All Africa news – Page 2
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NewsNigerian presidency obtains corporate A330-200 to replace BBJ
Nigeria’s president has travelled to France on an Airbus A330-200 business jet which the country has acquired to upgrade its government transport. President Bola Tinubu flew from Abuja to Nice on 19 August on board the aircraft. The A330 – a Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered airframe, registered 5N-FGA – was originally ...
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NewsQatar Airways takes minority stake in South Africa’s Airlink
Qatar Airways is taking a 25% shareholding in South African regional carrier Airlink, having previously teased that it was intending to invest in an airline in the region. Airlink has confirmed the investment, but has not disclosed the financial terms involved. Qatar Airways group chief Badr Mohammed Al-Meer had stated, ...
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NewsKenya Airways posts first net profit for over a decade
Kenya Airways posted its first interim net profit in over a decade during the first six months of the year, as revenues increased by more than one-fifth.
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NewsEthiopian Airlines eyes 2029 opening for new hub as plans take shape
Ethiopian Airlines Group has signed an advisory and consultancy contract with Dar Al-Handasah Consultants covering plans for a new 110 million passenger airport located around 25 miles (40km) southeast of its existing Addis Ababa Bole hub.
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NewsRoyal Air Maroc revisits Beijing route after pandemic wrecked previous launch
Oneworld alliance carrier Royal Air Maroc is restarting a service to Beijing after the pandemic forced it to abandon the route just weeks after a previous launch attempt. Royal Air Maroc opened the connection in January 2020 but withdrew after a few weeks as the outbreak of Covid-19 started disrupting ...
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NewsATR to grow Africa MRO, training capabilities with Ethiopian agreement
ATR has signed a letter of intent with Ethiopian Airlines’ MRO unit to build up the latter’s ATR maintenance and training capabilities.
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AnalysisHow close calls overshadowed airlines’ safety figures in first half of 2024
The first six months of this year saw strong airline safety performance, with 11 fatalities – but a series of close calls could have seen that number spike towards a total akin to during the 1980s.
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NewsAngola’s TAAG to unveil new colour scheme on A220s and 787s
Angolan flag-carrier TAAG is to take delivery of Boeing 787s and Airbus A220s featuring a new colour scheme. TAAG says the livery revision will highlight the national black antelope symbol while retaining patterns inspired by traditional ‘samakaka’ fabric. The carrier says its initial A220-300, scheduled for delivery in the third ...
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NewsAir Cote d’Ivoire requests financing proposals for upcoming A330neo deliveries
Air Cote d’Ivoire is seeking $170 million in financing to cover a pair of Airbus A330neos, for which the carrier signed nearly two years ago. The airline ordered the A330-900s, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, in September 2022. It states in a document to bidders, detailing the financing requirement, ...
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In depthUS regulators sanction former UK, South African test pilots over Chinese military training
The US government has blacklisted more private companies over alleged connections to the training of Chinese military aviators, including two firms operated by former test pilots in the UK Royal Air Force and South African Air Force.
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NewsRoyal Air Maroc chartering several aircraft to hike summer capacity
Royal Air Maroc is reinforcing its capacity for the summer season with plans to charter seven aircraft from international operators. The Oneworld member carrier says it will offer around 5% more seats, across a network of over 90 destinations, compared with last year. Chief executive Abdelhamid Addou says the airline ...
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Airline BusinessWhy Africa might have its best chance to achieve a single air transport market
As Africa’s population grows ahead of global trends, the disproportionality of its commercial airline sector only becomes starker. In 2023, African countries accounted for around 18% of the world’s population, according to UN data, while IATA data shows that the continent’s airlines servied just 2.1% of airline passenger traffic. Moreover, ...
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NewsMalawi’s vice-president, nine others confirmed dead in Dornier 228 crash
The deaths of all aboard the Malawian army turboprop were confirmed by the president of the southeast African country on 11 June, after the flight encountered bad weather and failed to report as scheduled.
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NewsRwandAir’s Makolo tells airline industry to ‘get on with it’ on diversity
RwandAir chief executive – and outgoing chair of the IATA board of governors – Yvonne Makolo believes the airline industry still has a long way to go on improving its record on diversity
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NewsLufthansa, KLM and SAA pay $900m for ‘extreme delays’ in refunding passengers
The US government has secured more than $900 million in refunds for passengers who faced “extreme delays” in receiving compensation from for Covid-19-related flight changes and cancellations.
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NewsNigeria pays up but airlines still face $1.8bn in blocked funds
Blocked airline funds have fallen by 28% after Nigeria cleared most of its backlog but the issue continues to be acute in several countries, particularly Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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NewsEuropean regulators maintain safety-oversight pressure on Egyptian authority
Egyptian safety oversight capabilities are being kept under scrutiny by the European Commission, although it has not moved to blacklist any of the country’s carriers. The Commission states, in a 30 May blacklist update, that it held a technical meeting with Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority representatives in mid-April as part ...
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NewsEgyptAir sold A220 fleet after engine issues led to prolonged inactivity
EgyptAir’s decision to sell its fleet of Airbus A220-300s was the result of losses as the fleet became inactive owning to engine problems, the carrier confirms in a financial statement. The airline had 12 of the twinjets in its fleet, the first of which it received in September 2019. But ...
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NewsUSA agrees to terms for withdrawal from Niger air base
Niger has cleared the US military to operate evacuation flights in support of a plan for US forces to withdraw from the country by 15 September.
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NewsPrivate Libyan carrier Berniq agrees to take A320neo-family jets
Libyan carrier Berniq Aviation has signed an agreement covering the purchase of six Airbus A320neo and A321neo twinjets. Privately-owned Berniq initially emerged in 2018, and commenced operations in 2021. It says it signed the purchase agreement for the new aircraft on 16 May. Berniq has not identified an engine selection ...