African Update June/July 2012

To begin, not a look back but a vision of the future.  In just a few days Ethiopian Airlines will take delivery of its first B787 Dreamliner.  The original delivery date has long since been passed and the wait must have seemed eternal.  But Ethiopian and the continent as a whole is poised to join the technological elite.  Ethiopian’s order is for 10 B787s.  This first aircraft , after initial ad hoc showcasing  substitutions on services to Entebbe, Kilimanjaro,Dubai  will operate the Addis Ababa - Johannesburg and Dubai routes.  Meanwhile Kenya Airways B787 frustrations have been compounded. Boeing is now talking of yet further delay to early 2014 for delivery of the first of 9 on order.   

The fleet problems faced by the two carriers during the much delayed 787 deliveries have been taxing.  767s have had to be kept in the fleet long beyond their planned retirement dates and additional 777s have been ordered to mop up volume growth on key routes.  None of which has been cheap and both carriers have successfully pushed hard for compensation from Boeing.

South African Airways is clearly under increasing stress.  Back in May it asked Government (its sole shareholder) for USD745million to enable fleet renewal and business restructuring.  Although it argued that this was not a bail out it was unconvincing.  Now it has announced the imminent withdrawal of its Cape Town – London services.  A near 25% fall in total UK-South Africa demand over the past 3 years will have been a significant factor but not the full story.  SAA’s base, Johannesburg is geographically poorly placed in a cul-de-sac at the bottom end of the continent.  It is a terminus at the end of the line and despite some pull in eastern and central Africa for traffic destined to South America and Australia and historically worldwide from Mozambique , Zimbabwe and  Malawi it is not a comprhensive hub.  Nor can it be developed to tap into major long-haul flows of traffic as practised so well by the Gulf states. In July the Public Enterprise Minister increased the pressure saying the airline needs ‘a whole new re-think’ adding that it cannot continue to ask Government for financial assistance.  SAA faces a deeply challenging 2-3 years as it contracts the long-haul network to concentrate on building African regional routes.

Safety hit the headlines in June.  The total loss of 2 Nigerian registered aircraft in 24 hours prompted the immediate withdrawal of operating licences and an NCAA audit of all operators.  Government has now gone further and is proposing mandatory IATA IOSA certification for all licenced Nigerian carriers.  Meeting in Abuja in July,IATA and ICAO urged government ministers of Africa to endorse and adopt a proposed  ‘Africa Strategic Improvement Action Plan’ to enhance safety progressively to 2015.Not least among the recommendations is the establishment of independent CAAs in all African countries but many simply don’t have adequate numbers of qualified and experienced inspectors . Higher salaries and improved conditions elsewhere steadily draws them away from home.

Whilst SAA grapples with historic problems, FastJet is moving to tackle the imminent difficulties of creating a pan sub-Saharan low cost carrier (LCC).  Nairobi, Accra and Dar es Salaam are to be hubs. Obstacles in the way will include protection of existing interests, obtaining traffic rights, and establishing maintainence bases . It will try to avoid unions like the plague. If successful ,passenger volumes are forecast to reach 5 million in year 3 as is profitability with an all-jet A320 series fleet.  Kenya Airways is also moving towards the launch of its planned LCC subsidiary, Jambo Jet but at what pace and whether their heart is really in this potential distraction from their mainline brand is not clear. The search for profitability will be tough but Kenya Airways perhaps has slightly better odds by choosing to concentrate on familiar East African routes whereas Dar es Salaam –Windhoek will be totally unknown territory for FastJet.

And in the margin, Air Tanzania sinks ever deeper towards oblivion. The operating fleet has been reduced to zero and now Government has fired the CEO plus 4 senior directors.

1.EAST AFRICA

Air Tanzania sacked acting CEO Paul Chizi, and replaced him with Milton LusajoLazaro. Four other senior directors are also suspended.  (Jun 2012)

Ethiopian Airlines  launched the Addis -Toronto route in  July 2012. They are also evaluating a stronger presence in Asian markets, notably Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, plus ‘more destinations in China’  (Jul 2012)

Ethiopian Airlines will at the end of the year introduce Addis to Sao Paulo via Lome, Togo. They hope for a West/Central African feed of 40% by their owned partner ASky of Togo. (Jun 2012)

Ethiopian Airlines  are again talking of creating a new hub in ‘one of the Congos’ together possibly with another in Zambia or Tanzania.  (Jun 2012)  

Ethiopian Airlines has stressed the strategic importance of its increasing investment in flight crew and maintenance training centres in Addis Ababa  (Jun 2012)

Ethiopian Airlines  launched Addis-Toronto services from  July.  They are also evaluating a stronger presence in Asian markets, eg SIN, KUL, SEL, plus ‘more destinations in China’  .Another B777-200LR has also been ordered (Jul 2012) 

Kenya Airways’  USD250mn rights issue of March raised USD171m (70% uptake) to fund 10 year expansion ‘Project Mawingu’. Destinations are to rise from 56 to 115 by 2021. (Jun 2012)

Kenya Airways  CEO, Titus Naikuni, has called for wide-ranging cost-cutting, due sharp drop in profit levels in FY 2011-12. However the Aviation and Allied Workers Union has now obtained a temporary High Court injunction preventing the airline from declaring redundancies. The airline, despite its good terms and conditions, has always had difficult unions and often problematical relationships with staff at all levels.

The airline’s aggressive fleet and network expansion is to continue although it won’t be helped by further problems for Nairobi airport’s redevelopment. The latest is that the Transport  Minister is reported to have instructed the Kenya Airports Authority to reverse their decision to award a Chinese company a 55 billion shilling contract for the reconstruction of the airport. The Chinese company has protested to the  Public Procurement Oversight Authority .

The Abuja route will start in September but those to Muscat and Rome will cease.

Other new points are to be Lumumbashi via Lusaka. Next up should be Harare in November, possibly added as a call on the thrice weekly Maputo service.

Muscat has never really worked although starting in 2002 Oman Air had a good try with 737s from Mombasa which has the strongest and historic, some of them not too cheery, connections with the Oman. The Rome problem has always been low yield as there are on offer large volumes of rock bottom all inclusive cheap air fare/cheap hotel rate/ eat and drink as much as you like beach destined travellers but very few upper end and premium class passengers. This has been much the pattern since the 1960s and a number of attempts to make Rome work have failed and the service has been withdrawn previously despite howls of protest from the Kenya coast Italian community around Malindi.

Kenya Airways – as above , the  delivery of the first 787s now looks like being in early 2014 .  (Jun 2012)

Kenya Airways has mandated the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to arrange the  financing for 9x B787, 1x B777-300 and 10x Emb190 . Meanwhile it is awaiting government approval  to launch its proposed low cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet . Government may well be asking whether this is something the airline should really do rather than concentrate its management and resources on its prime task. In Europe BA faced the same problem with “Go” and quite early on lost its nerve and sold its successful offspring to a delighted EasyJet.

On its too frequently problematical industrial relations front , Kenya Airways has signed a new collective agreement with KALPA enshrining ‘mutual goodwill’ . Despite that it faces strong resistance to hiring 60 non-Kenyan contract (ie temporary  and non career)  pilots to meet fleet growth . Goodwill is a very difficult thing to quantify but clearly for the union it does not extend to overcoming the long standing antipathy to employing foreigners, even African ones. This itself doesn’t encourage foreign pilots to show much interest in joining.  The flight deck is a lonely and miserable place to be for anyone who isn’t welcome.   (Jul 2012 )

B733 ops from DAR to Lubumbashi via Lusaka. Flights to Harare and Angola are planned by Nov 2012.   (Jun 2012)

Precison Air is to resume ATR42/72 Arusha services  as runway work is nearing completion . Meanwhile B737-300 services are to commence from Dar es Salaam  to Lubumbashi via Lusaka and are planning to operate to Luanda and Harare the end of  2012. The airline's strategy is to expand regional services and they will be keeping a weather eye on Fastjet’s intentions while planning to add  3 ATR72-600s and 2 ATR42-600s to their fleet by mid-2014.(Jun 2012)

2. SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA

1Time on June 1^st  withdrew from  at Lanseria to consolidate at  Johannesburg’s OR Tambo. Lanseira looks attractive from the cost point of view but the customers are so used to heading for the long time main airport that not enough are abandoning habits of a lifetime. (Jun2012)

1Time CEO, BlackyKomani, says agreement is close on new joint venture with an unnamed Southern African country.  Please let it be Malawi . See below.(Jun2012)

Air Malawi – Not for the first time the Government has declared  the loss to be unsustainable. The 2011 edition of  USD4.1 million is again so labelled. Government  policy is now avowedly  to seek a strategic investor to revive the company.  This will only work though if government backs off  and the investor has total freedom of action of obstruction from any source. Meanwhile Ernst and Young is to guide on company restructuring. No doubt they will do a thorough job , do a nice presentation and it will cost a lot of money. It could though be done in a day by one or two people  who know its business, its background and realities at a fraction of the price , if not on restaurant napkins then on on A4 sheets,-  and not many of them.  ( Jun 2012)

Air Namibia is to lease 2 new A330s  to replace its elderly, lease expired, 2 A340s. Fuel costs and initial engineering costs will go down but unless the A340 deal was terrible leasing costs will rise significantly .  (Jul 2012)

Air Zimbabwe has taken delivery of a second A320 leased from China Sonangol.  The first arrived in January 2012.  A Ernst and Young  report on restructuring is imminent.  They can then go on to Malawi (see above) (July 2012)

Air Zimbabwe  IATA is allowing 90days for IOSA re-certification or the airline will lose membership .(Jun 2012)

SAA is ceasing will withdraw from Capetown –London on 15^th August citing a 24% drop in UK-South Africa volumes caused over the last three years in part, by the UK’s high APD tax and USD80 transit visa.

On  17Aug it will extend current two of its weekly Johannesburg-Accra A330  services to Abijan with local traffic rights. On September it will launch rwice weekly  A319s to Brazzaville  (Jun2012)

SAA Public Enterprise Minister says the airline ‘needs a whole new rethink’ and that ‘it cannot keep approaching government for financial assistance’  (Jul 2012)

SAA and Qantas  have been granted interim extension of permission to codeshare on their flights between Johannesburg, Perth, and Sydney, until the end of March 2013.  (Jul 2012)

SA Airlink on 15^th June  launched  ERJ135 flights from  Joburg to Maun. Larger RJ 85s are due to take over in due course . (Jun 2012)

Swift Air (Malawi) despite its early promise has ceased flying.  Cash and debt difficulties are blamed. A familiar problem for startups who simply underestimate the cost of an initial period of flying with low loads . The Malawi CAA also has also questioned alleged licence breaches. (Jun 2012)

Zambezi Airlines resumed business on mid-June with 1 CRJ200 leased from SA Express.  (Jun2012)

3. WEST AFRICA

Air Nigeria continues to have an unhappy life. There has been a  strike by pilots over unpaid salaries and other cash related grievances.  To compound the headaches the NCAA suspended all operations  pending ‘safety inspections’ following engineers strike and for doubts over the financial security of the company.   Such things don’t impress the customers. As if that were not enough the CEO was arrested for USD3 of unpaid corporate taxes. The Chairman was also sought, allegedely for mis-use of GoN Aviation Intervention Fund monies.

It doesn’t therefore come as a surprise that GECAS re-possessed four leased B737-300 . Air Nigeria executives must wonder what a good day in the office would feel like.  (Jul 2012)

Associated Aviation (Nigeria) a domestic operator  has taken on  4 Emb145s (Jul2012)

CTK CityLink Airlines (Ghana)is  resuming  Accra-Kumasai/Takoradi with 1 F100. Accra –Kumasi fels a bit crowded with 70 weekly frequencies by 4 operators but nevertheless it is on FastJet’s list of initial Ghana A319 operated domesic services.  Meanwhile Antrak Air which has ploughed a steady if unspectacular furrow despite the surprise purchase a few years ago  of 2 ex Ghana Airways DC9s which it then seemed never to actually operate, stopped flying for two months but is now back in the air with a leased ATR and only doing the Accra-Kumasi route. (Jun 2012) 

Dana Air (Nigeria) The NCAA suspended their licence indefinitely following the totally fatal  MD83 Lagos crash (Jun12)

Fastjet is planning an October launch in Nairobi and Accra using existing Fly540 AOCs.  It will be an all-jet operation flying  leased A319s with 156 seat configuration. The existing Fly540 leased turbo-props and the Fly540 brand will gradually disappear.  Bases in Tanzania and Angola are to follow. It sees huge potential for a pan-African Low Cost carrier but it will be a tough nut to crack. Ed Winter who worked with Barbara Cassani in Go and later with Easyjet is appointed appointed as CEO. They will need some solid Africa expertise in their top team .(Jun 2012)

4. NORTH AFRICA

Afriqiyah has resumed flying Tripoli -London Gatwick with an A320.   (Jul2012)

EgyptAir Group is considering subsidiary EgyptAir Express using E190 or Bombardier CSeries to take over certain B735 African routes from parent EgyptAir. (Jun 2012)

Royal Air Maroc to lease A310 from HiFly (Portugal) for the summer 2012 season  (Jun 2012)

5. NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES

Air France added daily Abuja flights to its Lagos and Port Harcourt Nigerian points on 4^th June.  Added to the new Kenya Airways Nairobi service this gives the Nigerian capital more useful spokes to its international network.(June 2012)

Air France has entered a codeshare with Air Burkina and Air Mali . This looks like a defensive move following joint investment by AKFED (Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) in the new Air Cote d’Ivoire. Its predecessor was historically an Air France groupie.  AKFED  also has holdings in Air Burkina and Air Mali , both in territory in which Air France has historic and threatened interests.  French speaking West African countries tend to have a love/hate relationship with Air France often publicly decrying their dominance on routes to Paris but privately preferring their service (Jun 2012)

British Airways  on the other hand is not involved in a scramble for Africa . Seemingly quite the reverse in fact despite many others piling in to the continent and some long and profitable assosciations going back to the 1930s. June saw the withdrawal of services on the previously BMi operated  Heathrow - Addis Ababa route . Presumably this will help free up slots for the airline’s new 4 daily London-Leeds services. Meanwhile the airline continues to blame lack of slots for its inability to expand its long haul operations , especially to China , Asia and South America. With the withdrawal of Virgin from Nairobi-London a logical move would have been to grasp the nettle and go double daily offering overnight and daylight flights in both directions . These would have given all the competition a headache but there is no sign of any enthusiasm in BA for that .(Jun 2012)

Brussels Airlines  , undeterred by likely low yields on this mainly holiday/inclusive tour route plans to extend its experience of serving destinations throughout Africa with a November launch of Brussells -Mombasa scheduled services. (Jul 2012). 

Emirates on 01 June launched B777-300ERs between Dubai and Durban.  (Jun 2012)

Etihad  joined the Gulf/Lagos traders and sixth freedom markets fray on 1 July with six weekly A330-200s between Abu Dhabi and Lagos. (Jul 2012)

Iberia also expanded its African reach by starting Madrid-Nouakchott-Accra with A319s.

 (Jul12)    

KLM another Africa enthusiast is adding 3 weekly  A330-200s to Harare from October.  Harare is definitely beginning to come in from the cold despite the continuing Mugabe regime. (Jul 12)

Lufthansa While SAA has withdrawn from Capetown –London  Lufthansa  is adding a link to its secondary hub in Germany with the launch of Munich to Cape Town in time for the European winter season. Services start in September.  (Jul 2012)

Qatar Airways added  A320 flights to Kilimanjaro eff 23 July .Its East Africa coverage which now includes Entebbe, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam . Also to come in August are new services to Mombasa  and  Zanzibar . Competition in this region gets tougher by the day.    (Jul 2012)

Ryanair has withdrawn 34 weekly services in Morocco, citing higher charges levied by the country's airports authority, ONDA.  (Jun 2012)

Turkish Airlines CEO TemelKotil says that 2012 will see African cities served rise from 20 to 30 with 40 anticipated for end-2013. Most cities will be served by  B738 and B739Ers specifically configured for these long (for narrowbody)routes. Elsewhere this airline’s relentless persuit of more and more spokes from its Istanbul hub is seeking Nigerian approval for scheduled services to Abuja and Kano . This carrier hardly stops for breath in its dash for network expansion and reach. and one has to assume that the Turkish Government sees this project to establish the carrier as a real alternative to the Gulf airlines as a national one which they will underpin financially. (Jul 2012)

6. MISCELLANEOUS

Ghana is to seek USD741m investment for development of 5 national airports. (Feb 2012)

IATA and ICAO are urging government ministers of Africa to endorse and adopt Africa Strategic Improvement Action Plan to enhance safety progressively to 2015  (Jul 2012)

Libya, Tripoli International Airport was temporarily closed on 4 June after militia seized the tarmac and grounded all flights. Libyan army has since regained control (Jun 2012)

Nigeria the federal government directs the NCAA to audit all operators in Nigeria following the Dana Air MD80 Lagos crash. ICAO invited to conduct the audit. (Jun12)

Nigeria  Government is specifying IOSA certification as mandatory for all Nigerian licenced operators  (Jul  2012) 

South Sudan  The EU has granted  €12.5m for Juba Airport security upgrade.  That looks like a lot of money for the task  .Air Uganda, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways operate  (Jun1 2012) 

Tanzania Arusha airport has reopened with its runway extended and new a terminal building. The dilemma here for Arusha’s original airport and close to the town,  ever since underutilised Kilimanjaro on the plains between Arusha and Moshi opened in the 1960s ,has been how to update and improve it while not drawing much needed business away from Kilimanjaro.  (Jul 2012)

Tanzania Government is facing union type pressure against licencing of non-Tanzanian pilots.(Jul 2012)

John Williams

 August 2012

IAG's Shareholders,- the pain continues.

Last year the newly formed IAG posted a first half profit to June 30th of 88 million Euros. This year it has come in with a loss of 253 million Euros thanks to a BA profit of 13 million being eclipsed by an Iberia loss of 263 million.

While many "analysts" fail to have consistently failed to clock the realites this will come as no surprise to seasoned BA and now IAG watchers and it's not all down to the current Spanish and Euro woes.

The creators of IAG understood that while BA has over the past decade and more shed large numbers of staff and made good progress on many aspects of working practices and productivity, Iberia was barely at the starting line. It was the potential of getting Iberia to the same place as BA and then taking both brands beyond that in efficiency terms that made the case for putting the two together under a newly created umbrella company look most attractive. Increased revenue and synergies from "savings" are claimed in all mergers but are difficult to really pinpoint and leave feelings that they have been over optimistic and overstated post facto.

Former BA shareholders are again seeing chances of early dividends recede .BA employees will wonder why "their " airline has been saddled with the potentially enormous costs of keeping an erstwhile competitor afloat as that task will consume money better spent on building the business, renewing the fleets and expansion. Paying interest on accumulated losses is never fun . It's just drag and doesn't move the business forward.

IAG's CEO, Wille Walsh mentions "stark differences" between the two companies. That's not news to anyone and never has been for a good few decades. He frowningly promises a restructuring plan for Iberia. That too has been neessary from long before the "merger", so why only now?  Better late than never, it will include staff cuts, productivity increases, and some route rationalisation to try to establish a new lower cost higher quality platform . Once achieved, both owned brands can at some time resume growth and fight their competitors. For Iberia, Spanish labour law and attitudes to slimming down are not encouraging and the whole thing could become a long , drawn out  debilitating , morale sapping ( and that's just for the management) battle with serious costs long before any promised land is reached. For BA there are still entrenched productivity and service quality issues so even there it's work in progress. That's before we talk about the short term costs of running BMi or its Heathrow slots until a new overall BA brand strategy on route development emerges, matched with the purchase and delivery of aircraft to meet the new needs of more long haul, destinations and frequencies, developmental routes, and the rebuilding the Asian network in particular. The long haul  side of the BA business has been investment starved for a dozen or more years and the funding of Iberia's losses isn't going to make things any easier now.

Walsh himself says "Iberia's problems are deep and structural". That's why BA's staff and former shareholders clutching their replacement IAG scrip can reasonably ask:" What's happening? Why do we have to pay for all this?  When will things get better ? Why did the former BA Board lead us here?"

There are no answers in today's statement and the ritual blaming of the economic rain in Spain for the current pain simply doesn't cut it.

Farnborough Transport Takeaways.

By Thursday most of the big announcements from the Farnborough Air Show have been made, the top tier of industry people have begun to leave and some exhibits are starting to go home before the gates are open to the public at the weekend.

While there have been no dramatic announcements during the crucial three days there have been some interesting features.

- Significantly , the A380, Boeing 787 and 737-900NG all appeared in the colours of Gulf and Asian airlines. With current growth in Asia running at over 7% and the Gulf airlines continuing their spectacular additions to network and frequencies, the dynamism, investment and growth are to the east of debt-ridden Europe. The USA with its still dominant core of legacy carriers isn't very exciting either although massive fleet renewals have to happen. Significantly the eastern groupings , other than the Indian subcontinent which struggles with myriad of  economic, philosophical and political problems, are also areas of the world where airport development , modernisation and capacity keep driving ahead in  meeting and anticipating market demand. They are not places where the refurbishment of a handful of tired older aircraft is announced with a flourish of pride and airport development is stuck in endless political wrangling and a "Do nothing" culture. For most eastern airlines and aviation authorities such things are taken for granted and done all the time. Pride is in new aircraft, development, better technical and customer facilities/ service and expansion. That's why the A 380 at Farnborough was Malaysia's, the 787 Qatar's and the 737 Korean's.

- In a display of confidence in the type and in future passenger demand  as well as the risk of future slot limitations at more aiports ,Cathay Pacific converted 16 A350-900 orders to -1000s and added 10 more. With large 777 and A 330 fleets Cathay has always been a shrewd purchaser. In the early days of jets they never bought new aircraft and would go for the less conventional -ie Convair 880,- if its ownership costs were lower. When the Tristar came along it wasn't quite ideal but it was cheaper than the DC 10 and could be made to cover most of the needs. A few were bought new but still most came from previous owners. Only from the 747 onwards has the policy been to buy new and then keep the aircraft for most of their front line lifetime (contrasted to Singapore who have tended to turn their fleets over at relatively young ages before they became expensive engineering-wise). Cathay has also been a master of "misusing"  its long haul fleet by extensively deploying them of relatively short sectors. Not ideal for operating costs but very economical in maximising aircraft and crew utilisation. With the A350 Cathay are again out on a bit of a limb and hedging their bets. This will have helped them get the best deal on this and future additional purchases.  Rest assured ,they will continue to make shrewd and canny decisions.

-Airbus meanwhile is continuing its process of giving the A330 series more weight and range. The -300 now goes up by 5 tonnes to 240 tonnes, giving a 400nm  range increase taking it to 5,950 nm with nearly 5 tonnes more payload. This gives airlines more choice in the decisions as to whether to add A330 and 777 generation aircraft now and save on purchase prices or wait for A 350s and 787s and gain from their lower fuel and operating costs or go for a mix of both solutions. At the same time, there are signs of  787 customers deciding in the light of the 3 year delivery delays to switch orders from the -800 to the larger -900 as certainly by mid life the -800 will be too small. The same passage of time may also make 737-900 customers look at switching to 787-800s as the capacity gap between the two is relatively small and the 787 offers a much more customer friendly widebody environment and further flexibility of deployment. It's a good time for airline mathematicians and economists (yes, there is a difference between the two)  as well as marketing departments.

- The presence of Malaysia's second A380 at a time when it is urgently needed in the fleet denotes the marketing value placed by the carrier on it being seen live or via the media by a wide variety of potential passengers. This visibility will be powerful in establishing the credentials of the airline, ever concerned at Singapore's dominance in the area,  as a leading edge player with the latest equipment. Orders for the 380 continue to be sluggish but despite doubters its long term niche looks assured. The current -800 is the baseline aircraft for the -900  in which both Emirates and Cathay have expressed serious interes,  and later even further stretches. Airbus' immediate preoccupation is to get the wing build problems sorted so that new deliveries not requiring subsequent (up to 8 week) rectification come off the production line as soon as possible. Nobody likes accepting aircraft which they know will have to be modified later.

- In the turboprop arena , ATR continue to sell their products at a steady rate. Bombardier less so. The economics of the ATR and Dash 8 hold their own on short (less than 90 mins) sectors and where they are not threatened competitively by the RJs dominated by the EMB 170/190 series and in due course by updated and re-engined rivals. Thanks to their low initial ownership costs cheap- to- buy classic 737s still produce fair economics in limited markets,-eg Africa,- but are increasingly  high maintainence in all respects.

-

Joint EuroLegacy/new Gulf corridor Europe-Middle East.

France's Le Figaro reports that Air France/KLM and Etihad are preparing to launch this autumn a "joint enterprise" aimed at establishing a "Europe-Middle East corridor". The venture is expected to include Air Berlin and Alitalia . The two groups are said to be working on the routes, aircraft, pricing and marketing policies and profit sharing. No small task across such a broad spectrum of differences between the players. It's hardly a seamless grouping in  service quality and styles whatever codeshares are stuck over it to confuse unwary customers. The legacy Europeans could certainly learn something from the Gulf carrier's disciplined  and attractive approach to the service business,- if their legacy unions would let them.

The report could also tie in with rumours from East Africa that Etihad and Kenya Airways might do something together, a notion which has more credibility if KLM, the rather passive 26 % owner of Kenya Airways, is also involved.

So who's up to what?

It's difficult to see what Air France and KLM bring to the Etihad party . Etihad ,like Emirates and Qatar, is primarily a sixth freedom carrier, and already has superior products between France, the Netherlands and Abu Dhabi whence there are also quick road connections to Dubai . KLM is  substantially a sixth freedom player at their end of the route as, to a lesser degree,  is Air France. Etihad, with its Air Berlin partner and its own direct services to a multiple European capitals and secondary cities already outflanks the European duo in Europe .Onwards from Abu Dhabi it offers a plethora  of  destinations in the Middle East, eastern and southern Africa , the Indian sub continent, Asia and Australasia. Some of these are in competition with Air France/ KLM s own competing direct services so where is the attraction of this deal for them? Maybe as a low cost way of fighting Emirates and Qatar in particular to places the Europeans have little chance of profitably serving direct?

Etihad may see this joint "corridor"  as a way of holding their own against their Gulf rivals while the Europeans may see hugging Etihad close as a way of keeping their deep pocketed competitor(s) at bay.  If that's the case this relationship would be based on counterbalancing mutual competitors,- not because the parties love each other. A marriage based on sand?

Alternatively the Gulf carrier may see a plethora of alliances and minority shareholdings as a hedge against the possibility that governments, responding to squeals from declining "national carriers",  will revert to protectionism and start to restrict traffic rights to what they see as primarily sixth freedom predators. It's probably too late for that but it's always an emotion-driven risk.

Etihad's growing list of alliances and large and small shareholdings in other carriers shows starkly the difference of approach between them and Emirates. The still growing giant next door in Dubai has chosen to expand by doing its own thing and has just announced another clutch of new destinations and enhanced frequencies.

Some of Etihad's new tie-ups look useful. Air Berlin brings in more German traffic. If Kenya Airways were added it could be useful in expanding Etihad's reach in Africa though the risk for the African airline would be that it helped a powerful competitor to grow in their nest, cuckoo's egg style, until it moved into more of the Nairobi based airline's destinations in their own right. Tough call.

Air Tanzania,-Top Level Firings inspire wry response from an anonymous staff member.

Tanzania's Minister for Transport has sacked the Acting Director-General for an old favourite , alleged errors in the appointment process. It's not unlike that other long standing East African favourite,- dismissal for alleged discrepancies between claimed  and real educational qualifications. It's often difficult to determine which side is doing what with the evidence. It would be much more straightforward to just say "I can fire you,- and you're fired", but that just isn't the way.

Fortunately there are people in what remains of Air Tanzania still with enough sense of humour to put pen to paper. This one writes to the local press..................

Letters: Why firing Air Tanzania bosses is wrong decision by Minister.

To the editor:

The public has applauded the decision by the minister for Transport, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe to sack Air Tanzania’s acting director-general Paul Chizi and suspending four other top officials.

It was claimed that the airline was not performing well and most people mentioned the fact that we had no airplane as evidence of this.

It is this point I would like to address as it is what has gripped the imagination of the people. They say it is ridiculous that a national airline would be without a single plane and therefore our bosses deserve to be fired.

You are all being ignorant and missing the point- the fact that we did not have a single plane was a clever, intelligent move that ensured the brand Air Tanzania was not associated with any accidents.

People need to realise that each time you have a crash it goes on record and the airline gets a bad reputation internationally and so the safest thing to do for us was to get rid of all the planes- which brought the chances of an accident occurring to zero.

Yes, our last flight crashed in April but that was the last one and might have been necessary to ensure we achieve a zero accident record for the long term.

What your readers also fail to realise is that not having any planes meant that the company could save money. During the short period when we had no planes we managed to save a lot of money because we didn’t have to pay for things such as fuel and on flight meals.

In turn this meant the extra income could be diverted to such things as high salaries and bonuses to attract the best minds in the industry.

We were on our way to being the best airline in the world but because the minister interfered that will never be. All those who are happy that our bosses were sacked I would like you to think about that and realise the future we have lost.

Signed:   ‘Indignant staff member’

June 2012.

BA's new ad excites and perplexes.

Yes it does!

It excites and is memorable by being the first to employ the handiwork of Google's "spy car cameras" to personalise the ads right down to the street or even house where you live. UK residents can just ping in their postcodes and there is a big, shiny 777 coming along the street past their front door.  So far, so great and it will be an ad industry award winner for that reason alone. Courageously breaking moulds is what this and many other businesses should be all about. Visually this ad certainly does that.

It perplexes though because the message is strange and sounds a bit strangulated. Viewers will scratch their heads wondering if they've missed something in what they will want to assume is very clever, leading edge, advertising psychology. Nobody wants to appear dumb. This one is still scatching.

The UK version seemingly urges viewers to be patriotic and stay at home to support the British team rather than treacherously buying a ticket to go and watch the events on wide screens in sports bars dotted around the world. "Don't fly. Support team GB " it says. The non UK version even more brow furrowingly urges "Don't fly,- Stick with the Olympics", presumably in the worldwide wide screen sports bars now to be devoid of Brits. If all this urging were succssful, presumably BA's flights to and from anywhere would be empty. It's all very well taking one's responsibilty as a corporate sponsor seriously but when that means trying to persuade people to lay off one's own products for several weeks is it really sensible?

Possibly some clever talking by the ad folk while presenting the notion of "You must be the first,- the world leader in using Google's latest cleverness for advertising" managed to obstruct the now salivating client from focusing on the small problem that to use it meant in this case risking a highly unorthadox, even convoluted, proposition. Maybe nothing else fitted so it was a case of use the hi tech first or lose it. Maybe the "Wow, yahs" drowned out any nervous voices of reason. The latter tend not to do well in the heady world of ad agencies and marketing departments once an idea like this takes wing . They risk being noted down be advised on the merits of possibly "seeking new opportunities" at their next performance review.  It's something all but the very brave seek to avoid.

The marketing and financial outcomes will be interesting to watch but for now BA must be seeing very high hit rates on its websites and the ad folk will be saying that's what matters and that the brilliance will be remembered long after questions about why the planes could have flown fuller during the games have been forgotten. There will be lots of awards for the former and plenty of other excuses for the latter.

Footnote: Maybe there is something in the notion that people pay almost no attention to the content of an ad. They just remember the brand or product name if the way it in which it is presented is spectacular or even just good. The rest they auto discard and delete from memory.

African Roundup April - May 2012

Ethiopian and Kenya Airways continue to forge ahead with network expansions with both stressing the growing importance of Asian destinations.  Titus Naikuni, CEO, Kenya Airways,  publicly states  that ‘India and China have special significance in our future strategy’. 

Of the two, Ethiopian with its earlier delivery of 787s and 777s and it’s vastly superior hub terminal at Addis Ababa which eclipses the crowded unattractive relative shambles of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International is much better placed in the short term. Ethiopian is also keeping its business simple and avoiding managment and resource distractions. Kenya Airways aims to set up an new low cost subsidiary and at some point to again separate out its freight operations go in the opposite direction. Previous experiences of both have not been happy ones for KQ and although times change many would think they have more pressing and remunerative things for their management to do. Why complicate the structure rather than concentate and simplify it?

In the past few weeks Ethiopian has added Guangzhou and Kenya Airways has added Delhi. More destinations are planned by both.  (See below for more on this) . The potential growth of traffic to and from the east probably exceeds combined expansion elsewhere.  Significantly the business is at both ends of the route. Asia/Africa trade grows at 10% plus a year, African traders throng to all points from Dubai eastwards  and newly wealthy Chinese nationals begin to appear as tourists adding to the growing volume of their campatriots travelling as labourers.

There is some optimism too in West Africa. Not a lot, but some. A re-born Air Cote d’Ivoire prepares for July operations.  As a fragile political stability returns, business confidence is growing and external investment is again starting to flow.  Tradition and opportunity are at play.  Air France with a 40% shareholding is the tradition and has freely admitted its defensive intent as it fights to retain market share in the face of the increasing presence of Emirates, Brussels and Turkish Airlines.  The new opportunities spring from the 14% shareholding in Air Cote d’Ivoire by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).  AKFED has similar holdings in neighbouring Air Burkina and Air Mali and talks of ‘commercial and operational synergies’.  It is rare in Africa for direct cross-border cooperation to be successful but non-political AKFED achieves it by parachuting in shared equipment and people from above/outside . It already has experience of ‘shared’ A319 operations in the region and more seem logical. There has been no mention yet of Paris operations for the new airline.  If Air France is in defensive mode the revived Ivoirian airline may be held back from losing money by flying to Europe. If it does fly to Europe the  new company will struggle on long haul against the well defined and very long standing Air France product and underlying, if not openly admitted, brand loyalty just as BA does in English speaking Africa. Even Virgin found this embedded loyalty to the former colonial carrier too difficult to hack in East Africa and as result is giving up that struggle in September.

Where the State continues to be the sole shareholder business growth and operational efficiencies are very difficult to achieve. ‘Government drag’ manifests itself in many ways including inertia on capital expenditure decision making, eve- increasing debt and persistent financial crises. Bright talent is thereby dissuaded from seeking work in such an afflicted business.  By sacking the entire Board of Air Namibia for ‘failing to recognise persistent organisational and financial failure’ the Government has shown a spark of life but has treated the symptom, not the disease.  It is little wonder that for two years it has been found impossible to attract a new CEO from the private sector.

Encouragingly the new President of Malawi, Joyce Banda, has announced in her first budget speech, efforts to ‘determine the future of (state-owned) cash-strapped Air Malawi’.  The simple choices are to sell it off or to close it down. Either choice would stop it draining Government funds. If closed down either foreign carriers would fill the gap or a private enterprise would emerge to take its place.

Meanwhile all is not well just to the north of Malawi, …. the Tanzanian Minister of Transport has been sacked on charges of corruption and government has opened an inquiry into the recent multi-million dollar lease of an A320 by the Air Tanzania CEO. The aircraft flew only for a matter of weeks.

Unfortunately while there are some bright spots of optimism and growth on the continent there are balancing less bright ones and network contractions. Both United and Delta have trimmed Accra services, and as noted above Virgin Atlantic is throwing in the sponge in Nairobi while India’s Jet Airways is jettisioning Johannesburg. Unusually, KLM is also giving up a destination, -this time Kano where it has been a continuous player through thick and thin, clocking up over 60 years of continuous service.

As will be evident from the news items below, the number of useful 5^th freedom sectors being offered by airlines as part of multi sector routings is growing. Each one, whether it adds to existing frequencies or opens up a new city pairing helps the growth of business travel in particular and is to be warmly welcomed. Hopefully no governments will stand in the way of it and insist on the old fashioned blinding of sectors flown by foreign carriers whether African or not.

Finally another bright spot and a small triumph for the world of facilitation.  As travellers face the ever increasing hassle of visas and their costs coupled with immigration delays on arrival, Rwanda has done something very good.  Returning residents at Kigali now enjoy self-clearance bio-metric entry.

1   EAST AFRICA

Air Tanzania More misery . A runway over-run after engine failure on take-off at Kigoma wrote off the Dash8, their sole aircraft. As result operations ceased until the (expensive) relieving cavalry came over the hill in the form of a leased B737-500 (Apr2012)

Daallo Airlines (Djibouti) purchased single BAe 146-200, from Falko.  (May2012)

Eritrean Airlines is reappearing with A319s doing a 3 x weekly A319 service from Asmara to Frankfurt and 4 x weekly  to Johannesburg via Entebbe. (May 2012)

Ethiopian Airlines will in June 2012  start Addis Ababa to Sao Paulo and Addis Ababa to Cotonou and then follow this by adding Guangzhou. (May 2012). That isn’t the end of the story and they plan to add Toronto in July and are evaluating a stronger presence in Asia by opening to Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and “more destinations in China”. 

If the first 787s materialise in time, they will be introduced on the Dubai and Johannesburg routes on August before going further afield. Statistically at some time in the next year or so the first major meeting between carbon fibre fuselage and catering truck should occur.

The last comment aside, there will be furrowed brows in Kenya Airways who must be wanting their 787s NOW.

Closer to home, Ethiopian will on 12^th June restart daily Q400 services to Hargeisa. (May 2012)

Jubba Airways (Somalia) Fleet reduction: An AN24 burst tyres on landing and broke its back.  In the best of old Russian traditions the AN 24 has  a robust structure and there were no injuries  (May 2012)

Kenya Airways: The IFC has granted a USD80mn loan to fund expansion capital expenditure (Apr12)

Kenya Airways,  is as mentioned above  to have another go at producing a low cost airline. The previous 2002 effort, Flamingo, with the constraints imposed by 2 Saab 340s , a very limited network and a standalone reservations system which didn’t talk to the Kenya Airways system and didn’t accept its tickets did not fare well . The new venture, Jambo Jet, should benefit from a lot of Flamingo learning but is it really worth taking the focus off developing Kenya Airways’ own hub  network which needs more frequencies and spokes?  If expanding the air travel market to lower priced travellers is the aim , there are plenty of opportunities to do this via the normal pricing system and remaindering likely unsold seats either early or very late in the sales cycle. Jambo Jet is seen as a regional operator in eastern Africa , probably using EMB-170s. Kenya Airways is itself in the same market.(Apr 2012)

Jambo apart, Kenya Airways is to launch 4 weekly  B767-300  services to Delhi as part of its increased India and China focus.  Regionally 2 other spokes will be added,- E170s to Kilimanjaro and 767-300s to Capetown ( a relaunch) (May 2012)

Precision Air of Tanzania, (49% Kenya Airways owned) is on 18 May launching  B733 services from  Dar es alaam to  to Lubumbashi via Lusaka. Flights to Harare and Angola are planned by November   (May 2012)

Rwandair will from July operate Kigali – Mwanza (Lake Victoria,Tanzania) with a DHC8 (May 2012)

2  SOUTH / CENTRAL AFRICA

1Time of South Africa announced a dive into a USD17m loss in 2011.  The airline plans to renew leases and add fuel efficient aircraft to return to profitability in 2015. That’s a long time to go on making losses.  (May 2012)

Air Botswana plans a June 2012 launch of BAe146-300 daily flights from Maun to Cape Town. (May 2012)

Air Madagascar is planning nonstop services from Antananarivo to Bangkok and Guangzhou on 28 October 2012 with A340-300 and B767-300ER, respectively. (Apr 2012)

Air Malawi , notwithstanding renewed questions about its future, has resumed  4 weekly  Blantyre-Johannesburg flights with a  leased B732. Lilongwe-Nairobi is currently flown by a  leased CRJ100 (Apr 2012)

Air Namibia The search for a new MD is being ‘hampered’ by the carrier’s poor performance history says Transport Minister.  Previous MD Kosmas Egumbo resigned in 2010. Its poor performance includes its abilty to hold on to people it has recruited for very long. These things get around and eventually people would prefer to” spend more time with their families” without the interim period of corporate or governmental hassle. Some other carriers should also take note. If you don’t offer a happy place to be for contract management or flying staff or don’t expect to be a magnet for the best talent.(Apr 2012).

Continuing that theme, the Government has sacked the full Board of Directors for ‘failing to recognize continuous financial and organizational failings’. A recent KPMG report cited ‘incompetence’. A new ‘vibrant board with business acumen’ was appointed on 1April. Let’s hope that’s true and if so that  they stay. (Apr2012) 

Air Zimbabwe , in line with our previous predictions, was hoping to be back in the air in May 2012 with ERJ145 or E190s (Apr 2012). The fate of accumulated debts from former incarnations is not mentioned.

Korongo Airlines (DRC) on 16 Apr started flying  to Kinshasa and 19 April to Johannesburg. This is a new Lubumbashi-based business controlled by 80% holding company of which SN Brussels owns 51%.  2 BAE146-200s and a B737-300 are  ACMI leases from,- here’s a surprise,- SN Brussels. That will make sure they get some guaranteed return as they go along .(May 2012)

LAM is to lease a  single E190 for ‘2012 delivery’ (May 2012) 

MGC Aviation a Lesotho operator is taking delivery of  2 CRJ200s for scheduled services to Johannesburg and Durban (Apr 2012)

SAA has agreed to pay a USD2.4m cargo price-fixing fine imposed by South Africa regulators. (Apr 2012)

SAA Johannesburg is the home for a CAE owned A330 simulator to provide training for SAA pilots and technicians plus third party work.  This is the first CAE installation in Africa and continues the development of South Africa as the continent’s prime training supplier  (May2012)   

SAA from 16 May, Johannesburg – Pointe Noire services were extended to Cotonou.  (May 2012)

SAA says the USD745m being sought from government is not a “bail-out”, but is to strengthen the balance sheet for fleet renewal plus other upgrades. What one might call a Spanish solution.  Included in the upgrades are continued deliveries of A320s which by May 2017 will see off the last of the 737-800s. (May 2012)

SA Airlink: Is to launch on 15June daily ERJ135 flights from Johannesburg to Maun for SAA. On 12^th July it will add 3 weekly CRJ 200 services from Durban to Lusaka. Another new line on the map. (Apr 2012)

Swift Air (Malawi) is launching 5pw DC9 ops Lilongwe-Blantyre-Johannesburg. The increase in international links returning to Blantyre is welcome and an economic necessity for the country’s businesses after originally being banned when Lilongwe’s new international airport opened in the 1970s. Having to arrive in and depart from the country via Lilongwe and travel between there and Blantye on low frequency domestic flights was a major disincentive to foreign business travellers to visit the country’s business capital which is Blantrye. Even now the frequencies of the air link between the two cities is woefully inadequate  The  one time high quality and very scenic fast coach service has also gone. Getting around Malawi isn't easy for visiting business people and tourists.  (Apr 2012)

Velvet Sky of South Africa has been placed under provisional liquidation by a court. It was grounded in Feb 2012 (May 2012)

Zambezi Airlines’ re-start with a CRJ 200 is imminent. The ‘safety concerns’ that resulted in Govt grounding since Nov 2011 have now now resolved and on-line reservations re-opened.  (May2012)

3  WEST AFRICA

Air Cote d’Ivoire .The new company is established. It is 51% government  owned with 35% also held by a local company formed jointly by Air France/Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) and 14% in other private hands. .2 A319s are to start regional services in July 2012 followed later by domestic routes.  Air France’s CEO says this a  “Defensive move against increasing foreign operator presence – Turkish, SN Brussels,and Emirates” . France has always considered its former territories to be its rightful domain and although this view is not universally popular amongst nationals of the countries concerned it does have a strong historically based loyal following. Being French speaking is also a great advantage against the newcomers or interlopers as Air France no doubt sees them.  (May 2012)

Air Cote d’Ivoire has joined Air Burkina and Air Mali in the AKFED Group of airlines.  The three will work together to develop ‘technical, operational and commercial synergies’.  (May 2012)

Air Mauritania: Mauritania and Tunis Governments have entered talks on the future of the company.  Its ownership is: Tunisair 49%, Mauritania Government  10% . It ceased operations and was declared bankrupt in December 2010 (Apr 2012)

Air Nigeria (the former Virgin Nigeria) is to acquire 2x B737NG for Paris and Rome services from  June 2012. It will be interesting to see how these narrowbodies fare against competing widebodies. Kinshasa, Freetown, Ouagadougo, Point Noire and Malabo are to follow . In mid May the company launched a daily Lagos-Gatwick route and in June will launch Lagos to Johannesburg with 2 A330-200s leased from Egyptair. Looking further ahead it has ordered  B787-8s, with delivery in the third quarter of 2014, for the London, Dubai, Beijing routes. No doubt, like all 787 customers, they would have preferred earlier deliveries.

 The Chairman is very confident about the future ,plans an IPO in 2014 and services to ‘5 continents’ within 5 years.  (May 2012)

Arik Air is  seeking to lease 4 A330-300s for first delivery Sep 2012  (Apr 2012)

Camair-Co is reporting a USD42m first year loss and hopes to break even quickly-in 2013. For now it will  increase network its network adding thrice weekly services to both Kinshasa and to Lagos. Even then there will only be ten weekly flights between these 2 cities which could do with at least two daily and probably four, all at common departure times. (May 2012). In the future they may add turbo-props/regional jets to current fleet of 1 B762,and  2 B737-700s (May2012)

Chanchangi Airlines (Nigeria) resumed flying between Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos on 27 March following NCAA suspension due to B727 maintenance irregularities.  (Apr 2012)

ECAir – Equatorial Congo Airlines has added a  Privatair- operated B757 to the fleet (May12)

Starbow Airlines (Ghana) has taken delivery of first of two additional BAe146 to launch regional flights from Accra to Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Cotonou and Monrovia. The established Ghanian independent, Antrak Air ,has done surprisingly little to seize such cross border opportunities despite having a headstart if it wished to do so. (Apr 2012)

4   NORTH AFRICA

Afriqiyah and Libyan Airlines   EU has blocked all Libyan carriers from EU airspace until at least November  pending clarity on safety concerns.  Libyan Airlines is seeking a wet-lease to maintain EU services  (Apr 2012)

Afriqiyah has firmed up an order with Airbus for three A330-300s, with first delivery in the second quarter of 2013. (Apr 2012)

Royal Air Maroc is seeking a strategic partner. Its profitability is being hit hard by the recent arrival EU Low Cost  airlines .4 A320s are being sold and there are to be staff reductions.  (Apr 2012)

Syphax Airlines (Tunisia) was to start operations in April  with 2 leased A319s flying Sfax to Morocco, Turkey and France.They were however forced to halt the Paris route due to spat with Tunisair  (May 2012)

5   NON-AFRICAN AIRLINES

Air Malta is to restart Benghazi flights in May  (May 2012)

Air France is adding Abuja to its Lagos and Port Harcourt Nigerian network from 1st June (Apr 2012)

Bahrain Air aims to open in Khartoum in  June 2012  (Apr 2012)

Brussels Airlines is planning a June start of a JFK link to feed its Africa network of which 15% is USA sold. Very much in line with its predecessor Sabena’s makeup, West/Central African routes are 53% of total network ASKs and its specialist niche market  (May 2012)

Delta is to end its 3  weekly  Atlanta– Accra in June and increase its Accra frequency from JFK to twice weekly B767-300s. Especially in view of United pulling out of Accra this seems a very conservative approach to the West Africa-USA market . The US carriers somehow seem to struggle in West Africa. Maybe they find the market and how to successfully operate in it  just too difficult? (May 2012)

Etihad,  will join Emirates and Qatar Airways in Nairobi with daily A320s in June, while at the same time withdrawing from Alexandria. (Apr 2012)

Iberia will in July start operating separately to Nouakchott  and Accra and their Lagos A319 frequencies will grow from 3 to 4 weekly in June (May 2012)    

Jet Airways (India) Will from Jun12 cease flying from Mumbai to Johannesburg due to” route restructuring”. That’s probably called retrenchment in other places. (May 2012)

KLM- after 60 years in Kano is out of it on June 1. Political and other problems in Northern Nigeria must have made it no longer worth the candle. They will not have taken the decision lightly. (Apr 2012)

Korean Airlines, the first non Chinese Oriental carrier to start passenger services into East Africa is starting Seoul-Nairobi flights in June. This is a long stretch for A330-200s but nevertheless practical presumably via a trans-Himalaya routing. Despite the congestion and general unattractiveness of Naorobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International, the fact is that Nairobi is geographically better placed than Addis Ababa for onward connections throughout Africa and is served by more operators.(May2012).

Royal Jordanian finding the presence of the Gulf airlines, Turkish and others perhaps just a bit too much ,is to abandon Nairobi after its brief 6 month presence.(May 2012)

Turkish Airlines marches on with network expansion and is to launch Istanbul-Entebbe-Kigali B738 services in May. It does not appear to have the bonus of Entebbe-Kigali rights. Turkish is active in West Africa too and starts Istanbul—Accra—Abijan in July . Again it does not seem to have local rights on the end sector.(April 2012)

United Airlines as mentioned above doesn’t seem happy with its Washington-Accra services so is withdrawing them in June despite this being its first African route. Their Chicago service however continues. Chicago is a far better US hub than Washington’s Dulles which has nothing like the range of domestic connections and frequencies, most of these being a good hour's road transfer away at Washington's downtown airport. This  restricted connectivity is likely to have been the crucial factor.   (Apr 2012)

Virgin Atlantic will withdraw from Nairobi on 23^rd September due to ‘high fuel prices and low demand’. Somehow, sandwiched between the national airline, Kenya Airways and the long established BA  the airline never quite established its niche in Kenya. Its service was not regarded as outstandingly different and generally no better than these two nonstop competitors. The Gulf airlines did bring something new  and for those looking for a lower fare often a better deal , albeit via a longer way round to the UK and Europe. Virgin was therefore in a challenging position and had presumably decided it can make more from the resources, spend and Heathrow slots by doing something else. (May 2012)

6 MISCELLANEOUS

AFRAA  is planning the introduction of joint route network development and joint ground handling initiatives as part of a new drive to ‘add value’ for member airlines . This could be very useful for smaller carriers if genuine cooperation can be secured.

Meanwhile the organisation has added new members, namely: Starbow (Ghana), Camair-Co (Cameroon), ECAir (Congo) and FLYHT Aerospace Solutions of Canada  (May 2012)

ATR is in talks with GE and PW on engine possibilities for a 90 seat turbo-prop development. Currently there are 85 ATRs in Africa with mainly small numbers spread amongst 35 companies in 20 countries. (May 2012)

Mali- Bamako Airport’s  redevelopment has been halted following the March military coup.  USA  Millenium funding has been withdrawn and expatriate contract personnel have left.  (Apr2012)

Nigeria  The Ministry of Transport, which doesn’t generally seem to have  a great liking for foreign carriers and is ever vigilant for anything which may disadvantage Nigeria and Nigerians gave a number of them including BA and Virgin Atlantic 30 days until 25 April to dismantle anti-Nigeria ‘regional fare imbalances’ or face an operating ban. Regional fare imbalances or directional fares are a wordwide feature so are not unique to Nigeria. In the event the threat was not carried out.(May 2012)

The Ministry of Finance has signed a contract with ‘Chinese investors’ for new terminals at Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. It is not clear whether there are ready-to-go designs for these projects .Abuja is also to have new runway.(May 2012)

Tanzania’s  Minister of Transport and 5 other ministers have been sacked on corruption charges (May 2012) 

John Williams