Low-cost carrier Jambojet will start flying to Rwanda and Somalia next month with the opening of ticket sales.

The latest routes by the airline, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, will mark the second and third international destinations that the carrier flies to regionally after Entebbe.

The airline says it seeks to enable more passengers to fly affordably and reliably from its hub in Nairobi.

“Our entry into the two markets is part of our regional expansion programme and brings to three the total number of routes we operate on the continent with the exception of those we fly to on behalf of Kenya Airways,” said Jambojet chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka.

The budget airline says customers can book flights through existing distribution channels, including its website, sales offices, call centre and travel agents.

The airline will have daily flights to Kigali and Mogadishu.

The one hour Nairobi-Kigali route will begin on November 25 at 2:35PM and from Kigali at 4:15PM with a promotional fare of Sh11,240.

The Nairobi-Mogadishu route will operate from November 24, departing Nairobi at 06:00AM to arrive at 08:45. The fare will start from Sh24,470 one way.

Jambojet currently flies to five local destinations and to Entebbe, Uganda from its hub in Nairobi.

Recently, Jambojet acquired a brand new De Havilland Dash 8-Q400 aircraft, a first of four that are expected this year, to boost the airline’s capacity as it eyes more regional destinations.

Our Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/companies/Jambojet-Mogadishu-Kigali-flights/4003102-5328992-f35sq3z/index.html

Australian airline Qantas has grounded one of its Boeing 737 NG planes after discovering “cracking” in one section.

The carrier said several airlines were inspecting their 737 NG fleets after Boeing revealed an area near the wing may be prone to cracking.

News agency AFP reported up to 50 planes globally had been grounded due to the issue.

Qantas said: “Even when a crack is present, it does not immediately compromise the safety of the aircraft.

“We would never operate an aircraft unless it was completely safe to do so.”

Boeing said cracks had been found in the “pickle fork” – a section of the plane which helps attach the wing.

Last month, US regulators ordered checks of all 737 NG planes which had undertaken more than 30,000 flights.

Qantas said none of its 737 NG fleet had been flown more than 30,000 times. It added the plane with a crack had made fewer than 27,000 journeys.

The issue comes after Boeing was forced to ground its newer 737 Max model in March, following two fatal crashes.

Those tragedies – in Indonesia last October, and in Ethiopia in March – killed a total of 346 people. US lawmakers accuse Boeing of building ‘flying coffins’

On Wednesday, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg told US lawmakers the firm had made mistakes in relation to the 737 Max fleet. Legislators had accused Boeing of rushing the approval process.

The 737 NG is a precursor to the 737 Max.

Qantas said it would inspect 33 planes in its fleet for the same issue by Friday. It did not respond to a report that a crack had been found in a second plane.

The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, an aviation union, called for Qantas to ground its entire 737 NG fleet – a call rejected by the airline as “alarmist”.

US carrier Southwest Airlines recently discovered a crack in one of its 737 NG planes.

Our Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50244699

 

Zimbabwe’s national airline has resumed flights to South Africa, the company said on Monday, after a halt last week when South Africa’s state-run airports management firm barred the airline from using the country’s airports over unpaid fees.

Air Zimbabwe’s sole aircraft in operation was grounded last week by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), which said the airline had failed to pay landing and parking fees, passenger service charges and an undisclosed amount towards clearing its arrears.

“There were negotiations that were held, and we were given clearance to take off and land on Friday. It (Air Zimbabwe’s plane) did take off for South Africa today as scheduled,” Air Zimbabwe spokesman Tafadzwa Mazonde told Reuters.

He declined to say whether Air Zimbabwe had cleared its debt or come to another arrangement, such as a part payment.

An ACSA spokeswoman was not available for comment.

Air Zimbabwe owes foreign and domestic creditors more than $300 million. The Zimbabwe government put the airline under administration last year and later invited bids from potential investors as it seeks to privatise it. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Mark Potter)

Our Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/zimbabwe-airlines/air-zimbabwe-resumes-flights-to-south-africa-after-suspension-lifted-idUSL8N27D4JB

Kenya Airways (KQ) has recruited 40 local pilots this year as part of efforts to plug a biting personnel shortage, even as the airline defended its decision to hire foreign pilots on contract.

The hiring comes despite a trade dispute with the pilots’ union which accuses the national carrier of reneging on a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

KQ told The Standard that the recruited Kenyan pilots would later take up the vacancies being currently filled with contract pilots, but they needed a minimum experience of six years.

“Our aim is clearly not to do away with Kenyan pilots as the contract pilots will only be in the service of the airline for two years after which they will be replaced by Kenyan pilots,” said the airline in a statement.

The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) recently suspended further CBA negotiations with the employer, in addition to filing a trade dispute seeking arbitration with the Ministry of Labour.

Kalpa felt that KQ’s decision to hire the foreign pilots on contract for its Boeing 737 fleet was a “gross violation” of its CBA.

The airline said it was in “full compliance” with the provisions of the CBA, which allows it to recruit contract pilots whenever there is a shortage.

In the statement, KQ said there was currently a deficit of 60 pilots and aimed to continue hiring locally as well as externally.

“The CBA allows the company to recruit contract pilots for route expansion, reduction of accumulated leave and to allow for training of the existing pilots,” it said.

The carrier said the average KQ pilot has over 100 days of accumulated leave with the current pilot numbers insufficient to support the route network.

KQ rejected claims of a standoff with Kalpa and said that talks would resume when the trade dispute mechanism is completed.

Our Source: standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001347058/kq-hires-40-local-pilots-amid-dispute-with-union

The Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) in collaboration with Amadeus East Africa, this week hosted two industry meetings in Nairobi and Mombasa, where travel agents got to know more about current updates in the industry.

On October 23^rd & 25^th 2019, the travel agents converged at the Jacaranda Hotel and Royal Court hotel respectively where they learnt more about cybersecurity and ways of protecting one’s business from cyber-attacks.

The travel agents also got to hear more about the withdrawal of Default Insurance Program (DIP) in the market after Saham refused to comply with new regulations to provide the financial facility.

Amadeus EA Managing Director Mr. Mathieu Dutrisac noted that cybercrime is rampant. “Most of the cyber hacking that takes place goes unreported. Statistically, every one in three people has been hacked,” he said.

Mr. George Munene from Simply IT, an Amadeus Partner, took the KATA members through a talk on cybersecurity awareness.

He emphasised on the need for individuals and companies to put in place safeguards that will ensure that they protect their data and don’t fall prey to cyberattacks.

“Ninety-one percent of attacks start with a phishing email. One needs to stick to the safeguards in order to protect data and information. Ensure that you have the latest software updates, learn and educate your staff on the do’s and don’ts, back up your data and become compliant,” Mr Munene said.

He pointed out that many people and companies have lost large amounts of money through cyber-attacks.

KATA Chief Executive Mr. Nicanor Sabula noted that collaboration between GDS Companies and KATA is key in fighting cybercrime in the travel industry.

Mr. Sabula and KATA Board Vice-Chair Ms Shazmin Manji also took members through the DIP impasse.

Members were informed that Saham Insurance announced that they would not be renewing DIP for the year 2020 after IATA introduced new requirements that the insurance company declined to comply with.

The withdrawal of this facility means that travel agents have less than three months to come up with a solution on financial security to ensure that the ticket sales market is not affected.

Mr. Sabula urged members to remain calm as the association works towards finding a lasting resolution.

Amadeus and Sabre — have agreed to distribute ATPCO’s Routehappy rich content into their various flight-shopping interfaces and applications serving travel agencies, OTAs, corporate booking tools and other sellers.

Robert Albert, ATPCO’s executive vice president of retailing and the founder of Routehappy, said the agreements are a mass modernization project” of the systems that connect airlines to sales channels.

“We are improving those pipes, modernizing those pipes,” he said. 

Albert founded Routehappy almost a decade ago. ATPCO acquired the company in early 2018, and talks with Amadeus and Sabre have been ongoing for many years. These agreements, he said, signal the transformation that is underway in flight shopping, giving travelers access to details about the flight experience such as entertainment, WiFi, leg room, power access, baggage allowance, cancellation policies and more.

“We are at a tipping point. We’ve been at this almost 10 years, but we feel like the industry is finally coming together,” Albert said.

“IATA has been pushing NDC (New Distribution Capability), honing it and socializing it. Airlines have gotten behind it. Then you had the GDSs committing to NDC. … Then ATPCO, with Routehappy’s help, has been developing the Next Generation Storefront together with airlines and channels, and Routehappy has been building up this repository of rich content. It’s all coming together now.” 

Through these agreements, airlines get distribution reach of their offerings that is “exponentially greater than it has been,” which adds value to their investments in creating and maintaining the content. Sellers gain easier access to that content — coming directly from the GDS, through the same APIs that already provide fares and availability.

And the ultimate beneficiaries, said Albert, will be consumers who in the next few years will get an improved flight-shopping experience that more closely resembles buying from other e-commerce sites such as Amazon or hotel brand sites, with detailed product information, photos and videos that make it easy to compare offers.

ATPCO also has integrations with Japanese GDS Infini and Chinese GDS TravelSky. When asked if it may also work with Travelport, Albert said, “My hunch is that the reason they are not here, in addition to changing ownership and changing management, is that they have some of their own rich content.

“There’s lots of conversations happening, and we’ll see what happens in the future. I don’t think it will just be Amadeus and Sabre working with us in this way,” he said.

Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/page/search/BusinessDaily/539444-539444-view-asSearch-qkxhghz/index.html

Big data is permeating every aspect of daily commercial activity—from financial services, retail, logistics to production lines.

Airlines are now having their moment of epiphany with big data. Take the case of AirAsia, one of the leading low-cost carriers (LCC) in the ASEAN region.

At a recent Credit Suisse Asia Investment conference, its chief executive Tony Fernandes made a pitch for AirAsia becoming a digital retailer (and not just an airline).

Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Europe’s leading LCC Ryanair has previously stated that his airline would eventually become the Amazon of travel.

There is no doubt that airlines are moving beyond the legacy model (or monoline) of ticket sales, and are building a strong ancillary business. Think about it.

If you are a frequent traveler to Lagos with Kenya Airways, there are high chances the airline doesn’t know you. Yet a flight is just a secondary part of your journey. Upon disembarking, you will need transfer from the airport, as well as hotel accommodation; and you may also want to discover a bit of the city in between business meetings (for instance, the best restaurants offering authentic local cuisines).

Often, legacy airlines show little interest in non-flight part of a passenger’s journey. And for an airline of the stature of Kenya Airways that flies close to five million passengers a year, that’s a lot of data that they accumulate.

With a little mining, they can begin to know their customers better and make mouthwatering propositions.

They even begin to bundle and personalise products better and stop mass advertising as much because as you get to know your customers better, you begin to go directly to them (I get a lot of junk e-promos from KQ).

Ancillary business, which is not an entirely new concept, is now top of mind for almost every airline. In 2018 projections from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry lobby, showed that if the potential in ancillary revenues were to be harnessed, the income would cover half the annual fuel expenditure.

The same report noted an increase in cost of fuel against the same number of airlines from an approximate $149 billion in 2017 to $188 billion in 2018.

So we are looking at airlines generating nearly $100 billion in ancillary revenues. At the root of this growth has been the unbundling of ticket prices, or the core ‘air’ ancillary products.

They comprise offerings such as assigning of seats, extra legroom, onboard shopping and checked baggage as part of the package.

However, ‘non-air’ ancillary services are also fast becoming mainstream. On its website, AirAsia offers users hotel accommodation deals, car rental, credit cards and even travel protection (insurance).

When you want to travel to London, for instance, your first point of interaction is with an airline(s) when checking out ticket prices. What if the airline also offered you airport transfer and hotel accommodation?

It’s no wonder AirAsia generated 22 percent of revenues from ancillaries in 2018. However, Spirit Airlines, an American carrier, still stands out after generating 47 percent of its total operating revenues from ancillaries.

In 2018, Kenya Airways jumped into the ancillary bus by introducing an enhanced seating propositions (extra legroom and preferred seat) and significantly growing its distribution scope to all relevant direct booking channels, generating an additional Sh8.3 billion (which was just a paltry seven percent of its total revenues).

As airlines become more agile, the aircraft will become merely a tool to acquire customers. An airline executive even talked of giving free flights to passengers in exchange for a holiday booking on their platform, which is not a far-fetched concept. All thanks to big data.

@GeorgeBodo

Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/analysis/columnists/can-data-come-to-rescue-of-Kenya-Airways/4259356-5324598-15h6mko/index.html

Seven local hotels were feted during the 2019 World Luxury Hotel awards where six emerged top in various categories across Africa as one topped in East Africa.

Elewana Kifaru House located in Lewa Conservancy emerged the continent’s overall luxury hotel with best scenic environment with Nanyuki’s Maiyan emerging top in luxury private pool villa category as Nairobi’s Sankara bagged the luxury boutique hotel award.

Sarova Stanley emerged Africa’s best luxury city hotel as Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort was named the best luxury beach resort as Sun International topped continent’s overall to be feted as the best luxury hotel group. Diani’s Lantana Galu Beach Hotel was the East Africa’s best family beach hotel.

Turkey’ Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum won the overall best hotel and destination award during the 13th annual World Luxury Hotel Awards gala was held in Finland last weekend.

World Luxury Hotel Awards are exclusive and recognise the best facilities and service excellence in the industry. The winners are judged on service delivery and effective management voted for by International tour operators, travel agents and hotel guests who get the opportunity to cast their votes annually.

The award organisers described the Turkish hotel as a luxury five-star hotel retreat with two private beaches and excellent leisure facilities, guests are invited to lie back, relax and savour the moment.

“With an idyllic location in Paradise Bay, Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum offers a seductive blend of style, serenity and five-star comfort. With a range of gourmet restaurants, relaxing spa and choice of rooms, suites and villas, the unique resort is definitely world-class.”

Notably, the number of local hotels featured this year went down by four an indicator of the stiff competition in Kenya’s hospitality sector.

Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/companies/Kenyan-hotels-shine-at-world-luxury-awards/4003102-5319478-aryquk/index.html

A Polish charter airline will be flying weekly to Mombasa, Kenya, after its maiden flight was launched on October 12.

The carrier named Smartwings Airlines will be bringing in around 200 tourists from Poland, and is expected to push up the regions hotel occupancy rates above the current 70%.

It will be operating once a week until end of 2019 before increasing its frequency to twice a week from January to March next year.

According to Business Daily, Hoteliers have expressed confidence in the resumption of the airline saying it will boost the tourism sector during the November to December peak season.

“This is the first charter we are welcoming this year of the Polish market. It is very exciting because the whole of these three months this year, they will be bringing in a charter per week, that’s about 200, visitors coming in from Poland,” said Kenya Coast Tourism Association Chairman Victor Shitakha.

Source: http://www.tourismupdate.co.za/article/196071/Charter-Airline-launches-weekly-flights-to-Mombasa/26

Kenya has an opportunity to market its best attractions in the upcoming Dubai 2020 expo alongside more than 200 nations keen on making an appearance at the global event.

To make the six-month event a success, Dubai has embarked on a major charm offensive ahead of hosting the exhibition in which the Middle East city seeks to catch the eye of the world.

Among preparations for the October 2020 to March 2021 is the setting up of a new state of the art city next to the new marina zone spotting all new buildings.

Dubai says the city is a test bed for innovation and a blueprint for future smart cities.

At the centre of the plan is Al Wasl Plaza which is the old name for the Emirates, and previously won the right to host the event in November 2013.

 “We will use this event to create jobs and businesses,” said Reem AL Heshimy one of the organisers of the event at the official launch of 365 days to Dubai 2020 expo.

“The days give an unprecedented opportunity to inspire new ideas for better future and for the Arab region to prove that religion and culture are not a hindrance to development,” she said.

Dubai hopes the billions of dollars pumped into the megacity in conjunction with tech firm Siemens will yield Sh3.5 trillion ($35 billion) by 2030.

Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/Dubai-expo-opens-window-for-local-tourism-marketers/3946234-5321786-x81o9dz/index.html