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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

Serving the Airline Industry and Airline Professional Across Africa

African Airlines AssociationStands Against Blacklists

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AFRICAN AIRLINES ASSOCIATION Association des Compagnies Aériennes Africaines SITA: NBOXA8X P. O. Box 20116 Nairobi 00200 KenyaTel: 254 20 2320144/2320148 Email: [email protected]: 254 20 601173 Web: www.afraa.org

AFRAA MEDIA BRIEF 16TH February 2011

Air Namibia Visits AFRAA

Air Namibia, the national carrier of the Republic of Namibia is positioning itself to be one of

Africa’s finest airlines. To achieve this laudable objective, the airline is busy with a re-

organization exercise, which includes benchmarking its services against some of the most

successful African carriers.

Air Namibia, the national carrier of the Republic of Namibia is positioning itself to be one of

Africa’s finest airlines. To achieve this laudable objective, the airline is busy with a re-

organization exercise, which includes benchmarking its services against some of the most

successful African carriers. This was disclosed during a visit to the African Airlines Association

(AFRAA) headquarters by the Ag. Managing Director, Mrs. Theo Namases. The airline also

believes that carriers on the African continent should recognize that there is a need to cooperate

and jointly exploit opportunities applying the “win win” principle.

As part of its strategy, Air Namibia is

investing in newer generation aircraft to

replace the existing ageing fleet. It is also

seeking to forge commercial cooperation

arrangements with successful airlines to

extend its market coverage and provide

customer flexibility and convenience.

Briefing the Secretary General of AFRAA

on the operations of the Airline, Mrs.

Namases said, “Air Namibia aims to AFRAA Secretary General, Dr. Chingosho and Namibia Ag. Managing Director, Ms. Theo Nemases

Join theAfrican Airlines

Association

Don’t let another minute pass without being a part of the airline community of

Africa. Whether an airline or an industrial supplier, the African Airlines Association

is waiting to partner with you.www.afraa.org

Ethiopian and Air MozambiqueCode Share

Airlines AfricaMay 9, 2011

It is with great disappointment and concern that the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) received the disturbing news that the European Commission has included the Repub-lic of Mozambique and all its airlines in the infamous EU list of banned airlines – the blacklist. Mozambique is the 14th African state to be included in the list and this brings to 26 percent, the number of African States now on the banned list. The number reaches 15 when counting Madagascar, whose national airline, Air Madagascar, is slapped with a partial ban. LAM Mozambique Airlines’ safety record is impeccable. Since the

company was established in 1980; it has not had a single major accident. And since 1989 there have been no accidents of any kind involving LAM Mozambique Airlines aircraft. Major European airlines can make no such claim. For example, according to the Flight Safety Foundation, Air France has had 23 major accidents (involving substantial damage to aircraft, serious or fatal injuries) since 1990, three of them with fatalities, and a total of 348 deaths. LAM Mozambique Airlines has worked hard and invested significant resources to attain industry best prac-

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Ethiopian Airlines has entered into a code share agreement with Air Mozambique providing customers of both carriers more flexible and con-venient flight services between Addis Ababa and Maputo. The agreement will bring ample choices of flights for passengers from Mozambique to the vast Ethiopian global network and vise versa. This will moreover strengthen the two countries relations in air transport. Ethiopian Airlines commenced direct flights from Addis Ababa to Maputo on December 23, 2010. Since then, it operates three weekly non-stop flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. With the operation of the code share flights, Ethiopian will increase the number of flights to daily, providing more flight choices to cus-tomers of both carriers. Ethiopian Airlines has been en-hancing its flight network worldwide through code share agreements with a number of regional and international carriers.


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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

Airlines Africa is the definitive weekly news and information source serving the African airline and transportation com-munity. Copyright © 2011 It is published 48 times annually by Defense House Publishing. All rights reserved. No por-tion of this publication may be copied, reproduced, duplicated stored or retrans-mitted in any form without the expressed written pemission of the publisher.

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Airlines AfricaP.O.Box 236

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Arinc Incorporated has extended its cloud-based vMUSE Enterprise common-use passenger processing service for airports and airlines with a new platform including certified IATA Common Use Passenger Processing Systems (CUPPS) technology. The enhancement allows airports and airlines to achieve industry-standard IATA CUPPS environments easily, and the cloud-based virtual architecture actually reduces airport costs for passenger IT infrastructure. “vMUSE Enterprise is the indus-try’s only cloud-based solution for common-use passenger processing,” stated Arinc’s Vice President Mike Picco. “As this upgrade demonstrates, CUPPS is compatible with virtual processing solutions. Airports do not need to choose between efficient virtual technology and common-use, or between CUPPS and legacy ap-proaches. They can have whatever environment suits their needs.” The vMUSE Enterprise cloud was upgraded with technology based on ARINC’s CUPPS-certified platform of vMUSE passenger processing tech-nology. The upgrade also delivers sup-port for Windows 7 applications and standard Windows printing. vMUSE Enterprise remains fully compatible with all previously certified applica-tions and peripherals, and provides a flexible path for migrating to future updated versions of CUPPS. Because of its virtual architecture, Arinc’s vMUSE Enterprise is gaining momentum as the fastest, most cost-effective way to deploy new common-use passenger processing services. Arinc completed an installation earlier this year for Canada’s London Ontario International Airport in just 89 days. vMUSE Enterprise provides full common-use functionality without the usual need for on-site server hardware and core rooms, and their recurring maintenance. The technology efficient-ly replaces dedicated check-ins and departure gates, and older common-use solutions.

tices on safety which enabled it attain the IATA Safety Audit Certification in 2007 which was renewed in 2009.However, the airline’s impeccable safety record, and dual achievement of the internationally reputed IOSA Certification and ISO 9000 Certifica-tion, has not spared it from the EU blanket banning. AFRAA fails to see how such blanket banning contributes to encourage African carriers which strive to achieve industry best prac-tices in safety standards. The banning of an airline not only prohibits the airline from operating to the EU but also impacts its ticket sales to other destinations including on code shared routes as travel agents and other code share partners in EU are required by regulation at the time of sales or booking to notify passengers that the airline is blacklisted. Irrespective of what the European Commission public relations exercise of attempting to pass blanket ban-ning as a solution to safety concerns is, it amounts to nothing either than a blunt instrument that constrains the development of a viable African air transport industry in Africa. While the net losers are African carriers, the net beneficiaries are always the EU Community carriers that swiftly step in to fill the vacuum and take the market share of the banned airlines. Despite the blacklisting of Mozambique, EU

carriers will continue to operate with increased frequencies and higher yields to Mozambique and the other States that are the subject of the ban. If the airspace of an African country is unsafe, it is unsafe also to European carriers who continue to fly the African skies for commercial benefit. African governments, the African Union (AU) and African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) should not al-low this state of affairs to continue as the continents’ air transport industry is being progressively destroyed. AFRAA calls upon all African stakeholders in-cluding governments, the AU, AFCAC, AFRAA to address the serious safety oversight deficiencies and concerns in the states blacklisted and to seriously and meaningfully engage with the EU to establish a mutually acceptable, fair and transparent mechanism to address safety concerns in place of the unilateral blanket banning, which has so far not yielded any meaningful achievement in advancing safety in the continent. Once again AFRAA’ reiterates its call which it made on its 42nd Annual General Assembly Resolutions in No-vember, 2010 which deplored the con-tinued unilateral practice of blacklisting of mainly African States and airlines with no visible benefits in enhancing safety on the continent whilst having a huge negative commercial implications not only on the carriers concerned but on African aviation in general. The AFRAA Assembly Resolution called upon the AU and AFCAC to engage the EU with the view to find a mutually acceptable and agreed approach to jointly addressing safety issues.

Continued from Page 1

AFRAA Stand on Blacklists

Cloud-based vMUSE Enterprise


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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

The National Carrier of the Sultanate of Oman will be resuming services between Salalah and Dubai from May 4th and between Muscat and Zanzibar from May 16th. Salalah flights will operate twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Zanzibar will operate three times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Announcing this, Abdulrazaq Alraisi, Chief Com-mercial Officer, Oman Air said: “Oman Air is very happy and excited to bring back Zanzibar to our Network. It is a unique destination in terms of tourism potential as well as business and commercial prospects. Oman has friendly relations with Zanzibar and represents our third destination in Africa and second in Tanzania. We are confident Zanzi-bar will open up new and unique opportunities in bi-lateral tourism and promote both inbound and outbound travels for Oman as well as Zanzibar. Our flights will help build stronger business ties between the two nations and will increase opportunities for tourists from Europe and India sub-Continent who wish to explore and enjoy this unique destination.” Abdulrazaq Alraisi said: ‘The number of tourists from the Gulf states visiting Salalah during the annual Khareef season has been steadily increasing. With our direct flights we are sure we can cater to more enthusiastic travellers who wish to escape the sizzling summer heat of much of the Arabian Gulf for the cool climate and Monsoon show-ers of Khareef season.”

Middle East Carriers Expand African Service

Qatar Airways has announced a further expansion of its international route network with Uganda, Azerbai-jan and Georgia joining its ever-growing list of countries served direct from the airline’s Doha hub. Daily non-stop scheduled flights to Uganda’s second largest city of Entebbe are due to begin on November 2, marking the carrier’s first new route to the African conti-nent since early 2007. Unveiling the expansion plans in Dubai, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the new routes further demonstrated the airline’s ambitious strategy to continue opening up new routes to popular and under-served markets. Uganda is fast emerging as a regional trading cen-tre with links to Europe and the Far East, but has limited international air services – a void Qatar Airways is set to fill with its huge international network of routes via its Doha base. “We are pleased to be reinforcing our presence in Afri-ca, four years after our last move there when we launched flights to Tanzania’s capital city of Dar es Salaam. Adding Entebbe provides us with another foothold deeper into the African continent, where we already serve 15 destinations. We are confident this route start-up will be as successful as the others being planned.” By 2013, the airline plans to serve more than 120 destinations with a fleet of over 120 aircraft by 2013.

Oman Air Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, pictured left, at a press conference in Dubai with Senior Vice President Aero Political, Interline & Indus-try Affairs, Ali Al Rais.

BAE Systems unique spares co-op scheme, under which its airline customers earn significant loyalty rebates if they spend more than an agreed sum on aircraft spares during the year, has taken off with nearly £400,000 of re-bates issued to seven operators. John Stevens, head of customer support for BAE Systems Regional Aircraft noted: “The amount spent by Brussels Airlines (top awardee with 186,000 pounds) on aircraft spares from us was higher than initially agreed with the airline. This reflects our continued focus on ensuring we

understand our customer requirements against a backdrop of an increasingly competitive market for airline spares. The fact that Brussels elected to spend more with us totally vindicates the Spares Co-op philosophy”. The Spares Co-op scheme was started by BAE Sys-tems in 2008 and focuses on the continuing spares busi-ness. It rewards customer loyalty for continued spares spend with generous credits allocated at the end of the financial year. During 2010 ten of the highest spending customers for spares elected to join the program. The program is fully customized to suit clients’ budgets with rewards based on either fixed or variable rates.

BAE’s Co-op Program


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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

The International Air Transport As-sociation (IATA) praised South Africa for its strategic focus on tourism as a key driver in the nation’s New Growth Path plan. IATA urged the govern-ment to use joined-up policy thinking and take key measures to bolster its air transport sector to achieve the 235,000 new tourism jobs that the government is targeting by 2020. “The optimism is clear. South Africa has joined the BRICS nations and will play a key role in linking Africa to these other fast growing economies. Air transport will play an important role, bringing in tourists and facilitat-ing trade. A coordinated policy effort to improve competitiveness is needed,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s direc-tor general and CEO. Bisignani noted that IATA’s Simpli-fying the Business program is playing a key role. A World Economic Forum index on competitiveness noted that the complexity of South Africa’s import/export procedures can be a bottleneck to trade. The introduction of electronic shipping and customs documenta-tion through IATA e-freight will help speed the process. Johannesburg went live with e-freight from November 2010 and Cape Town began e-freight shipments in March this year. In total, the program is designed to save $4.9 billion annually across the global air cargo supply chain. IATA urged a review of South Africa’s economic regulation of air transport infrastructure. The regulatory process is allowing Airports Company South Africa to raise its charges by 129 percent for the 2010-2015 pe-riod and for air traffic and navigation services to raise its charges by 71 percent over the same period. “South Africa has developed good infrastruc-ture, but it is part of a value chain that needs to be cost efficient to be competitive. Allowing increases of 129 percent and 71 percent completely misses the mark. Johannesburg, the country’s main gateway, now ranks among the most expensive for airports of its size. Airlines are being made to

foot the bill for poor performance and an airport in Durban that we did not need. This is no way to build a more successful tourism industry. We need some joined-up policy thinking,” said Bisignani. IATA also took aim at the proposed inclusion of aviation in South Africa’s carbon tax scheme. Aviation is com-mitted to the most aggressive climate change targets of any global industry: to improve fuel efficiency by 1.5 per-cent annually to 2020, to cap net emis-sions from 2020 with carbon-neutral growth, and to cut emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2005. Air transport is also the only global sector where governments have a global agreement on emissions management. This was achieved in 2010 through the Inter-national Civil Aviation Organization in line with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. “South Africa is absolutely correct in strongly opposing Europe’s plans to include aviation in its emissions trad-ing scheme from next year. It is illegal and it will introduce strong market dis-tortions, particularly for long-haul des-tinations. So it is difficult to understand why South Africa is now considering inclusion of aviation in its own unilat-eral carbon tax scheme. This must be stopped. As host of COP 17 later this year, South Africa must show leader-ship to achieve a global approach on mitigating climate change. Taxing avia-tion is a step in the wrong direction for

an industry that was commended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as a role model,” said Bisig-nani. Finally, Bisignani noted that African safety remains an issue with a 2010 accident rate that is 12 times the global average. “Aviation must be safe everywhere. Africa cannot be the exception. The IATA Operational Safety Audit [IOSA] is a condition of IATA membership and is making a dif-ference. The 22 sub-Saharan African carriers on the registry outperformed the rest of the industry. I urge South Africa to take a leadership role in the region and promote IOSA as a tool for governments to use to supplement their safety oversight and improve the region’s performance. For aviation to deliver its enormous economic ben-efits, the first priority is safety,” said Bisignani. “South Africa has all the building blocks to be a great tourism nation. But that will not happen by chance. Joined-up policy thinking is needed to support it with competitive infrastruc-ture, an approach to climate change that is aligned with the industry’s glob-al commitments, and a safety record across Africa that is world standard. These are tough challenges. But with joined-up policy thinking, great results are possible,” said Bisignani. Bisignani is visiting South Africa as part of the World Economic Forum Africa and is meeting with government and industry representatives, includ-ing President Jacob Zuma, Minister of Transport Sibusiso Ndebele, and Minister of Tourism Marthinus Van Schalkwyk.

IATA Urges Increased African Aviation Role in Tourism and Trade

Oman Air has become the fifth major carrier in the Middle East to adopt SITA’s Airfare Insight software solution for fares management. The new system analyses fares and manages the workflow across multiple departments – revenue man-agement, sales, and outsourced pric-ing distribution – to ensure the right fares are distributed at the right time, to the right customer. Hani El Assaad, SITA regional vice

president Middle East and North Af-rica, said: “Independent research has shown that if prices are not competi-tive, a company loses 3 to 10 percent of revenue. Some of our customers have been able to pay for the entire Airfare Insight project within a month due to the scale of revenue re-cap-ture. Airfare Insight is a cutting-edge software tool and it will be configured precisely to meet Oman Air’s needs.” Airfare Insight is part of SITA’s Horizon passenger management and distribution portfolio providing airlines with the integrated capabilities.

Fare Software


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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN), an Expedia, Inc. division dedicated to private label partnerships, has an-nounced a partnership with South African Airways (SAA), the leading airline carrier in Africa serving 20 des-tinations across the continent. SAA, Africa’s most awarded airline, chose EAN for the breadth of inventory and great hotel rates offered at each of the

35 destinations that it serves. “We are very pleased to be work-ing with Expedia as our new hotel service provider,” said Marc Cava-liere, vice president of global sales development for SAA. “We selected EAN because they allow us to offer our customers a tremendously robust inventory of hotel properties worldwide at very attractive rates.” “We’re excited at the opportunity to work with SAA,” said Sean McDon-ald, vice president of sales for EAN EMEA. “Not only are we able to offer their customers great rates at more than 135,000 properties worldwide, but in partnering with SAA, we can provide complete travel solutions to their patrons, simplifying the shopping and booking experience to one seam-less transaction for both air and hotel.” The new offering will be built using EAN’s flexible hotel API and leverage the Datalex Travel Distribution Plat-form to create a tailored, easy-to-use solution for SAA customers. South Af-rican Airways customers will be able to book hotels through the SAA website later this year.

SAA Ties with Expedia Affiliate Network

On May 6, 2011, the South African Civil Aviation Authority issued a clarification noting that only South Africa Airways has been authorized to test the feasibility of using cell-phones inflight. “The SACAA wishes to clarify that despite reports from some me-dia outlets, SAA to date is the only operator/airline that officially applied and received the requisite exemption to test this possibility,” spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said. The authority was granted in January and testing started on April 15 and is scheduled to take six months on selected do-mestic flights. It is certain that these test will be monitored closely by many airlines and aviation authorities worldwide. The technological and equipment results will be one aspect but so too will be passenger acceptance.

SAA Inflight Cell Phone Use

“It is an honor to welcome you all to the formal unveiling of yet another new product known as My Airmobile, a mobile ticketing service from our stables,” said Kinfe Kahssaye, Air Nigeria’s CEO. “Air Nigeria has always been in the forefront of introducing innova-tive products to provide convenience for our teeming passengers and the introduction of this ticketing platform will help provide on-the-go travel res-ervations and payment convenience for mobile phone users with internet enabled smartphones.” Kahssaye continued, “The intro-duction of My Airmobile is coming at an auspicious time when majority of the population especially the traveling public now rely on access to their mo-bile internet enabled devices to make transactions as well as the need for Air

Nigeria to further provide convenience and an array of choice on the go.” With My Airmobile, passengers are no longer constrained to use/lo-cate the nearest airport or city ticket-ing offices (CTOs) or travel agency to book or pay for their flights but now have access to our “CTO’s on their phones.” “I am glad to inform that My Airmobile, our unique mobile ticketing product is now live and can be ac-cessed across our route network. With

this development, our passengers can enjoy the benefits of our wide array of convenient offerings as well as access to the route network reach by simply logging on to www.myairnigeria.com on the go, using their internet enabled smartphones to make their reserva-tions as well as making payments in naira using Interswitch verve, e-tranzact as well as naira denominated mastercards and Visa cards.” “There is simply no restriction as our passengers are guaranteed of en-hanced security features that guaran-tee confidence of using the mobile site for all necessary online transactions. The platform is convenient and easy to use and it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our lowest fares are also constantly updated and available on the My Airmobile.” “It is imperative to restate that through the mobile ticketing service, passengers will have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to: book and pay for tickets on the go; and preview airline product information on the go,” con-cluded Kahssaye.

Kinfe Kahssaye, Air Nigeria’s CEO Announces Mobile Ticketing Services


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May 9, 2011

Airlines Africa

Ethiopian Airlines made its historic maiden flight to Hangzhou on May 3, 2011. Hangzhou is the fourth desti-nation in China along with Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Hangzhou is an alternative to the busy Shanghai airport for those travel-ing to/from Shanghai as it is only 45 minutes away via Shanghai – Hang-zhou high-speed train. Ethiopian’s new flight service to Hangzhou provides travelers from all over Africa an easy and fast way to the strategic Chinese business hub of Shangai and Yiwu.

In addition to the five weekly flights to Hangzhou, Ethiopian provides daily services to Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as four weekly flights to Hong Kong. “This new operation to Hang-zhou reinforces our commitment to the Chinese traveling public and the strong ties between China and Africa”, said Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. In another development, effective May 1, 2011, Ethiopian launched a daily non-stop flight services between Addis Ababa and Beijing with the ultra

Kenya Airways as launched a new voluntary carbon offsetting tool aimed at providing a channel for its customers to contribute towards re-ducing the effect of carbon emissions by supporting environmental sustain-ability initiatives. In the unique initiative developed in cooperation with International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline will now offer its passengers the opportunity to participate directly in offsetting the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions related to their flights. The program is based on a car-bon calculator tool built into the air-line’s online ticket booking process. It is now possible for a passenger to pay an additional amount in respect of carbon emissions related to that flight applied per person. Speaking during the official launch to unveil the program, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director Dr. Titus Naikuni said, “This is an exciting development for Kenya Air-ways because it shows the commit-ment that we have to environmental sustainability. What is even more interesting is that we are giving our customers an opportunity to walk on this environmental conservation journey together with us.” He further said that Kenya Airways was committed to contribut-

ing to global efforts in increasing the level of awareness on environmental issues. “The development of this pro-gram is another milestone for Kenya Airways after other successful environ-mental sustainability programs includ-ing Ngong Hills Reforestation Project, newer fuel efficient aircraft and fuel saving initiatives that have been em-ployed throughout our operations.” Amounts collected through this program will be used to support projects that have been qualified by IATA and certified by UNEP as be-ing credible enough to contribute to positive impact on sustainability. One of the already identified projects is the Olkaria III Phase 2 Geothermal Expansion Project in Kenya which has been successfully commissioned by Orpower 4, Inc. located in Hell’s Gate National Park near Naivasha, Kenya. The Kenya Airways Carbon offset-ting program will be rolled out in three stages. The first stage is already live on the airline’s website and is avail-able only for 100 percent Kenya Airways operated flights. During the second phase, the solution will be made available to the network of travel agents available globally while in phase three the airline will make the program inclusive for passengers travelling within the entire network including on code shares. In 2009, Kenya Airways carbon emissions monitoring plans also got a seal of approval by the UK Environ-ment Agency in line with the EU-ETS legal requirement.

Kenya Airways prides itself as the first airline in Africa to be able to offer the carbon offset program. UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner noted that climate change was one of the biggest threats facing mankind today. “Finding more sus-tainable models and approaches to air travel and other forms of transport is a key part of global efforts to tackle climate change and catalyse the tran-sition towards a low-carbon, resource efficient green economy,” “Carbon offsetting is not in itself a solution to climate change, the most effective way being to reduce our emissions. However, high-quality offsetting can reduce the impact of our actions and also help fund projects in developing countries that address both climate change and wider sustainability challenges, such as cleaner energy and improved management of natural resources”, added Steiner. UNEP is working with airlines, transport companies and some 250 other participants through the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net). Launched in February 2008, the net-work shares ideas, success stories and best practices on moving to-wards climate neutrality by reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emis-sions. CN Net has private and public sector members from 50 countries. All have greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that are among the most ambitious in the world.

modern Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, making the first non-stop service from Africa to China. Ethiopian Airlines has been serving Beijing since 1973, and the introduction of the direct flight with Boeing 777-200LR brings in a new level of comfort and convenience to passengers. The Ethiopian Airlines customer loyalty service, ShebaMiles, offers double bonus Miles for its members flying to/from Beijing on the new non-stop flight from May 1 to June 30, 2011 and to customers flying to/from Hangzhou on the new route from May 3 to July 30, 2011.

Ethiopian Adds China Flights

Kenya Airways’ Carbon Offset

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