.
The possibility of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian becoming more closely linked is remote. Their ethnic, political and historic backgrounds and even their geography and geographical position are vastly different as are the characters of the two airlines. They can be reasonable and mutually respecting friends but a wedding is unlikely. The resultant competition has in fact been beneficial to African aviation right across the continent and is in the customers’ interests . Apart from all else ,it has made them both provides some useful high frequency and reliable city pair links across the continent as well as two strong hubs on the eastern side of Africa. Both airlines are also large and strong enough to compete with the Gulf invaders . Governments are reluctant to trim the wings of these as they have given previously undreamed of levels of mainly one stop connectivity and capacity between between Africa and much of the rest of the world.
On the western side of the continent Nigeria’s woeful aviation problems continue. There are many reasons but Government’s response of simply throwing more money at them is little more than expensive short term sticking plaster. Infrastructure and aged domestic fleets continue to fall well below international standards. The Government’s Aviation Intervention Fund, aimed at improving quality and safety, is being increased by USD500m to USD800m to fund the purchase of 30 new aircraft to be shared between several domestic operators. Customer confidence will rise a little when they enter service but the underlying problems will remain, disturbingly, unaddressed. A hard-hitting report from a Parliamentary Committee highlighting deep-seated regulatory, management and ministerial deficiencies may just trigger a more rational approach and a more positive future for the whole industry but we’ve been there before . Success will depend on a real determination to bury old hatchets and people genuinely working together rather than scoring personal, departmental or other insular points. Difficult.
Back in East Africa an exotic, if alien, bird has now taken to the skies. Fastjet, with an African Grey Parrot prominent on the tail of its three A319s, has launched its long-heralded low cost operation based on Dar es Salaam. Intended to symbolise all kinds of good things, parrots are not indiginous to East Africa and mean nothing to those who live there. Let’s hope the airline fares better. Mwanza and Kilimanjaro are trumpeted as the first of a sub-Saharan network boasting a fleet of 15 aircraft within a year. Universal USD20 fares dominate publicity although the airline must hope that they can capacity control those as soon as possible. Nairobi, Accra and Luanda , all current homes of Lonrho’s Fly540 which forms the Air Operators Certificate platform for the new airline are targeted as the next bases. The vision is of wide horizons and untapped business potential. Cecil Rhodes would recognise it. Chapter 1 has been delivered, ‘Getting Airborne’. Now Chapter 2 has to be written, ‘Are we sure we’ve got the sums right?’ The first money is now rolling in. So are the aircraft and other leasing bills, the fuel chits, the salaries including an alleged $50,000 a month consultancy fee for Stelios as well as other sundries which make it flow out again probably even faster.
Abidjan based Air Côte d’Ivoire is now airborne with a purely regional network. Air France is a 15% shareholder and appears to have protected Paris rights for itself. It has acknowledged that its investment is defensive against the encroaching non-African longhaul operators who are diverting particularly Asia-bound passengers away from the old habit of transiting Paris en route to everywhere.
The failures of these two months include Low Cost 1Time of South Africa which has entered administration and Zambia’s Zambesi Airlines has ceased operations for a second time this year. But, against all the odds, Air Tanzania and Air Zimbabwe have both re-started limited flying.
And 50 years ago ….. in December 1962, 18 month old Air Afrique ordered its first jet aircraft ,– two DC8-53s. The three leased Lockheed L1649 Starliners were to be returned to Air France. But the good times were progressively to decline intohard times. With 11 bickering national governments as shareholders major difficulties were inevitable. With some feeeling of inevitability in 2002 the once proud airline and well managed airline eventually went of another similar - East African. .
1. EAST AFRICA
Air Tanzania . Like one of those inextinguishable party cake candles, this airline just keeps coming back. Just when you think it really has gone this time it sudenly comes alive again so no surprise that just ahead of the arrival of shiny new fastJet it has relaunched with a daily Dar es Salaam-Mwanza service with one of those venerable and also seemingly similarly inextinguishable 737-200s leased from South Africa. The company is also negotiating for 2 ACMI leased B737-500s from AeroVista of the UAE.
It also plans return to service of the Dash 8-300 under protracted maintenance at Dar es Salaam. It awaits replacement of main landing gear and one engine, in return no doubt for payment, something it has found not so easy. (Oct2012)
Eritrean Airlines has added a B757-200 to its B767-200. It also has a wet leased A319 and A320 (Nov2012)
Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t sit still and continues to act with clear vision and purpose. It has considerable depth and experience in its management and has always been left remarkably uninvolved with local politics. It is seen as a great national asset which has survived all kinds of domestic problems and images.
In a pragmatic move it has defered a thrice weekly Addis-Lome- Sao Paulo service until March 2013 pending granting of Sao Paulo slot times suitable for feeding into and out of ASKY connections in Lome.
With Africa’s first 787-8s already in service, the airline has added 3 more leases for 2015 delivery to take their total of this type to 13. It has secured technical support via a 10 year deal with Lufthansa Technik.
On the training side, Ethiopian’s in- house academy has seen 255 pupils, including 150 maintenance technicians, graduate. The yearly intake is now 1,000 across a variety of disciplines. (Nov 2012)
With an eye to strategically extending its reach in Central Africa , particularly while Air Zimbabwe which should be the dominant carrier, remains a casualty of that country’s unusual politics , Ethiopian has submitted an Expression of Interest in Air Malawi privatisation. The airline has also confirmed that it is close to signing an MoU with the Zambian government for new national carrier. That would make 2 out of 3 of the former Central African Airways countries becoming Ethiopian rather than Zimbabwean partners (Nov2012)
Fastjet : We have talked about this newcomer above but one of the merits of having Stelios on board is clearly the amount of media interest in almost anything it does. The latest story-in early December,- is that it may depart from previous plans and enter the already brisk South African market which is used to Low Cost Carriers, some long standing and others coming and going, by buying the 1-Time presumably largely for its ready made AOC and re-creatable infrastructure.
In the meantime the company has appointed appointed Kyle Haywood, ex CEO of Air Uganda, as its General Manager, Africa. (Oct 2012)
Financially , additional funds may be sought via an additional share sale. Fastjet is AIM listed in Lond
Jetlink (Kenya) has suspended operations citing the blocking of USD 2million ticket sales remission by South Sudan due to foreign exchnage shortages. Their fleet consists of 8 CRJs and a lessor has secured a court order protecting four of them due overdue lease payments. (Nov 2012)
Kenya Airways has secured the licensing approval to launch new low cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet. Domestic and regional points have been specified but an AOC is yet to be obtained and even a final decision to launch is still to be made. We have surmised before that the rationale isn’t too clear and that the new company would be a counterproductive distraction . In the meantime, the first of four B737-300 is undergoing freighter conversion by Boeing Shanghai. 12 freight aircraft are eventually envisaged together with a B747-400F joint service with Air France/KLM from Guangzhou to Nairobi.
An equipment innovation has been the introduction of the EMB-190 four times weekly on the 4 hour sector between Nairobi and Johannesburg. That is a long sector for a narrow narrowbody . Another question will be how the aircraft and its narrow holds cope with large amounts of hold baggage. (October 2012)
The airline has also concluded a code share with China Eastern adding to existing Far East regional ones with Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines (November 2012)
Precision Air , 49% owned by Kenya Airways, has taken delivery of the first of two ATR42-600s. 3 ATR72-600s also on order (Nov2012)
Rwandair has taken delivery of the second of two new CRJ900s on order, replacing two CRJ200s. It has also launched services to Lagos. They plan also to introduce Juba, Mombasa and Lusaka (Oct12)
The airline is hoping to achieve profitability in 2015-16 and if that happens it will go for listing on the local Stock Exchange (Nov 2012)
2.SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA
1Time. Goodbye! ... or maybe not. On 2nd November the company entered provisional liquidation on and ceased flying. All down to USD35mn of short term debt. The Board and the Business Rescue Plan practitioners say there is ‘no reasonable prospect of recovery’. That said Africa’s new Stelios-driven arrival , fastjet, is believed to be considering buying at least the bones of the company although whether or not that would mean taking on the $35 million of debt is not clear. (Oct 2012)
Air Botswana has received the second of two, ex Lufthansa, RJ85s enabling its October network expansion to include Cape Town, Nairobi, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Lanseria. The total fleet is now 4 BAe 146/RJ85, 3 ATR42-500s and 2 ATR72s. The latter are up for sale as they struggle with the Maun heat and Johannesburg altitude (Oct 2012)
Air Malawi: Ethiopian Airlines and Comair plus 9 others have responded to the call for Expressions of Interest in its selloff and future redevelopment. Bids close on 15th December and the process will then move on to selection of final bidders.Air Malawi (2012) Ltd will be the new company formed with 51% Malawian ownership including the Government which will also guarantee the historic debt of the present company. Does “guarantee” mean just that or does it mean “take on and pay off “? There is a significant difference between the two things. It pays to be precise. (Nov 2012)
Air Namibia had a pilots’ strike from 16th to 28th November . Serious disruption ensued. It was all about a pay rise/conditions demands and follows a long history of tension between the Namibia Pilots Assosciation (NAPA) and the company . The revenue lost during the strike is estimated at USD8m. That will not have done a lot to help it afford higher salaries for anyone.(Nov2012)
Air Zimbabwe staggers on . Its IATA membership was rescinded due to an IOSA certification lapse but in the meantime it has restarted four times weekly services between Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls with its own B737-200 and between Harare-Jo’burg also four times per week with its own B767-200. In the past this aircraft has tended to have its scheduled flying curtailed by having to transport Zimbabwe’s President and family members on trips elsewhere. The status of the 2 white tailed A320s is unclear (Nov 2012)
FreshAir (Zimbabwe) On 2 November launched a Low Cost services between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. This was a new 49/51 joint venture between 1Time of South Africa and Nu-Aero of Zimbabwe using 1Time MD87s. It is not clear where this now stands as result of 1-Time suspending operations (Oct 2012)
Korongo Airlines (DRC) launched services on 31st October from Lubumbashi to Mbuji-Mayi following delivery of a second BAe146-200. Kisangani and Goma will come next. (Oct 2012)
LAM has taken delivery of a leased B737-500 and a third E190, but faces funding difficulties in establishing a planned stand-alone longhaul subsidiary. The airline was grounded by a flight and cabin crew strike on 18th November (Nov2012)
Proflight (Zambia) is seeking its own AOC and is looking at possibly buying ATR42 s (Nov 2012)
SAA is another airline whose woes continue. It has been going through an enormous cultural and personnel upheaval partly as result of its need to rebalance its staff to more closely represent the various racial groupings in the new South African society. To do this while maintaining morale, keeping a solid experience base , exiting some people and recruiting others is a daunting task bound to stretch any management. Add to that a less than ideal but fairly recent fleet mix including A340-600s in place of 747-400s,apparent confusion about route strategy and priorities and the need to match Asian and Gulf airlines’ standards and style of service and the difficulties are clear. Plenty to think about in the bath. There is also the impact all of these have had on profitability and a Government being very reluctant to keep pouring money into what should be a successful and profitable business and one can feel the weight on any Chairman CEO’s shoulders as he drives to work on a Monday,- or any, -morning. Unsurprisingly the senior management positions have seen some movements and become seen as unstable. Apart from giving everybody the wobbles that doesn’t encourage top quality people to step forward as replacements. Who really wanted to be Henry V111’s next wife?
The upshot of all this is that the Chairman, six board members and the CEO Siza Mizimela have resigned . It is unclear how truly voluntary these departures have been but in any case relations with Government have deteriorated further. The central financial issue is the latest February 2012 bail-out request, for USD750mn. So far the Government has agreed to guarantee $ 600 of restructuring loans on the basis that they will be sought on the open market . This though is conditional on the presentation of turnaround and financing strategies by to the Ministry of Public Enterprises by 15th December.
In the meantime, the imminent AGM is to expected to reveal a US$145 million operating loss for 2012 and to highlight the weak balance sheet. The debt/equity ratio is minus 359% . In a further restriction of options the Public Enterprise Minister has ruled out the privatization option to improve financial and operating performance. Any management would feel beleagured (October 2012)
SA Express on 2nd November, launched thrice weekly Durban-Harare CRJ200 services by passing the busy Johannesburg hub and the domestic to international and v. v. transfer process. Immigration, customs and secuity checks get in the way. Possible flights from Durban to Malawi have been mentioned .Malawi desparately needs any links it can get to anywhere so should welcome any application to open this one.
On Africa’s nearest approach to an international shuttle route, frequencies between Johannesburg and Gaborone have been increased to 6 daily. (Oct 2012)
Skywise (S Africa) . Yes, its another intended new Low Cost and start up planned for early 2013. The idea is that it could be born out of provisionally liquidated 1Time,(see above) , bringing with it the all important AOC .owever However, fastjet’s early December move ( see above) may spike this . That will not please Glenn Orsmond and Rodney James who are said to be prominent in the Skywise proposal. If it goes ahead ,investment could be from a BEE group and from Dubai. The intended launch fleet would be B737-300s , while fastjet would offer newish and certainly new looking A319s(Nov 2012)
Santaco Airlines is optimistic of now getting airbourne by July 2013. The CEO of Santaco,(S African Taxi Association), says the delay caused by “non-existent relevant skills in the taxi industry”. The transfer of the taxi industry image to the airline industry may not be an ideal start point, especially in a crowded market, but Santaco seems undaunted. (Oct 2012)
Zambezi Airlines again ceased all flying on 19th October thanks to a recurrence of debt problems . A new investor is being sought. (Nov 2012)
3.WEST AFRICA
Aero(Nigeria) took delivery of a leased B737-400. Their total fleet is now 12 comprising 6 B737-400s and 6 -500s. (Oct 2012)
Air Annobon (Equitorial Guinea) plans imminent the launch of domestic services having received the first of two BAE146-300s wet leased from Fair Aviation, S Africa. (Oct 2012)
Air Cote d’Ivoire started flying on 12th November from Abidjan to Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Libreville and Lome, plus Air Burkina codeshares to Cotonou and Ouagadougou. (Nov 2012)
Ariella Airlines (Burkina Faso) BoboDioulasso based start-up has launched domestic flights to Ouagadougou with a wet-leased Spanish MD-83. The company plans B737-800 regional and Paris services . It will be easier to get regional technical support for the 737s.(Oct 2012)
Arik Air Lufthansa Technik has grounded an aircraft due to unpaid bills. No doubt this “misunderstanding” will be resolved. The airline has also been denied the status of national carrier by Nigerian Government who are not happy with “poor domestic performance” (Nov 2012)
ASKY has received the first of the three new Q400NextGen aircraft . 40% shareholder ET placed the order (Nov 2012)
Camair-Co has ordered 2 B787s for 2015 delivery (Oct 2012)
Camair-CoAvic (China) has confirmed the future establishment of an MRO in Cameroon as its sole African site. The delivery of Camair’s 3 MA60 turbo-props is to start early in 2013 (Nov2012)
Ceibu (Equitorial Guinea) has launched 3 weekly B777-200s between Malabo and Madrid. This is a Portuguese wet lease. (Oct2012)
Corsair (France) eff 26 Oct launched 4pw B747-400 sched ops Paris Orly-Dakar on 26th October . It plans to launch 4 weekly A330-300 services between Orly and Abidjan on 2013 (Nov 2012)
Cronos Airlines (Equitoroal Guinea) now flies a single BAE146-200/300 wet-leased from Fair Aviation of South Africa. It operates a domestic network and flies internationally to Douala and Cotonou. (October 2012)
Douniah Airlines (Mali) plans to start flying in January 2013 with a single B737-300. The network will be 3 per week Bamako-Lagos-Douala-Kinshasa and 3 Bamako-Abidjan-Cotonou-Libreville (Nov 2012)
Gambia Bird has launched itself with flights to Dakar. A full West African network is planned to follow plus long haul probes to London Gatwick and Barvelona . The airline is a 90/10 joint venture between Germania Express, the AOC holder, and the Gambian Government. 2 A319s are wet-leased from Germania Express. (Oct 2012)
Hak Air (Nigeria), another Nigerian hopeful entrant has received the first of four B737-400s to launch domestic services. (October 2012)
Med-View Airlines (Nigeria)essentially a Hajj carrier has been granted 2 year AOC effective 8th November 2012 . It plans scheduled domestic services with 2 B737-400s on the Lagos-Abjua-Port Harcourt—Lagos triangle. (Oct 2012)
Overland (Nigeria) has leased a B737-800 from Austrian Airlines (Nov 2012)
Punto Azul (Equitorial Guinea) has leased a Do328 to operate twice weekly between Malabo and Pt Harcourt. That’s a short overwater sector not a lot of utilisation. (Nov 2012)
Starbow of Ghana launched its first regional service from Accra to Cotonou in mid-August 2012 followed by Abidjan on 8th November. Monrovia and Ouagadougou to set to follow (Oct 2012)
4.NORTH AFRICA
Air Arabia Maroc was to launch A320 services between Casablanca, Milan and Toulouse in October 2012. It also plans to launch A320 flights to Gatwick twice weekly from Tangiers and thrice from e Casablanca (Oct 2012)
Air Libya ,a private operator has added 2 B737-400 and one BAe RJ100 to its single BAe146 fleet. It flies to Cairo, Alexandria, Tunis, Khartoum and Istanbul as well as domestic points (Nov 2012)
Afriqiyah started twice weekly Tripoli – Khartoum services on 15th October. On 1st December it plans to continue rebuilding its post revolution network by adding Paris, Rome, Casablanca and Dubai. As a further step it has ordered four more A350-900s bringing their total to ten.
Royal Air Maroc is to return to Gatwick, Stockholm and Copenhagen ops in March 2013. It will also open a route between Casablanca and Praia, Cape Verde.
Whether it is real or simply kiteflying to see if anyone bites , the Moroccan government has hinted of a possible 44% share sale to un-named Gulf carrier (Oct 2012)
Tunisair is seeking an injection of state funds after announcing USD98mn loss for 2011. Competitive pressure on it will intensify with the imminent open-skies agreement with the EU (Nov 2012)
5.NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES
Air Algerie is planning srevices to Lagos and Johannesburg. There is also talk of Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Amsterdam,and New Yorlk. The government is injecting USD750mn for fleet upgrades including 3x ‘150 seat’ aircraft, which one must assu me would be A320 or B737 variants. (November 2012)
Brussels Airlines, which has normally maintained services to its African destinations through thick and thin and done very well by so doing is uncharacteristically withdrawing from Bamako from Jan 2013 .(Oct 2012)
Condor (Germany) is adding to the European winter/South African summer crop of seasonal services and increased frequencies to Capetown with twice weekly B767-300s from Frankfurt. Lufthansa also operates from Munich. The South African Rand is at a tourist-friendly 3 year low this winter while the country’s southern hemisphere rival, Australia, is extremely expensive thanks to increased local rates for accomodation and a very strong Australian dollar. (Oct 2012)
EasyJet is launching three weekly A319 services between Stansted and Marrakech and twice weekly between Stansted and Sharm el Sheik (Oct 2012)
Gulf Air once again ceased Nairobi services in November leaving Cairo, Addis and Khartoum as its sole African points from a once more extensive network. The airline thus continues to reap results of its failure /refusal to give Dubai the vastly increased direct services it sought in 1985 gave birth to Emirates . At the time the airline’s Bahrein based management thought that Dubai was bluffing. They weren’t and from a standing start Emirates was created as a high quality carrier from the outset . The management came from the monopoly handling and general sales agency DNATA. It was flying a single leased A300 and a B727 within six months and has never looked back ( Oct 2012)
Iberia while cutting back on a substantial amount of flying as part of owner IAG’s drive to cut losses and achieve a viable lomg trem future, will in March 2013 relaunch services to both Algiers and Oran in Algeria (Nov2012)
KLM is back in Harare aftera 13 year absence via a routing including Lusaka . A330-200s are used at least initially. (Nov 2012)
Qatar Airways stretched its 20th tentacle into Africa on 31st October with thrice weekly services to Maputo ops. (Oct 202)
Turkish Airlines , another fast grower in Africa although one which has declared its lack of interest in intra-African intermediate sectors as revenue topups (too difficult to capacity manage) , has added Kilimanjaro, Mombasa, Ouagadougou,Yaounde and Douala to its route map . It has now signed Air Service Agreements with 45 of the 54 African states. (Oct 2012)
Vuelling(Spain) will in Apr 2013 launch services from Barcelona to Banjul, Casablanca and Tangier (Oct 2012)
6. MISCELLANEOUS
DRC Kinshasa N’djili Airport’s USD60m runway re-work is nearing completion. A Chinese contractor has the contract (Nov 2012)
Ghana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Airports Construction Corporation for new Accra Airport feasibility study (Oct 2012)
Kenya , fresh from revitalising a Nairobi suburban commuter line and with big plans for a new standard guage from the coast all the way through to Uganda , is also aiming to build a new rail link from the city to Jomo Kenyaatta Airport . Plans have taken a step forward with the opening of Prequalification Bids from 17 potential contractors .
If built, the line would relieve passengers of a frequently highly congested and uninspiring drive into the city which at night projects itself as dismally lit and unwelcoming and by day a place which continually fails to get to grips with simple road maintainence. Some of these negatives will be reduced by the eastern and western bypasses. Hopefully the second of these will, unlike the first, have from day one road markings and signage. Regardless of what happens to the roads though, bright, fast, reliable modern trains completing the journey in minutes would transform the image and realities of gettong to and around Nairobi.(Oct 2012)
Kenya’s cabinet has apprived a total of U$ 1bn for Jomo Kenyatta Airport’s ‘Project Greenfield’ which includes a modern concept new ‘mega terminal’,a second runway, and the reconfiguration of existing terminals. The process of awarding construction contracts has, as previously described , been tortuous but appears now to be complete and the project is scheduled to be be delivered in total by 2017 . That though is still, at most optimistic, still 5 years away. Meanwhile the present facilities are bulging at the seams and the hub transfer bagage system is under particular stress, so the airport authority is to look at alleviating the problems with temporary structures. To help fund the construction an additional US$20 departure tax per person is to be levied. Hopefully the amounts authorised and raised will all find their way to the right place. (Nov 2012)
Mali’s Bamako Airport has lengthened and refurbished its main runway. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Central Bank has barred Arik Air and Aero Contractors from receiving further loans due to outstanding debts. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Ministry of Transport is in a novel and rather extraordinary move to create a ‘pool of 30 efficient new aircraft’ to be ‘given’ to 10 struggling domestic carriers. The government’s ‘Aviation Intervention Fund’ will finance this with US$500m Chinese loan. The Chinese tend to want to see a return on their money so this is not likely to come cheap, whether visibly or invisibly. The means and criteria by which carriers will be able to access this fund are not clear. Talks are underway with Embraer seeking ’fair and concessionary’ pricing. Tax-breaks and debt-renegotiation also mooted for carriers. Will this all be transparent and equally available to all bidders? (Nov 2012).
Nigeria’s Federal Airports Authority has opened a new domestic terminal at Lagos. Additional and better capacity is always welcome but this the location of the facility perpetuates the problem of not being adjacent to and easily accessible from the international building. The upgrade of a further 12 airports started early in 2012. This is a US$120m project again based on Chinese loan funding. (Oct1 2012)
Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Aviation has somewhat ludicrously declared BA and Virgin guilty of price discrimination against Nigerians and re-imposed fines first levied in November 2011. BA is shaken down for US$135mn and Virgin for US$100mn. Directional pricing is common all over the world and the idea that Nigeria is particularly being singled out is not correct. (Nov 2012)
Meanwhile ,Nigeria’s Parliamentary Committee has drafted a damning report on local aviation: “weak regulatory regime… weak oversight …low and declining professional competence in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority…non-adherence to procedures…ministerial interference”. (Nov 2012)
Swaziland’s government has announced that the new Sikhuphe Intl Airport , east of Manzini, is to open early in 2013. Work began 2003 and there has been a huge overspend on the original US$90m estimate. The project is part funded by Taiwan who have always been keen to counter mainland Chinese influence in African countries (Nov 2012)
Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority has contraversially agreed to the construction of a new international airport at Mugumu adjacent to the north-west Serengeti National Park. The project is to start in 2013 and is using private USA-based US$350m funding. This is linked to several new lodges for a US operator. The overall benefit to Tanzania is questionable. Bypassing the traditional road routes from Kilimanjaro/Arusha will make seeing the Serengeti easier but it will localise and isolate expenditure and reduce the trickle down effect into the economy of Northern Tanzania. Environmentally and airport in the vast and unspoiled Serengeti has to be a negative and from the tourists point of view missing the spectacular approach to and views of the whole area from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater removes one of the world’s most impressive to (November 2012)
Tunisia ‘s government is to revive EU open-skies talks which would open Tunisia to EU Low Cost carriers and benefit the country’s inbound tourism. (Oct 2012)
Zimbabwe: The government says that the upgrade of Victoria Falls airport will not be completed in time for the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly. A Chinese contractor is doingthe work with a US$150mn Chinese loan.(Oct 2012)
John Williams
30 November 2012
AFRICAN SNIPPETS October – November 2012
Is there significance in the fact that the continent’s ‘big 4’ aviation countries have been newsworthy in the past few weeks? The news has not been eye-catching - no orders for fleets of A380s, – but perhaps it heralds the start of major shifts in the industry landscape. South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria have been involved.
South African Airways now unexpectedly finds itself with a new Chairman and Board, and searching for a new CEO. The Chairman resigned before being sacked by the Minister for Public Enterprises and the CEO resigned shortly thereafter. The problems facing SAA thus continue to multiply. It is technically insolvent, has operating losses of USD3m per week plus bail-outs from an unhappy Government, while growing high-quality competition grows. Most significantly there appears to be an absence of a credible strategy for the future and there are considerable stresses and strains as it goes through a rebalancing of the racial composition of its staff.
The rapid African network spread by high-quality Middle East carriers is beginning to furrow brows within both Ethiopian and Kenya Airways. TewoldeGebremariam, CEO Ethiopian, has been vocal with his concerns. Unexpectedly the Ethiopian government has now touched the brakes by denying Etihad its request to serve Addis Ababa. Is this a first protest that the current free-for-all invasion would benefit from some re-balancing? Will there be a move by the airlines for more rather than less regulation and protectionism? Unsurprising has been the comment from Titus Naikuni, CEO Kenya Airways, that African carriers need to combine if they are to survive in the longer term. Kenya Airways has long eyed a more pan- East African (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) role and moved towards it by launching their shares on all three stock exchanges and taking a 49% share in and effectively management control of Tanzania’s Precisionair. How much though of the three majors’ new found interest in helping smaller, struggling neighbouring national carriers is real generosity and how much is opportunist self interest and expansionism? Opinions will be mixed and old suspicions run deep. Kenya is seen by its two former partners in East African Airways as having first tried to dominate and then destroying ithat airline. Kenya and South Africa are both viewed with some equivocation elsewhere in Africa as being too domineering and dominant and more concerned with their own interests than those of less successful neighbours.
The possibility of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian becoming more closely linked is remote. Their ethnic, political and historic backgrounds and even their geography and geographical position are vastly different as are the characters of the two airlines. They can be reasonable and mutually respecting friends but a wedding is unlikely. The resultant competition has in fact been beneficial to African aviation right across the continent and is in the customers’ interests . Apart from all else ,it has made them both provides some useful high frequency and reliable city pair links across the continent as well as two strong hubs on the eastern side of Africa. Both airlines are also large and strong enough to compete with the Gulf invaders . Governments are reluctant to trim the wings of these as they have given previously undreamed of levels of mainly one stop connectivity and capacity between between Africa and much of the rest of the world.
On the western side of the continent Nigeria’s woeful aviation problems continue. There are many reasons but Government’s response of simply throwing more money at them is little more than expensive short term sticking plaster. Infrastructure and aged domestic fleets continue to fall well below international standards. The Government’s Aviation Intervention Fund, aimed at improving quality and safety, is being increased by USD500m to USD800m to fund the purchase of 30 new aircraft to be shared between several domestic operators. Customer confidence will rise a little when they enter service but the underlying problems will remain, disturbingly, unaddressed. A hard-hitting report from a Parliamentary Committee highlighting deep-seated regulatory, management and ministerial deficiencies may just trigger a more rational approach and a more positive future for the whole industry but we’ve been there before . Success will depend on a real determination to bury old hatchets and people genuinely working together rather than scoring personal, departmental or other insular points. Difficult.
Back in East Africa an exotic, if alien, bird has now taken to the skies. Fastjet, with an African Grey Parrot prominent on the tail of its three A319s, has launched its long-heralded low cost operation based on Dar es Salaam. Intended to symbolise all kinds of good things, parrots are not indiginous to East Africa and mean nothing to those who live there. Let’s hope the airline fares better. Mwanza and Kilimanjaro are trumpeted as the first of a sub-Saharan network boasting a fleet of 15 aircraft within a year. Universal USD20 fares dominate publicity although the airline must hope that they can capacity control those as soon as possible. Nairobi, Accra and Luanda , all current homes of Lonrho’s Fly540 which forms the Air Operators Certificate platform for the new airline are targeted as the next bases. The vision is of wide horizons and untapped business potential. Cecil Rhodes would recognise it. Chapter 1 has been delivered, ‘Getting Airborne’. Now Chapter 2 has to be written, ‘Are we sure we’ve got the sums right?’ The first money is now rolling in. So are the aircraft and other leasing bills, the fuel chits, the salaries including an alleged $50,000 a month consultancy fee for Stelios as well as other sundries which make it flow out again probably even faster.
Abidjan based Air Côte d’Ivoire is now airborne with a purely regional network. Air France is a 15% shareholder and appears to have protected Paris rights for itself. It has acknowledged that its investment is defensive against the encroaching non-African longhaul operators who are diverting particularly Asia-bound passengers away from the old habit of transiting Paris en route to everywhere.
The failures of these two months include Low Cost 1Time of South Africa which has entered administration and Zambia’s Zambesi Airlines has ceased operations for a second time this year. But, against all the odds, Air Tanzania and Air Zimbabwe have both re-started limited flying.
And 50 years ago ….. in December 1962, 18 month old Air Afrique ordered its first jet aircraft ,– two DC8-53s. The three leased Lockheed L1649 Starliners were to be returned to Air France. But the good times were progressively to decline intohard times. With 11 bickering national governments as shareholders major difficulties were inevitable. With some feeeling of inevitability in 2002 the once proud airline and well managed airline eventually went of another similar - East African. .
1. EAST AFRICA
Air Tanzania . Like one of those inextinguishable party cake candles, this airline just keeps coming back. Just when you think it really has gone this time it sudenly comes alive again so no surprise that just ahead of the arrival of shiny new fastJet it has relaunched with a daily Dar es Salaam-Mwanza service with one of those venerable and also seemingly similarly inextinguishable 737-200s leased from South Africa. The company is also negotiating for 2 ACMI leased B737-500s from AeroVista of the UAE.
It also plans return to service of the Dash 8-300 under protracted maintenance at Dar es Salaam. It awaits replacement of main landing gear and one engine, in return no doubt for payment, something it has found not so easy. (Oct2012)
Eritrean Airlines has added a B757-200 to its B767-200. It also has a wet leased A319 and A320 (Nov2012)
Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t sit still and continues to act with clear vision and purpose. It has considerable depth and experience in its management and has always been left remarkably uninvolved with local politics. It is seen as a great national asset which has survived all kinds of domestic problems and images.
In a pragmatic move it has defered a thrice weekly Addis-Lome- Sao Paulo service until March 2013 pending granting of Sao Paulo slot times suitable for feeding into and out of ASKY connections in Lome.
With Africa’s first 787-8s already in service, the airline has added 3 more leases for 2015 delivery to take their total of this type to 13. It has secured technical support via a 10 year deal with Lufthansa Technik.
On the training side, Ethiopian’s in- house academy has seen 255 pupils, including 150 maintenance technicians, graduate. The yearly intake is now 1,000 across a variety of disciplines. (Nov 2012)
With an eye to strategically extending its reach in Central Africa , particularly while Air Zimbabwe which should be the dominant carrier, remains a casualty of that country’s unusual politics , Ethiopian has submitted an Expression of Interest in Air Malawi privatisation. The airline has also confirmed that it is close to signing an MoU with the Zambian government for new national carrier. That would make 2 out of 3 of the former Central African Airways countries becoming Ethiopian rather than Zimbabwean partners (Nov2012)
Fastjet : We have talked about this newcomer above but one of the merits of having Stelios on board is clearly the amount of media interest in almost anything it does. The latest story-in early December,- is that it may depart from previous plans and enter the already brisk South African market which is used to Low Cost Carriers, some long standing and others coming and going, by buying the 1-Time presumably largely for its ready made AOC and re-creatable infrastructure.
In the meantime the company has appointed appointed Kyle Haywood, ex CEO of Air Uganda, as its General Manager, Africa. (Oct 2012)
Financially , additional funds may be sought via an additional share sale. Fastjet is AIM listed in Lond
Jetlink (Kenya) has suspended operations citing the blocking of USD 2million ticket sales remission by South Sudan due to foreign exchnage shortages. Their fleet consists of 8 CRJs and a lessor has secured a court order protecting four of them due overdue lease payments. (Nov 2012)
Kenya Airways has secured the licensing approval to launch new low cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet. Domestic and regional points have been specified but an AOC is yet to be obtained and even a final decision to launch is still to be made. We have surmised before that the rationale isn’t too clear and that the new company would be a counterproductive distraction . In the meantime, the first of four B737-300 is undergoing freighter conversion by Boeing Shanghai. 12 freight aircraft are eventually envisaged together with a B747-400F joint service with Air France/KLM from Guangzhou to Nairobi.
An equipment innovation has been the introduction of the EMB-190 four times weekly on the 4 hour sector between Nairobi and Johannesburg. That is a long sector for a narrow narrowbody . Another question will be how the aircraft and its narrow holds cope with large amounts of hold baggage. (October 2012)
The airline has also concluded a code share with China Eastern adding to existing Far East regional ones with Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines (November 2012)
Precision Air , 49% owned by Kenya Airways, has taken delivery of the first of two ATR42-600s. 3 ATR72-600s also on order (Nov2012)
Rwandair has taken delivery of the second of two new CRJ900s on order, replacing two CRJ200s. It has also launched services to Lagos. They plan also to introduce Juba, Mombasa and Lusaka (Oct12)
The airline is hoping to achieve profitability in 2015-16 and if that happens it will go for listing on the local Stock Exchange (Nov 2012)
2.SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA
1Time. Goodbye! ... or maybe not. On 2nd November the company entered provisional liquidation on and ceased flying. All down to USD35mn of short term debt. The Board and the Business Rescue Plan practitioners say there is ‘no reasonable prospect of recovery’. That said Africa’s new Stelios-driven arrival , fastjet, is believed to be considering buying at least the bones of the company although whether or not that would mean taking on the $35 million of debt is not clear. (Oct 2012)
Air Botswana has received the second of two, ex Lufthansa, RJ85s enabling its October network expansion to include Cape Town, Nairobi, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Lanseria. The total fleet is now 4 BAe 146/RJ85, 3 ATR42-500s and 2 ATR72s. The latter are up for sale as they struggle with the Maun heat and Johannesburg altitude (Oct 2012)
Air Malawi: Ethiopian Airlines and Comair plus 9 others have responded to the call for Expressions of Interest in its selloff and future redevelopment. Bids close on 15th December and the process will then move on to selection of final bidders.Air Malawi (2012) Ltd will be the new company formed with 51% Malawian ownership including the Government which will also guarantee the historic debt of the present company. Does “guarantee” mean just that or does it mean “take on and pay off “? There is a significant difference between the two things. It pays to be precise. (Nov 2012)
Air Namibia had a pilots’ strike from 16th to 28th November . Serious disruption ensued. It was all about a pay rise/conditions demands and follows a long history of tension between the Namibia Pilots Assosciation (NAPA) and the company . The revenue lost during the strike is estimated at USD8m. That will not have done a lot to help it afford higher salaries for anyone.(Nov2012)
Air Zimbabwe staggers on . Its IATA membership was rescinded due to an IOSA certification lapse but in the meantime it has restarted four times weekly services between Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls with its own B737-200 and between Harare-Jo’burg also four times per week with its own B767-200. In the past this aircraft has tended to have its scheduled flying curtailed by having to transport Zimbabwe’s President and family members on trips elsewhere. The status of the 2 white tailed A320s is unclear (Nov 2012)
FreshAir (Zimbabwe) On 2 November launched a Low Cost services between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. This was a new 49/51 joint venture between 1Time of South Africa and Nu-Aero of Zimbabwe using 1Time MD87s. It is not clear where this now stands as result of 1-Time suspending operations (Oct 2012)
Korongo Airlines (DRC) launched services on 31st October from Lubumbashi to Mbuji-Mayi following delivery of a second BAe146-200. Kisangani and Goma will come next. (Oct 2012)
LAM has taken delivery of a leased B737-500 and a third E190, but faces funding difficulties in establishing a planned stand-alone longhaul subsidiary. The airline was grounded by a flight and cabin crew strike on 18th November (Nov2012)
Proflight (Zambia) is seeking its own AOC and is looking at possibly buying ATR42 s (Nov 2012)
SAA is another airline whose woes continue. It has been going through an enormous cultural and personnel upheaval partly as result of its need to rebalance its staff to more closely represent the various racial groupings in the new South African society. To do this while maintaining morale, keeping a solid experience base , exiting some people and recruiting others is a daunting task bound to stretch any management. Add to that a less than ideal but fairly recent fleet mix including A340-600s in place of 747-400s,apparent confusion about route strategy and priorities and the need to match Asian and Gulf airlines’ standards and style of service and the difficulties are clear. Plenty to think about in the bath. There is also the impact all of these have had on profitability and a Government being very reluctant to keep pouring money into what should be a successful and profitable business and one can feel the weight on any Chairman CEO’s shoulders as he drives to work on a Monday,- or any, -morning. Unsurprisingly the senior management positions have seen some movements and become seen as unstable. Apart from giving everybody the wobbles that doesn’t encourage top quality people to step forward as replacements. Who really wanted to be Henry V111’s next wife?
The upshot of all this is that the Chairman, six board members and the CEO Siza Mizimela have resigned . It is unclear how truly voluntary these departures have been but in any case relations with Government have deteriorated further. The central financial issue is the latest February 2012 bail-out request, for USD750mn. So far the Government has agreed to guarantee $ 600 of restructuring loans on the basis that they will be sought on the open market . This though is conditional on the presentation of turnaround and financing strategies by to the Ministry of Public Enterprises by 15th December.
In the meantime, the imminent AGM is to expected to reveal a US$145 million operating loss for 2012 and to highlight the weak balance sheet. The debt/equity ratio is minus 359% . In a further restriction of options the Public Enterprise Minister has ruled out the privatization option to improve financial and operating performance. Any management would feel beleagured (October 2012)
SA Express on 2nd November, launched thrice weekly Durban-Harare CRJ200 services by passing the busy Johannesburg hub and the domestic to international and v. v. transfer process. Immigration, customs and secuity checks get in the way. Possible flights from Durban to Malawi have been mentioned .Malawi desparately needs any links it can get to anywhere so should welcome any application to open this one.
On Africa’s nearest approach to an international shuttle route, frequencies between Johannesburg and Gaborone have been increased to 6 daily. (Oct 2012)
Skywise (S Africa) . Yes, its another intended new Low Cost and start up planned for early 2013. The idea is that it could be born out of provisionally liquidated 1Time,(see above) , bringing with it the all important AOC .owever However, fastjet’s early December move ( see above) may spike this . That will not please Glenn Orsmond and Rodney James who are said to be prominent in the Skywise proposal. If it goes ahead ,investment could be from a BEE group and from Dubai. The intended launch fleet would be B737-300s , while fastjet would offer newish and certainly new looking A319s(Nov 2012)
Santaco Airlines is optimistic of now getting airbourne by July 2013. The CEO of Santaco,(S African Taxi Association), says the delay caused by “non-existent relevant skills in the taxi industry”. The transfer of the taxi industry image to the airline industry may not be an ideal start point, especially in a crowded market, but Santaco seems undaunted. (Oct 2012)
Zambezi Airlines again ceased all flying on 19th October thanks to a recurrence of debt problems . A new investor is being sought. (Nov 2012)
3.WEST AFRICA
Aero(Nigeria) took delivery of a leased B737-400. Their total fleet is now 12 comprising 6 B737-400s and 6 -500s. (Oct 2012)
Air Annobon (Equitorial Guinea) plans imminent the launch of domestic services having received the first of two BAE146-300s wet leased from Fair Aviation, S Africa. (Oct 2012)
Air Cote d’Ivoire started flying on 12th November from Abidjan to Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Libreville and Lome, plus Air Burkina codeshares to Cotonou and Ouagadougou. (Nov 2012)
Ariella Airlines (Burkina Faso) BoboDioulasso based start-up has launched domestic flights to Ouagadougou with a wet-leased Spanish MD-83. The company plans B737-800 regional and Paris services . It will be easier to get regional technical support for the 737s.(Oct 2012)
Arik Air Lufthansa Technik has grounded an aircraft due to unpaid bills. No doubt this “misunderstanding” will be resolved. The airline has also been denied the status of national carrier by Nigerian Government who are not happy with “poor domestic performance” (Nov 2012)
ASKY has received the first of the three new Q400NextGen aircraft . 40% shareholder ET placed the order (Nov 2012)
Camair-Co has ordered 2 B787s for 2015 delivery (Oct 2012)
Camair-CoAvic (China) has confirmed the future establishment of an MRO in Cameroon as its sole African site. The delivery of Camair’s 3 MA60 turbo-props is to start early in 2013 (Nov2012)
Ceibu (Equitorial Guinea) has launched 3 weekly B777-200s between Malabo and Madrid. This is a Portuguese wet lease. (Oct2012)
Corsair (France) eff 26 Oct launched 4pw B747-400 sched ops Paris Orly-Dakar on 26th October . It plans to launch 4 weekly A330-300 services between Orly and Abidjan on 2013 (Nov 2012)
Cronos Airlines (Equitoroal Guinea) now flies a single BAE146-200/300 wet-leased from Fair Aviation of South Africa. It operates a domestic network and flies internationally to Douala and Cotonou. (October 2012)
Douniah Airlines (Mali) plans to start flying in January 2013 with a single B737-300. The network will be 3 per week Bamako-Lagos-Douala-Kinshasa and 3 Bamako-Abidjan-Cotonou-Libreville (Nov 2012)
Gambia Bird has launched itself with flights to Dakar. A full West African network is planned to follow plus long haul probes to London Gatwick and Barvelona . The airline is a 90/10 joint venture between Germania Express, the AOC holder, and the Gambian Government. 2 A319s are wet-leased from Germania Express. (Oct 2012)
Hak Air (Nigeria), another Nigerian hopeful entrant has received the first of four B737-400s to launch domestic services. (October 2012)
Med-View Airlines (Nigeria)essentially a Hajj carrier has been granted 2 year AOC effective 8th November 2012 . It plans scheduled domestic services with 2 B737-400s on the Lagos-Abjua-Port Harcourt—Lagos triangle. (Oct 2012)
Overland (Nigeria) has leased a B737-800 from Austrian Airlines (Nov 2012)
Punto Azul (Equitorial Guinea) has leased a Do328 to operate twice weekly between Malabo and Pt Harcourt. That’s a short overwater sector not a lot of utilisation. (Nov 2012)
Starbow of Ghana launched its first regional service from Accra to Cotonou in mid-August 2012 followed by Abidjan on 8th November. Monrovia and Ouagadougou to set to follow (Oct 2012)
4.NORTH AFRICA
Air Arabia Maroc was to launch A320 services between Casablanca, Milan and Toulouse in October 2012. It also plans to launch A320 flights to Gatwick twice weekly from Tangiers and thrice from e Casablanca (Oct 2012)
Air Libya ,a private operator has added 2 B737-400 and one BAe RJ100 to its single BAe146 fleet. It flies to Cairo, Alexandria, Tunis, Khartoum and Istanbul as well as domestic points (Nov 2012)
Afriqiyah started twice weekly Tripoli – Khartoum services on 15th October. On 1st December it plans to continue rebuilding its post revolution network by adding Paris, Rome, Casablanca and Dubai. As a further step it has ordered four more A350-900s bringing their total to ten.
Royal Air Maroc is to return to Gatwick, Stockholm and Copenhagen ops in March 2013. It will also open a route between Casablanca and Praia, Cape Verde.
Whether it is real or simply kiteflying to see if anyone bites , the Moroccan government has hinted of a possible 44% share sale to un-named Gulf carrier (Oct 2012)
Tunisair is seeking an injection of state funds after announcing USD98mn loss for 2011. Competitive pressure on it will intensify with the imminent open-skies agreement with the EU (Nov 2012)
5.NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES
Air Algerie is planning srevices to Lagos and Johannesburg. There is also talk of Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Amsterdam,and New Yorlk. The government is injecting USD750mn for fleet upgrades including 3x ‘150 seat’ aircraft, which one must assu me would be A320 or B737 variants. (November 2012)
Brussels Airlines, which has normally maintained services to its African destinations through thick and thin and done very well by so doing is uncharacteristically withdrawing from Bamako from Jan 2013 .(Oct 2012)
Condor (Germany) is adding to the European winter/South African summer crop of seasonal services and increased frequencies to Capetown with twice weekly B767-300s from Frankfurt. Lufthansa also operates from Munich. The South African Rand is at a tourist-friendly 3 year low this winter while the country’s southern hemisphere rival, Australia, is extremely expensive thanks to increased local rates for accomodation and a very strong Australian dollar. (Oct 2012)
EasyJet is launching three weekly A319 services between Stansted and Marrakech and twice weekly between Stansted and Sharm el Sheik (Oct 2012)
Gulf Air once again ceased Nairobi services in November leaving Cairo, Addis and Khartoum as its sole African points from a once more extensive network. The airline thus continues to reap results of its failure /refusal to give Dubai the vastly increased direct services it sought in 1985 gave birth to Emirates . At the time the airline’s Bahrein based management thought that Dubai was bluffing. They weren’t and from a standing start Emirates was created as a high quality carrier from the outset . The management came from the monopoly handling and general sales agency DNATA. It was flying a single leased A300 and a B727 within six months and has never looked back ( Oct 2012)
Iberia while cutting back on a substantial amount of flying as part of owner IAG’s drive to cut losses and achieve a viable lomg trem future, will in March 2013 relaunch services to both Algiers and Oran in Algeria (Nov2012)
KLM is back in Harare aftera 13 year absence via a routing including Lusaka . A330-200s are used at least initially. (Nov 2012)
Qatar Airways stretched its 20th tentacle into Africa on 31st October with thrice weekly services to Maputo ops. (Oct 202)
Turkish Airlines , another fast grower in Africa although one which has declared its lack of interest in intra-African intermediate sectors as revenue topups (too difficult to capacity manage) , has added Kilimanjaro, Mombasa, Ouagadougou,Yaounde and Douala to its route map . It has now signed Air Service Agreements with 45 of the 54 African states. (Oct 2012)
Vuelling(Spain) will in Apr 2013 launch services from Barcelona to Banjul, Casablanca and Tangier (Oct 2012)
6. MISCELLANEOUS
DRC Kinshasa N’djili Airport’s USD60m runway re-work is nearing completion. A Chinese contractor has the contract (Nov 2012)
Ghana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Airports Construction Corporation for new Accra Airport feasibility study (Oct 2012)
Kenya , fresh from revitalising a Nairobi suburban commuter line and with big plans for a new standard guage from the coast all the way through to Uganda , is also aiming to build a new rail link from the city to Jomo Kenyaatta Airport . Plans have taken a step forward with the opening of Prequalification Bids from 17 potential contractors .
If built, the line would relieve passengers of a frequently highly congested and uninspiring drive into the city which at night projects itself as dismally lit and unwelcoming and by day a place which continually fails to get to grips with simple road maintainence. Some of these negatives will be reduced by the eastern and western bypasses. Hopefully the second of these will, unlike the first, have from day one road markings and signage. Regardless of what happens to the roads though, bright, fast, reliable modern trains completing the journey in minutes would transform the image and realities of gettong to and around Nairobi.(Oct 2012)
Kenya’s cabinet has apprived a total of U$ 1bn for Jomo Kenyatta Airport’s ‘Project Greenfield’ which includes a modern concept new ‘mega terminal’,a second runway, and the reconfiguration of existing terminals. The process of awarding construction contracts has, as previously described , been tortuous but appears now to be complete and the project is scheduled to be be delivered in total by 2017 . That though is still, at most optimistic, still 5 years away. Meanwhile the present facilities are bulging at the seams and the hub transfer bagage system is under particular stress, so the airport authority is to look at alleviating the problems with temporary structures. To help fund the construction an additional US$20 departure tax per person is to be levied. Hopefully the amounts authorised and raised will all find their way to the right place. (Nov 2012)
Mali’s Bamako Airport has lengthened and refurbished its main runway. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Central Bank has barred Arik Air and Aero Contractors from receiving further loans due to outstanding debts. (Oct 2012)
Nigeria’s Ministry of Transport is in a novel and rather extraordinary move to create a ‘pool of 30 efficient new aircraft’ to be ‘given’ to 10 struggling domestic carriers. The government’s ‘Aviation Intervention Fund’ will finance this with US$500m Chinese loan. The Chinese tend to want to see a return on their money so this is not likely to come cheap, whether visibly or invisibly. The means and criteria by which carriers will be able to access this fund are not clear. Talks are underway with Embraer seeking ’fair and concessionary’ pricing. Tax-breaks and debt-renegotiation also mooted for carriers. Will this all be transparent and equally available to all bidders? (Nov 2012).
Nigeria’s Federal Airports Authority has opened a new domestic terminal at Lagos. Additional and better capacity is always welcome but this the location of the facility perpetuates the problem of not being adjacent to and easily accessible from the international building. The upgrade of a further 12 airports started early in 2012. This is a US$120m project again based on Chinese loan funding. (Oct1 2012)
Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Aviation has somewhat ludicrously declared BA and Virgin guilty of price discrimination against Nigerians and re-imposed fines first levied in November 2011. BA is shaken down for US$135mn and Virgin for US$100mn. Directional pricing is common all over the world and the idea that Nigeria is particularly being singled out is not correct. (Nov 2012)
Meanwhile ,Nigeria’s Parliamentary Committee has drafted a damning report on local aviation: “weak regulatory regime… weak oversight …low and declining professional competence in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority…non-adherence to procedures…ministerial interference”. (Nov 2012)
Swaziland’s government has announced that the new Sikhuphe Intl Airport , east of Manzini, is to open early in 2013. Work began 2003 and there has been a huge overspend on the original US$90m estimate. The project is part funded by Taiwan who have always been keen to counter mainland Chinese influence in African countries (Nov 2012)
Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority has contraversially agreed to the construction of a new international airport at Mugumu adjacent to the north-west Serengeti National Park. The project is to start in 2013 and is using private USA-based US$350m funding. This is linked to several new lodges for a US operator. The overall benefit to Tanzania is questionable. Bypassing the traditional road routes from Kilimanjaro/Arusha will make seeing the Serengeti easier but it will localise and isolate expenditure and reduce the trickle down effect into the economy of Northern Tanzania. Environmentally and airport in the vast and unspoiled Serengeti has to be a negative and from the tourists point of view missing the spectacular approach to and views of the whole area from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater removes one of the world’s most impressive to (November 2012)
Tunisia ‘s government is to revive EU open-skies talks which would open Tunisia to EU Low Cost carriers and benefit the country’s inbound tourism. (Oct 2012)
Zimbabwe: The government says that the upgrade of Victoria Falls airport will not be completed in time for the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly. A Chinese contractor is doing the work with a US$150mn Chinese loan.(Oct 2012)
John Williams
30 November 2012
