A Sudanese conglomerate DAL Group and Emirati Air Arabia form a joint venture to launch a new low-cost airline in Sudan. 

The new air carrier will be called Air Arabia Sudan. 

The new company will be based in Khartoum International Airport (KRT) in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Air Arabia Sudan will operate a fleet of new Airbus A320 aircraft and will adopt Air Arabia Group’s low-cost business model.

Work on securing the relevant approvals and licenses is scheduled to commence shortly, DAL Group and Air Arabia announced in a statement released on September 22, 2022. 

Air Arabia’s footprint in establishing low-cost airlines

Air Arabia has a history of being involved in establishing low-cost carriers. Air Arabia Sudan will be already the fourth airline co-established by the company in the past few years alone. 

• In September 2021, Air Arabia Group announced its intention to form a joint venture with Pakistani Lakson Group to launch a new airline in Pakistan. The new low-cost carrier, called Fly Jinnah, is going to be based in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, and initially serve domestic destinations within the country, before expanding to include international routes. 
• In July 2021, it agreed with the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) to launch Armenia’s new national, low-cost passenger airline based in Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport (EVN). 
• In partnership with state-owned Etihad Airways, it launched Air Arabia Abu Dhabi in July 2020. Initially announced in October 2019, the new airline operated its inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) to Alexandria, Egypt on July 14, 2020.

Besides the recent joint ventures, Air Arabia co-established four other airlines in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Nepal. The two later airlines have ceased operations, while Air Arabia Egypt and Air Arabia Maroc continue to operate. 

Source: Aerotime Hub

The Nigerian Government announced that Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s most prominent air carrier, was selected as a strategic partner and 49% shareholder of Nigeria Air. A breakdown of stakes showed that Ethiopian Airlines would own 49 % equity, the federal government would control 5 % equity, while a consortium of three Nigerian investors, MRS, SAHCO, and other institutional investors will have 46 %.

The stakeholders involved

Speaking during a press conference in Abuja, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, noted that after a careful, detailed, and ICRC-governed selection process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air.

He noted that the consortium will be subjected to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC). The process, according to the minister, will take off in six to eight weeks.

Fleet and first routes

The overall share capital of around $300 million will be provided by the preferred bidder that will launch Nigeria Air to its full size of 30 aircraft and international operation within the next two years. Nigeria Air will be launched with three Boeing 737-800 in a configuration very suitable for the Nigerian market.

It will launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable, and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports. Other domestic destinations will follow thereafter. According to the Minister of aviation,

“A signature-ready contract has been finalized with Ethiopian Airlines for the three Boeing 737-800 with a 16 Business Class and 150 Economy Class configuration.”

The approval process and recruitment

All executives have been approved by NCAA (Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority), and the Air Transport License has also been issued. Nigeria Air (having identified the first three aircraft) will finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process of NCAA.

The money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, for all the requirements to establish an AOC ( Air Operators Certificate) and be admitted to starting an airline operation as prescribed in the FEC-approved Outline Business Case (OBC), is well within the 5 % capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The minister added,

“No further federal government funding will be provided above the five percent share capital of the next national Carrier of Nigeria, which was provided to launch Nigeria Air.”

The airline has already begun its recruitment process, announced in a memo posted to the official Twitter account of the Federal Ministry of Aviation at the end of last week. The memo reads,

“Nigeria Air is now recruiting qualified crew for the following positions: Experienced, and current B737 Captains; Experienced, and Current B737 First Officers; Experienced, and Current B737 Senior Cabin Crew and Cabin Crew Experienced, and Current B737 Engineers (B1/B2 preferred).”

The announcement adds that positions will be based in Abuja or Lagos, and that additional details of open positions will be available soon on the airline’s website.

Source: Simple Flying

A consortium led by Ethiopian Airlines is the preferred bidder for shares in new Nigerian airline Nigeria Air, the country’s aviation minister said on Friday.

The airline was one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 election campaign promises.

Ethiopian Airlines will own a 49% stake in the new airline, while the Nigerian Sovereign Fund will take 46% and the Nigerian federal government the remaining 5%.

Aviation minister Hadi Sirika told reporters that Buhari’s cabinet was expected to sign off on the shareholding plan in the next few weeks. Nigeria Air would have an initial capital of $300 million and plans to have 30 aircraft within four years, he said.

Nigeria Air will launch with service between the capital Abuja and Lagos, the commercial capital, and add other routes later.

“We are going to initially bring in six Boeing 737 aircraft and between third and fourth year the airline will be able to acquire up to 30 aircraft,” Sirika said.

“Nigeria Air is a limited liability company that will have no government intervention,” he added.

Nigeria has been seeking to set up a national carrier and develop its aviation infrastructure – currently seen as a barrier to economic growth – to create a hub for West Africa.

Africa’s most populous country’s previous national carrier, Nigeria Airways, was founded in 1958 and wholly owned by the government. It ceased to operate in 2003.

Source: Reuters

Kenya Airways (KQ) will resume its daily flight frequency for the New York route in December, citing a spike in forward bookings for the festive month.

The airline had cut the flight frequency on the route to three per week from five in February after demand subsided following last year’s festive period.

The higher demand is a positive signal for the tourism sector, for which the US remains the largest overseas source market accounting for 16 percent of the 870,465 arrivals into the country last year.

The carrier says it will also scale up frequencies in the next summer period starting July-August 2023 should it be forced into cutting flights again early next year if demand flags in the post-Christmas period.

KQ has grappled with fluctuating demand on the US route since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, hence the shifting flight frequencies.

“We continuously monitor demand trends which guide our decision to increase or decrease frequencies on this or any other destination. In the case of JFK (New York’s main airport), we will increase frequencies to daily during the festive season in December,” said the airline.

KQ started direct flights to the US in October 2018, with the route seen as key to reviving the airline’s fortunes.

This flight allows the airline to benefit from connecting travellers who transit through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from other African capitals that lack direct air access to the world’s largest economy.

KQ had forecast its daily direct flights to the US would boost annual revenues by more than 10 percent in 2019 and 2020, but the Covid pandemic watered down these gains after both the US and Kenya imposed access restrictions on their respective jurisdictions.

The airlines sector has however been recovering as the pandemic recedes, allowing the likes of KQ to pare back some of the steep losses they suffered in 2020 and 2021.

The national carrier narrowed its net loss for the six months to June to Sh9.8 billion from Sh11.48 billion in the same period a year earlier, as its revenues jumped 76 percent to Sh48.10 billion on pent-up demand for travel.

The performance was, however, weighed down by higher operating costs, which surged by half to Sh53.11 billion anchored by a sharp rise in global prices of fuel.

Source: The East African

Hahn Air, in partnership with veritree, has committed to planting 150,000 mangrove trees, equal to an area of 15 hectares (37 acres), in Kenya and Madagascar.

Once matured, the trees will sequester for an average of 32,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

“We are very excited about this project,” said Hahn Air CEO, Kirsten Rehmann. “Hahn Air’s partnership with veritree is the first of a number of nature-positive initiatives we are implementing. This involves reducing the carbon footprint of our own flights, of our business operations and our business travel activities. In this regard, it is important to us to work with a trustworthy partner who closely oversees and monitors the progress of our planting initiative. With veritree, we can be sure about every single tree being planted and nurtured to reach its full carbon absorbing capacity. We can also trust that our contribution is not only benefitting the environment but also the local community.”

veritree serves as a fully integrated management system that connects businesses, like Hahn Air, directly with the local planting and execution teams on site.

Through proof-of-stake blockchain technology, veritree ensures transparency and traceability of the tree planting activities.

The trees planted through the veritree platform are tracked via QR codes to validate, monitor, and analyse the planting progress.

“veritree and Hahn Air share a vision that the future of business is restorative, and collectively we can make a difference by investing in verified nature-based solutions.” said Derrick Emsley, CEO of veritree. “veritree’s mission is to make it simple for businesses to incorporate, and steward, nature-based solutions. We’re excited by our newly founded partnership with Hahn Air.”

Mangroves forests are a group of trees and shrubs that grow in the coastal intertidal zone and that play a key role in many coastal ecosystems. They provide primary habitat for thousands of species and are breeding and nursery grounds for many fish and invertebrate species. Not only are Mangroves able to absorb and store three to four times more carbon than mature tropical forests, but they are also protecting shorelines from winds, waves, and floods.

The mangrove forests in Kenya and Madagascar are also a crucial source of livelihoods for coastal neighbourhoods. veritree includes the local communities, involves them closely in safeguarding the projects, for example through reporting and verification, and thereby creates jobs and income sources through ecotourism and agriculture.

“To contribute to a more sustainable air transport, we are also looking into solutions for our travel agency and airline partners,” said Alexander Proschka, Executive Vice President Commercial. “It is our clear goal to offer carbon compensation options for flights distributed through Hahn Air in the future.”

Source: TNA

Ethiopian Airlines Group, the flag carrier of Ethiopia, Africa’s largest airline group, has upsized four of its A350-900 on order to the largest variant of the A350 Family, the A350-1000, becoming Africa’s first customer for the aircraft.

Ethiopian Airlines has already ordered 22 A350-900s, of which 16 aircraft have been delivered. With the A350-1000 upsizing, Ethiopian Airlines’ backlog consists of four A350-1000s and two A350-900s.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Mesfin Tasew said: “We are delighted over the upsizing of the A350-900 on order to the largest variant, A350-1000, that helps us stay ahead of the curve in technology. We are the technology leaders in the continent introducing the latest technology and fuel-efficient fleet into Africa.

“The A350-1000 is the best fit for our dense routes, and we believe that the upsizing will be instrumental in satisfying the increasing demand of customers in our vast global network across five continents. We will continue on keeping ourselves abreast of aviation technology advancements to enhance our service and fulfil customers’ demand.

”We are proud of our strong partnership with Ethiopian Airlines – the first airline in Africa to order and operate the A350-900. In another first, Ethiopian Airlines is once again leading the way in Africa’s aviation sector by introducing the A350-1000, the largest version of the world’s most efficient and technologically advanced passenger aircraft.” said Mikail Houari, President, Airbus Africa and Middle East.

“The A350-900 has delivered extraordinary capability, fuel efficiency, and operational reliability of 99.5 percent together with unbeatable operational flexibility and efficiency, from short to ultra-long-range operations.”

The A350-1000 will increase the East African carrier’s capacity and it will be an addition to its modern wide-body fleet. The airline will benefit from a flexible, high- value Family leveraging Airbus’ unprecedented level of commonality and same type rating.

The Airbus A350’s clean-sheet design features state-of-the-art aerodynamics, a carbon-fibre fuselage and wings, plus the most fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Together, these latest technologies translate into unrivalled levels of operational efficiency and sustainability for Ethiopian Airlines, with a 25% reduction in fuel-burn and CO2 emissions compared to previous generation twin-aisle aircraft.

Source: The Voice

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that his Government is working on resolving the issue of funds belonging to international airlines that are trapped in the country.

The remarks came at the start of this week while touring the new terminal of Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos. This infrastructural project, funded thanks to a bilateral agreement with China, will greatly expand the capacity of the airport.

The minister said:

“On the trapped funds, I can tell you that the relevant authorities are working hard on that issue.”

However, no further information was provided. It remains unclear what the Government is going to do to resolve an issue that it itself created.

How much money is trapped?

Nigeria has blocked airlines from repatriating over $460 million, leaving carriers unable to actually gain the revenue they made from ticket sales in the country.

Nigeria is not the only one: Zimbabwe is holding onto $100 million, Algeria $96 million, Eritrea $79 million, and Ethiopia is holding back about $75 million. However, Nigeria leads the way by far, thanks to its market size.

Airlines have responded by raising prices. Nigerians now pay three times more than travelers from other countries for the same destinations. IATA’s regional vice president for Africa, Kamil Alawadhi, told the IATA 2022 conference that resolving the issue of blocked funds was now a key priority for the industry body. He said:

“Airlines cannot be expected to fly if they cannot realize the revenue from ticket sales. Loss of air connectivity harms the local economy, hurts investor confidence, and impacts jobs and people’s livelihoods. It’s time for the Government of Nigeria to prioritize the release of airline funds before more damage is done.”

Emirates was the first to pull out

As a result of this issue, Emirates is suspending all flights to Nigeria on 1st September to limit future losses. The decision was accompanied by a statement that indicated Emirates was ready to return as soon as the issue was resolved:

“Should there be any positive developments in the coming days regarding Emirates’ blocked funds in Nigeria, we will, of course, reevaluate our decision.”

Other airlines are, no doubt, considering doing the same actions. Any more route suspensions would deal a fairly large blow to the country’s connectivity, which is already greatly diminished now that Emirates will stop flying there.

The Secretary General of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), an NGO, John Ojikutu, said:

“We are going to be the loser if the foreign airlines withdraw their services because about 70% to 80% of our earnings in commercial aviation are from foreign airlines. Nigerians will go to Accra, Cotonou, and Lome to connect to the flights of these foreign airlines, making them hubs over Nigeria.”

IATA’s Alawadhi is optimistic about finding a solution to this problem, and he has met with the Nigerian Vice President over the matter. However, despite the optimism, it remains unclear when the problem will be resolved.

Source: Simple Flying

Air Tanzania has expressed strong interests in expanding both its continental and international reach within the upcoming year. The State run airline is primarily focused on flying to the two biggest countries in West Africa, Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the largest airport in the United Kingdom.

The Wings of Kilimanjaro

In an announcement to reporters this Monday, Air Tanzania’s Managing Director Ladislaus Matindi stated that the airline would be launching direct flights to Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and London, Heathrow by 2023.

The expansion goes hand-in-hand with other airline modifications and improvements, such as punctuality and flight reliability – in an effort to increase passenger satisfaction.

The widening of the network actually comes as part of ‘phase four and five’ of Air Tanzania’s expansion plan, originally laid out in 2019 by Matindi.

“We have a plan to expand in three phases; the first, within Tanzania to capture the domestic market and expand domestic destinations..and the third phase, internationally to include destinations like Mumbai and Guangzhou”, Matindi said.

He further remarked,

“Our plan has the 4th and 5th phases where we intend to have flights to West African cities of Lagos and Accra by the end of 2022. This is when we expect to have more planes.”

Already serving 12 domestic locations and almost ten international ones, such as Harare in Zimbabwe, Lusaka and Ndola in Zambia, Nairobi in Kenya, Moroni in Comoros, Mumbai in India and Guangzhou in China, making Air Tanzania well on schedule.

Realities of the situation

Having more destinations to offer its passengers and bringing in potentially new tourists and travellers to the country will undoubtedly have a profoundly positive impact on both Air Tanzania and the nation.

Additionally, trade with West Africa is expected to improve with these new developments and strengthen economic ties. There appears to also be an interest in developing the Democratic Republic of Congo’s dire economic state through increased travel and communication.

However, as some have noted, its ambitions to reach Europe, while seeking to be beneficial, may cause greater financial losses for the airline. In 2019, Air Tanzania secured three spots at Heathrow, but plans fell apart within a year, partially due to the pandemic.

British Airways also attempted to create a connection between the two nations back in 2013, however stopped flying to the country in 2015. To this day, Dar es Salaam remains one of London’s largest untapped markets.

An attempt to fly to the UK would be met with steep competition with Kenyan Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, who both have strong established relationships with Western countries, and significantly larger fleets with more frequent fliers.

Not to mention, Air Tanzania, much like the rest of the aviation world has been making huge losses over the past few years. The plans to fund these endeavours financially are unclear and require greater, more reliable assurances from management.

Too ambitious?

Having a relatively small fleet and a less prominent presence in East Africa compared to its neighbours in Kenya and Ethiopia, Air Tanzania’s plans have widely been discredited as ‘too ambitious’. The airline is also said to only have around four A220-300s, two B737 MAXs 9s, one B767-300F and five DHC-9-Q400s.

On a more positive note, the airline has shown a decent budget for the acquisition of more planes, and a consistent effort at improving the quality of their services and business practices.

With what appears to be a carefully curated development schedule, and a keen leadership body and staff, it would be criminal to not let Air Tanzania dream and dream big. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Source: Travel Radar

Nairobi. African airline operators are going back to the drawing board.

They are mapping sustainability plans including fostering cross-market collaborations to rev up the continent’s intra-African and grow their global air traffic market share.

Africa’s aviation operators and experts have retreated to the drawing board to analyse the continent’s falling global air traffic share as rising passenger demand begins to lift airlines performance closer to pre-pandemic levels.

The establishment of Africa’s first ‘aviation laboratory’ and the start of implementation of a strategic alliance between Kenya’s and South Africa’s national carriers in July are the latest indications of an industry keen on addressing bottlenecks to its growth and expansion, competitiveness and sustainability.

“The overall objective of the laboratory was to address the root cause of challenges facing the air transport industry in Africa and develop relevant solutions to revamp the sector,” said African Airlines Association (AFRAA) secretary general Abdérahmane Berthé.

High operations and maintenance costs, slow implementation of a Single Africa Air transport market and fewer partnerships between airlines, hospitality and tourism bodies have been identified as some of key issues behind the dwindling fortunes of African airlines over the last four decades.

Before the pandemic, Africa’s share of global air traffic had already declined by a percentage point to 2.5 percent compared to 3.5 percent in early 1980s, according to Afraa. Covid-19 further aggravated the continent’s air transport sector pushing its traffic market share below two percent.

“This marginalisation trend is a strong wake-up call to all stakeholders to take necessary actions,” said Berthé.

Afraa, a 44-member airline body accounting for 85 percent of total international traffic carried by continent’s airlines, is now spearheading the continent’s first-ever ‘aviation laboratory,’ tasked with developing roadmaps for the sustainability of the air transport sector in Africa.

Some of the initial commitments already made by key stakeholders include allowing more airlines to fly between two third-party countries to boost intra-African connectivity and developing guidelines and economic regulatory framework for rationalization of taxes, charges, and fees.

The new roadmap is also working on reducing airfares, taxes on fuel and push for abolishment of custom duties on spare parts and aircraft to boost trade and tourism on the continent.

Other key interventions proposed include automation of flight permit acquisition processes across civil aviation authorities and bolstering operation efficiency in African airspace to attain productivity gains for airlines and air navigation service providers.

A multi-sectoral steering committee drawing participants from airports, airlines, tourism boards, civil aviation authorities, continental financiers, AfCFTA Secretariat and independent industry experts will review the roadmap before being tabled for adoption by AU Policy Organs.

While deliberations goes on, a strategic pact between Kenya Airways and South African Airways signed in 2021 has begun showing the impending benefits of close cooperation as demand for air travel rebounds.

Last month the two airlines struck a codeshare agreement- opening up more routes for each operator and offering passengers more options and seamless travel across the continent.

Beyond opening key routes operated by these carriers in Southern and Eastern Africa, the two airlines are evaluating their codeshare partnership to add new destinations within Africa including Tanzania Mainland, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Juba in South Sudan, Douala in Cameroon, Lusaka in Zambia, Ghana, and Nigeria.

“The additional destinations we believe will offer better customer journey thanks to the number of frequencies and connections created as well as many opportunities for trade and tourism,” said Kenya Airways chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) data, the demand for air travel surged in June, with airlines based in Africa recording a doubling of international traffic over the year to June, with an increase of 103.6 percent.

“Demand for air travel remains strong. After two years of lockdowns and border restrictions people are taking advantage of the freedom to travel wherever they can,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.

With the continent’s international traffic now around 35 percent below 2019 level, the performance of international traffic between Africa and neighbouring regions is approaching its pre-pandemic levels.

According to IATA, traffic between Africa and Europe is currently 4.6 percent below June 2019 while that of Africa and Middle East is 10.4 percent below 2019 levels.

Source: The Citizen

Kenya Airways will service Nairobi to New York JFK 1x daily next summer, although much could change by then. It comes soon after the SkyTeam airline expanded its codeshare destinations with Delta, although the additions will have relatively little impact on passenger traffic. JFK-Nairobi uses B787-8s and is at the limit of the variant’s real-world range, with what seems to be a payload restriction to the USA.

What’s happening?

According to Kenya Airways’ booking engine, the carrier will grow JFK service to 1x daily from June 19th next year. While the 7,360-mile (11,844km) route currently operates 3x weekly, OAG shows that it was due to be 5x weekly next summer. 1x daily is a significant frequency on the route, although it’ll only be during the summer peak. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:

• Nairobi to JFK: KQ2, 23:35-07:35+1 (15h block time)
• JFK to Nairobi: KQ3, 13:45-10:30+1 (13h 45m)

The African carrier has one widebody type: the B787-8. It has nine of them, each with 234 seats. They have the same config: 30 fully flat business seats and 204 seats in economy. Just 13% of its seats are premium, not much for the cabin that makes a crucial difference in long-haul route performance.

A prestige route

The very long route to JFK is undoubtedly for prestige reasons, as well as helping to grow Kenya tourism, and is heavily loss-making. Six months after the route began, Kenya Airways’ former CEO, Sebastian Mikos, said that:

“I do not consider it to be a lucrative route. There is nothing lucrative about flying to New York.”

He added that JFK is “necessary but difficult,” mainly for passenger feed reasons and to be ‘seen’ differently. The launch of JFK in October 2018 came amid a cost-cutting and rationalization program in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy, further emphasizing the route’s non-commercial objectives.

Yes, all hub-feeding airlines have loss-making routes in themselves, which wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, be operated if only about that one route, but they make a significant network contribution. Booking data shows that approximately 35% of Kenya Airways’ JFK passengers transited Nairobi in 2019. Does that justify service, especially given the carrier’s perennial on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy position?

A 76.5% seat load factor

According to the US Department of Transportation, Kenya Airways’ JFK service achieved a seat load factor (SLF) of 76.5% in 2019, with 104,544 passengers carried. (Remember, SLF is just one element of performance.) The pandemic meant it fell to 23,240 passengers (65.6%) in 2020 and 31,758 last year (63.4%).

Analyzing booking data shows that approximately 36% of passengers were point-to-point; they only traveled between JFK and Nairobi. A further 35% transited over Nairobi to other destinations, with the top five Kilimanjaro, Lagos (really!), Entebbe, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Some 19% of passengers connected to partners over JFK, and about 9% ‘bridged’ both JFK and Nairobi. In all, nearly two-thirds of passengers transited.

Source: Simple Flying