Agnes Muchua CEO of KATA, during her opening remarks in the re-launch ceremony for Uganda Airlines flight operations into Kenya said that it was an exciting day and that the relaunch is a time for joy, new hope and high expectations. “We are happy to once again hear the roaring sound of the Aircraft engines, and to see vibrance at the runway”. She said that according to a recent data insights webinar with Amadeus, Uganda emerged as the top regional destination for travel from Kenya. This is a clear demonstration of the passenger confidence in Uganda for business and leisure travellers. She further remarked that the resumption of Uganda Airlines will propel movement and trade and a way to discover the continent. Finally, she pledged KATA’s 100% support and congratulated Uganda Airlines for becoming an IATA member. Read more: – https://www.goplacesdigital.com
International flights land in South Africa as borders reopen
A first batch of regional and international flights landed in South Africa early on Thursday, as borders reopened after a more than six-month shutdown to limit the spread of coronavirus.
German carrier Lufthansa was the first European airline to resume operations into the country, with a flight from Frankfurt landing at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo international airport at 8.30 a.m. (0630 GMT).
Planes also flew in from Kenya, Zambia and neighbouring Zimbabwe.
“Lufthansa is delighted to be at the forefront of the resumption of commercial travel into South Africa and proud to reconnect South Africa to Germany… on the day the travel ban is lifted,” the airline’s southern and East Africa manager, Andre Schulz, said in a statement.
“We look forward to bringing visitors back to South Africa and helping to boost the very important tourism sector.”
Africa’s most industrialised economy sealed its borders at the start of a strict anti-coronavirus lockdown on March 27.
Restrictions on movement and business have been gradually eased since May, but international borders stayed shut to avoid importing the virus from abroad.
The travel ban dealt a heavy blow to the tourist industry, which usually employs around 1.5 million people and contributes over 8.5 percent GDP, according to the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA).
The group estimated in July that each day the industry was restrained represented a loss of 748 million rand ($45 million) in tourist expenditure.
More than 600,000 direct jobs have been axed as a result.
TBCSA welcomed what it said was the timely resumption of international travel, hoping this would trigger a “resuscitation” for the tourism sector during the peak December season.
But tourists from around 50 nations with high infection rates remain banned for the time being, including major sources of foreign visitors such as Britain, Russia and the US.
Those travel restrictions will be reviewed every two weeks.
All other visitors will meanwhile be required to present a negative coronavirus test taken less than 72 hours prior to departure.
They will be screened upon arrival and asked to install a coronavirus tracing app on their mobile phone.
Travellers from all African countries are being admitted for now.
Infections and deaths south of the Sahara have remained low compared to the rest of the world.
South Africa has been relatively hard-hit, with 674,339 infections and 16,734 deaths recorded to date — just under half the total number of cases detected on the continent.
India has air bubble agreements with Kenya, Bhutan; international flights now to 15 countries
India on Wednesday said it signed air bubble agreements with two more countries taking the total number of nations, with which these temporary arrangements are formed, to 15. Indians will soon be able to take special international passenger flights to and from Kenya and Bhutan to destinations in India along with 13 other nations with which such pacts are already in place.
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, the UK and the USA are the other countries with whom India has already formed bilateral air bubble agreements until September 17.
India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation describes air bubbles as “Transport Bubbles” or “Air Travel Arrangements” which are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits”.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=TIMESNOW&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1311264368026296327&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesnownews.com%2Fbusiness-economy%2Findia-revival-mission%2Farticle%2Findia-has-air-bubble-agreements-with-kenya-bhutan-international-flights-now-to-15-countries%2F660479&siteScreenName=TIMESNOW&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px India’s Minister of Civil Aviation (I/C) Hardeep Singh Puri announced the new bilateral agreements signed with Kenya and Bhutan alerting stranded Indians in the regions to take note.
“In order to further boost bilateral international air connectivity, Air Bubble arrangements are now in place with Kenya & Bhutan. Indian carriers will be able to operate to these countries. Carriers of these countries will be able to fly to India,” Civil Aviation Minister Puri announced on his Twitter account.
The development comes at a day after Lufthansa cancelled all its flights to and from India between September 30 and October 20 following the breakdown of talks between India and Germany over the number of flights operated by the airlines from each country.
“India formalised an air bubble with Germany in July 2020. An air bubble arrangement allows nationals of both countries to travel in either direction. However, there are restrictions in place for Indian nationals desiring to travel to Germany which was putting Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa. As against Indian carriers operating 3-4 flights a week, Lufthansa operated 20 flights a week. In spite of this disparity, we offered to clear 7 flights a week for Lufthansa which was not accepted by them. Negotiations continue,” said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation regulator.
Normal international flights remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating under the government’s Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) repatriation scheme to bring stranded Indians back.
Ethiopian Unveils COVID-19 Global Insurance Cover
Ethiopian Airlines Group, the Largest Aviation Group in Africa has today announced that it will cover the medical insurance including repatriation, evacuation and quarantine costs related to COVID-19 as of 01st of October 2020 until 31st of March 2021. The coverage is applicable on all Ethiopian’s international flights booked with the airline’s tickets.
The global cover dubbed Sheba Comfort is part of the airline’s extra security measures to protect passengers and ensure that they travel with peace of mind.
Passengers will have their medical expenses up to EUR 100,000 covered if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel in addition to quarantine costs up to EUR 150 per day for a maximum of 14 days. Sheba Comfort also includes repatriation and evacuation services whenever needed besides 24/7 assistance through the airline’s hotline.
Remarking on the global cover, Ethiopian Group CEO, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, said, “We are glad to be among the pioneer global airlines to introduce this extra security measure and provide global cover for COVID-19 with a view to boost passengers’ confidence. Our Sheba Comfort insurance scheme is part of the measures we have been taking to ensure the health and wellbeing of passengers on the ground and onboard. As the travel safety continues to evolve by the day, we will always be at the forefront of adopting all necessary changes to ensure the safety of our passengers as our top priority.”
The Sheba Comfort insurance scheme, introduced in collaboration with AXA Partners and Awash Insurance Company, is valid for 92 days for round trip and 31 days for one-way trip.
It is to be recalled that Ethiopian recently unveiled an ultra-modern, spacious passenger terminal which is completed with emphasis on biosecurity and biosafety measures.
Source: https://voyagesafriq.com/2020/10/01/ethiopian-unveils-covid-19-global-insurance-cover/
4.5 Million African Jobs at Risk due to COVID-19 and Travel Restrictions
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that the damage being done to the African aviation industry and on economies by the shutdown of air traffic owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened. According to new data published today by the Air Transport Action Group of which IATA is a member:
- 5 million African jobs will be lost in aviation and industries supported by aviation in 2020. This is well over half of the region’s 7.7 million aviation-related employment.
- 172,00 jobs will be lost in aviation alone in 2020. This is about 40% of the region’s 440,000 aviation
- GDP supported by aviation in the region will fall by up to $37 billion. This is 58% below pre COVID-19 levels.
“The breakdown in air connectivity in Africa has severe social and economic consequences for millions. No income means the lack of a social safety net for many. Governments need to do all they can to reconnect the continent safely. Keeping borders closed, or imposing measures such as quarantines, that deter air travel, will result in many more livelihoods being lost and further economic shrinkage along with hardship and poverty,” said Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.
Testing to Restart Aviation in Africa
To minimize the impact on jobs and the broader African economy, an accelerated recovery of air transport across the region is paramount. This can be achieved through COVID-19 testing as an alternative to restrictive quarantine measures.
Thirty-one countries in Africa are opening their borders to regional and international air travel. In 22 countries, however, passengers are still subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. This effectively stops people from travelling. IATA is calling for the systematic testing of passengers before departure. This will enable governments to safely open borders without quarantine and better support recovery efforts.
“Quarantine measures are crippling the industry’s recovery and hampering its ability to support social and economic development. Testing for COVID-19 will enable Africa and the world to safely re-connect and recover,” said Albakri. Source: https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-10-01-01/
Emirates to resume flights to Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg
Emirates is to resume service to five African destinations next month, taking its rebuilt network across the continent to 19 cities.
The carrier will relaunch flights to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Harare on October 1, followed by Mauritius on October 3, and Durban on October 4.
Harare will operate as a twice weekly linked service with the existing Lusaka route, while the carrier said that flights from Dubai to Mauritius will initially operate weekly, “supporting the Mauritian government’s repatriation efforts to bring its citizens home, and enabling the recovery of the country’s tourism industry by safely connecting leisure travellers from Europe, the Far East and the Middle East to the popular Indian Ocean island destination”.
The latest additions bring Emirates’ network to 92 destinations worldwide, and follows the recent resumption of flights to Amman, Abuja and Lagos.
The figure is still well below the 140-odd destinations served by the carrier before the onset of Covid-19 – Emirates’ chief operating officer Adel Al Redha recently told CNBC that the airline expected to be serving all of its destinations by summer 2021.
Ethiopian Airlines Debuts First Covid-Era, Contactless Terminal
Ethiopian Airlines several weeks ago officially completed a 86,000-square-meter terminal expansion at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. With the capacity to serve 22 million passengers a year, Africa’s main transit hub is now home to the continent’s second largest capacity airport after South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International.
But this is no ordinary terminal project: the $300 million Terminal 2 has the distinction of being the world’s first completed amid the pandemic and designed with an eye towards biosafety.
Aside from daily airport cleaning procedures, this means digitized features, including state-of-the-art thermal scanners, 30 self-check-in kiosks, 60 check-in counters, 32 arrival immigration counters with eight e-gates, 16 security screening areas, touch-free sanitizing gel dispensers, and socially distanced gate seating.
“We are now providing a contactless experience,” Ethiopian Airlines’ Miretab Teklaye, director of integrated marketing, told Skift. “Using the Ethiopian mobile app, you can book, pay, check in, print tags, drop baggage, scan your boarding pass at immigration, or at the lounge. [It’s] about empowering the customer to own the experience end to end.”
Built in multiple phases over three years, the ultramodern terminal is part of Ethiopian’s strategy to continue investing in infrastructure, one of its four key pillars. The project was financed by EXIM Bank China and designed by Singapore firm CPG.
Although the airline went from growth mode to survival mode in March, future plans remain in place for the redesign of Addis’ domestic terminal by 2021, as well as an 80 to 100-million-passenger $5 billion airport just 39 kilometers southeast of the capital.
Like the world’s major commercial carriers, Ethiopian has suffered a massive loss in passenger flight revenue since Covid-19, to the tune of $1 billion by the close of June 2020. What’s notably different, however, is that the airline hasn’t been impacted negatively in the way other carriers have: no government bailout request, no layoffs and no salary reductions. Instead, it has managed to turn a profit.
In late March, while other African airlines were grounded, Ethiopian saw the opportunity to recoup its passenger revenue loss by expanding its established 10-fleet cargo unit. The airline converted 25 passenger planes to cargo and deployed its 54,000-square-meter, high-tech pharma wing to store and distribute Covid-19 medical supplies and millions of PPE donations from China and from the UN World Food Programme to over 80 countries in Africa, Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America.
OPENING THE DOOR TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
In addition, the global shutdown opened the door to new opportunities, such as transporting Norway’s fish exports and Kenya’s flower exports. As a result of the skyrocketing demand through June, the airline doubled its cargo revenue and its cargo route expanded to 74 destinations.
“If cargo hadn’t been our strategic pillar back in 2010, we couldn’t do anything now,” Teklaye said.
Additional cash revenue sources have come from MRO services, another of Ethiopian’s established business units — 40 aircraft from sub-Saharan Africa, plus a Middle East carrier — as well as from 63,000 repatriation charter flights to the Americas, Middle East and Asia since March. Ethiopian’s veteran CEO Tewolde GebreMariam recently shared that the airline’s decision to diversify over the years had proven to be “a life-saving decision.”
In June, just as PPE cargo and repatriation demands decreased, Ethiopian Airlines began resuming its commercial flights. Thirteen aircrafts have been reconfigured back to passenger and the airline is currently operating 68 daily flights, albeit at limited capacity and reduced frequency, to destinations such as Dubai, Istanbul, Paris, London, and two of Ethiopian’s heaviest Africa routes – Ghana and Nigeria. It’s a number that keeps shifting as more governments lift flying bans.
Experts have expressed doubt that increased cargo revenue could keep Ethiopian afloat long-term. With other African airlines crumbling, the current aviation climate may also open the door wider to outside competitors looking for a share of African skies. But Ethiopian remains optimistic it can empower its fellow African carriers, while continuing to eye global opportunities in cargo, MRO, and even in hospitality with vacation packages aimed at Addis Ababa’s 70 percent transit passengers, incorporating the city’s new green and historic attractions, such as Unity Park and Entoto Park.
‘DON’T WASTE CRISES’
“We say here all the time: we don’t waste crises,” Teklaye said. “We have a diversified customer base, diverse business units, and a diverse geography. We have an experienced management team with a legacy of handling crises. We are anticipating opportunities at a granular level and see where we can serve. The passenger business will slowly be coming, but the cargo and other services – we’ll keep looking at the options.”
How much longer Africa’s leading airline will manage to remain intact until its passenger numbers return isn’t certain. But for now, Ethiopian Airlines’ ability to generate revenue and turn a profit while avoiding Covid-19’s devastating financial impacts — which have crippled aviation industry giants — is as unprecedented in the industry as the pandemic itself.
Source: https://skift.com/2020/09/23/ethiopian-airlines-debuts-first-covid-era-contactless-terminal/
World Tourism Day 2020- Official Message from UNWTO Secretary General
For the past 40 years, World Tourism Day has highlighted the power of tourism to touch on almost every part of our societies. Right now, this message is more important than ever.
The theme of World Tourism Day 2020 – Tourism and Rural Development – is particularly relevant as we face up to an unprecedented crisis.
Tourism has proven to be a lifeline for many rural communities. However, its true force still needs to be fully deployed. The sector is not just a leading source of employment, particularly for women and youth. It also provides opportunities for territorial cohesion and socio-economic inclusion for the most vulnerable regions.
Tourism helps rural communities hold onto their unique natural and cultural heritage, supporting conservation projects, including those safeguarding endangered species, lost traditions or flavours.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. Our sector is among the hardest hit with millions of jobs at risk.
As we join forces to restart tourism, we must live up to our responsibility to ensure that tourism’s benefits are shared by all.
This crisis is an opportunity to rethink the tourism sector and its contribution to the people and planet; an opportunity to build back better towards a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient tourism.
Placing rural development at the heart of tourism policies through education, investment, innovation and technology can transform the livelihoods of millions, preserve our environment and our culture.
As the ultimate cross-cutting sector, tourism contributes directly or indirectly to all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Harnessing tourism as a driver of rural development will keep the global community on track to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our ambitious plan for people and the planet.
As we mark the 75 years of the United Nations, it is time to really fulfil tourism’s massive potential, including its unique ability to drive development for rural communities, backing up our pledge to leave nobody behind.
HAPPY WORLD TOURISM DAY! – Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO Secretary-General
JamboJet launches a campaign to encourage domestic travel
Regional low-cost carrier JamboJet has partnered with various hotels to promote domestic travel.
The campaign dubbed “Now Travel Ready” is part of the airline’s strategy to encourage air travel as the country begins its Covid-19 recovery process.
“With the launch of this campaign, we want to show our customers the new normal of travel. From the moment they leave their home, to when they get to the airport, arrive at their destination, the hotels they can stay at and the measures in place, as well as the activities they can take part in,” said Jambojet head of sales and marketing, Titus Oboogi.
The airline resumed operations on July 15 with three daily flights to Mombasa, two to Kisumu, two to Eldoret, one to Malindi, and four weekly flights to Diani.
The hotels that are part of the campaign include Swahili Beach Resort and Diani Sea Lodge in Diani; Ciala Resort, Grand Royal Swiss Hotel and Sovereign Hotel in Kisumu; Voyager Beach Resort, Pride Inn Hotels and Hotel Englishpoint in Mombasa.
Others are Turtle Bay Beach Club, Plan Hotel Resorts, Ocean Beach Resort & Spa and Luxury Springs Villas in Malindi and Watamu; The Noble Hotel and Naiberi Resort in Eldoret.
Last week, the airline announced entry into charter operations to address emerging consumer needs and diversify its product offering.
Boost for Kenya Airways as flights to Tanzania take off
Kenya Airways resumed flights to Tanzania yesterday following the lifting of the ban with the carrier banking on the route to connect passengers travelling to other destinations using their network.
The airline charged Sh23,095 for a one-way ticket to Dar and Sh22,680 (210) from Dar to Nairobi, which is nearly the same price that it was charging before the Covid-19 pandemic.
KQ was allowed to fly to the neighboring state last week after Kenya exempted Tanzanian citizens from a list of countries whose nationals would be required to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine upon arrival in Nairobi.
“We are pleased to resume our services to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar following this announcement by the Tanzanian government. Tanzania is critical to both Kenya and East Africa’s economic growth and we look forward to our continued collaboration,” said Allan Kilavuka, KQ chief executive officer.
The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority announced the resumption and restoration of all flights by Kenyan operators with immediate effect last week, just a day after Nairobi included Dar in the list of safe countries.
“This is to confirm that the government of Kenya through its circular issued by KCAA on September 15 removed the requirement of 14 days mandatory quarantine for all arriving passengers from the United Republic of Tanzania,” said Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) director general Hamza Johari.
“In view of that and on a reciprocal basis, Tanzania has now lifted the suspension for all Kenya operators with immediate effect.”
Tanzania had earlier said it would not allow Kenya Airways and three other local airlines from flying to the country until its citizens were exempted from a two-week quarantine, with Nairobi insisting that it would not compromise on the health of Kenyans at the expense of commercial interest.
The first KQ flight to Dar es Salaam departed from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – Nairobi yesterday morning with the second one expected to leave on Wednesday. Thereafter KQ will operate two daily flights to Dar es Salaam.
KQ’s first flight to Zanzibar will depart on September 26 and the carrier will thereafter operate three times a week – on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.