News From Africa

Richard Maslen May 25, 2011

COMAIR DELAYS LANSERIA LAUNCH

South African carrier Comair is to defer the launch of its new international flights from Lanseria International Airport to Gaborone and Maputo until September, six months later than originally planned. The carrier planned to inaugurate an eight-times weekly link to Maputo, Mozambique and a five-times weekly service to Gaborone, Botswana from May, but is awaiting assurances from the airport authority over potential capacity constraints at the airport. The airline currently has a monopoly from the airport, however in June its low-cost rival Mango will add a three times daily connection to Cape Town. Comair’s new flights will be the only international routes from the facility located to the north west of the South African city, with its low-cost division Kulula offering the only other flights – up to seven times a day to Cape Town and Durban. Comair will use a single 66-seat ATR 72 leased from Solenta Aviation on the new services. Although these routes are new for Lanseria the Mozambican and Botswana cities are already served from OR Tambo International, Johannesburg’s main international gateway.

RWANDAIR ENTERS NEW AFRICAN MARKETS

African flag carrier RwandAir inaugurated flights between its Kigali base and Gabonese capital Libreville last weekend, a route that is operating as a triangular service alongside its exiting Brazzaville connection, launched earlier this year. The link is operating three times weekly, twice on the Kigali – Libreville – Brazzaville – Kigali routing and once in the opposite direction. It is using a Bombardier CRJ200 on the route. RwandAir is also to expand in the domestic market with a new four times weekly link from Kigali to Gisenyi, a city in Rubavu district in the Western Province of Rwanda close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new service will start from May 31 and will be operated using a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400. The Rwandan carrier currently serves 14 destinations across Africa and the Middle East (a three times weekly connection to Dubai via Mombasa) using a mixed fleet of Boeing 737s, CRJ200 and Dash 8 equipment.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES TO FLY TO MILAN

Ethiopian Airlines has confirmed the introduction of a second link into the Italian market with the launch of a new five times weekly service to Milan from July. The African carrier already operates 42 weekly flights to Europe with daily links to Rome and Stockholm, six times weekly flights to Paris, Brussels and London, as well as five weekly services to Frankfurt. Italy has been an important part of the airline’s network since it began services between Addis Ababa and Rome in 1964. An estimated 58,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year with Ethiopian Airlines accounting for 71 per cent of this traffic. Over 6,000 of these passengers originated in Milan and the carrier will target a mix of business, leisure and religious travellers from the city and Northern Italian region to develop the new route. “Milan is an attractive business center to the world,” said Gobena Mikael, Senior Vice President Global Sales and Chief Commercial Officer, Ethiopian Airlines. “Our services to Milan will create new market opportunities for Ethiopian Airlines while providing better access and service to Northern Italy travellers wishing to venture into Africa.”

VIRGIN BOOSTS FREQUENCIES OUT OF AFRICA

Virgin Atlantic Airways is to boost capacity on two of its African routes for set periods this summer, according to the latest schedule data from the UK carrier. On its London Heathrow – Accra route a fourth weekly flight will be introduced between June 20 and September 13, while from June 24 to July 14 and July 22 to September 10 an Airbus A340-600 will replace a smaller -300 variant on two of the airline’s daily London Heathrow – Nairobi rotations. Virgin Atlantic accounts for approximately 22 per cent of the traffic between London Heathrow and Accra, a market of an estimated 181,000 O&D travellers, with average fares considerably cheaper than market leader British Airways. On the link to the Kenyan capital it holds the greatest share of the traffic, handling around 94,000 O&D passengers last year (32 per cent), followed closely by Kenya Airways (29 per cent) and British Airways (28 per cent).

STARBOW AIRLINES TO LAUNCH FROM ACCRA

A new regional carrier will soon launch operations from Kotoka International Airport in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Starbow Airlines has acquired two BAe 146-300s, the first of which was recently unveiled at Southend Airport in the UK in a livery designed by airline brand development and graphic design company Lila Design Associates. The start-up carrier remains tight-lipped over its operational plans and has only just begun the recruitment process for BAe 146 licenced Captains and First Officers as well as ground engineers for an initial six month period.