Welcome to the East African Aviation Thread - 2021. Please continue to post your news and your discussion here.

Link to previous thread:

East African Aviation Thread - 2020

First of all, happy new year to everyone
Unlike 2020, this might be a very dynamic year in the region...

Govnerment of Burundi to revive (Air Burundi) or launch the new national company Burundi Airlines. According to various sites, SN Brussels Airlines will have a 4% stake in it... is it really true?

reply to Bmagee #110

Thanks for sharing these! Following the East African scene a bit more now after having recently relocated to Kigali from Lilongwe.

Muli bwanji Bmagee , hope you like the country of thousand hills, quiet different from Malawi - I used to volunter in Nkhata Bay, near Mzuzu back in 2007 and people were very friendly outhere. coming back to aviation, I hope the Qatar/QR - Rwanda/RwandAir deals will bring good outcomes and enables better performances for both airlines...

reply to Berari #111

I wouldn't be surprised if ET would welcome getting out of this agreement with Malawian. We all know it did not grow into something similar what Asky did at Lome. With recent progress in Zambia however, and with a newer terminal in Lusaka, it's in ET's best interest to walk away from Malawian and go big at Lusaka.

Do you know how long must last the partnership with Malawian? When will Zambia Airways will effectively start flying because it looks like some schedules/routes appear on some OTA with ZN code.

If among the 6 airlines (Chad, Zambia, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Malawi) they invested in, only one does not get a satisfied, i find it pretty good job by ET, because challenges in Africa are much more different, and it could have turn into a disaster à la Etihad - style.

eastafspot wrote:

reply to Berari #111

I wouldn't be surprised if ET would welcome getting out of this agreement with Malawian. We all know it did not grow into something similar what Asky did at Lome. With recent progress in Zambia however, and with a newer terminal in Lusaka, it's in ET's best interest to walk away from Malawian and go big at Lusaka.

Do you know how long must last the partnership with Malawian? When will Zambia Airways will effectively start flying because it looks like some schedules/routes appear on some OTA with ZN code.

If among the 6 airlines (Chad, Zambia, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Malawi) they invested in, only one does not get a satisfied, i find it pretty good job by ET, because challenges in Africa are much more different, and it could have turn into a disaster à la Etihad - style.

ET owns 49% of Malawian. It's operating at a loss as far as I know, but my understanding was that ET owns the planes and I believe then leases them to the Malawian operation. I was always under the impression that they never really expected it to be as large of an entity as ASKY, but more of a regional feeder to their network. ET had scheduled double daily service starting mid-2020 to LLW prior to CoVID, so they obviously felt the market was doing decent enough. Malawian was getting a fair number of JNB passengers heading to DAR, NBO and even Addis. I would run into people connecting in BLZ/LLW for the Dar and Nairobi flights, and the JNB-BLZ-LLW flight was timed so passengers could connect with the BLZ-ADD ET flight (passengers would literally be walked from one plane to the other). One could also book some interesting connections to the ET network from LLW/BLZ via connections at JNB/NBO/DAR/LUN/HRE (which were occasionally convenient for ff mileage runs!) Overall, seemed like a low-risk strategy to get some skin into the Southern Africa regional market and drive some passengers away from competition in the region. I agree that the focus will probably shift to Zambia once that gets in the air, but seems like they would probably like to keep as many different footholds in that region as possible, so wouldn't be surprised if they hung onto Malawian for a while. I also don't think the Zambia operation will evolve into anything other than a similar regional/domestic carrier.

Though, maybe those ambitions will change now that SAA's future is bleak and there's possibly more room in the Southern African market.

But this is more of a Southern African Aviation discussion Sorry to have derailed it!

eastafspot wrote:

reply to Bmagee #110

Thanks for sharing these! Following the East African scene a bit more now after having recently relocated to Kigali from Lilongwe.

Muli bwanji Bmagee , hope you like the country of thousand hills, quiet different from Malawi - I used to volunter in Nkhata Bay, near Mzuzu back in 2007 and people were very friendly outhere. coming back to aviation, I hope the Qatar/QR - Rwanda/RwandAir deals will bring good outcomes and enables better performances for both airlines...

Zikomo/Murakoze! Definitely a change of pace - but enjoying it so far. Nkhata Bay life is definitely laid back!
Flew out of Malawi on a charter to DAR at the end of August (LLW was still closed to commercial traffic at that point) and flew into Kigali from DAR on Rwandair. Was nice to get to experience Rwandair for the first time.

bmagee wrote:

ET had scheduled double daily service starting mid-2020 to LLW prior to CoVID, so they obviously felt the market was doing decent enough.

ET has actually grown their capacity to Malawi from just under 30,000 seats per year in 2012 to nearly 90,000 seats per year in 2019 - and that is independent of the Malawi Airlines operation. During the same period, ET grew from 4th place in the market (behind Air Malawi, Kenya Airways and SAA) to the clear market leader today, marginally larger than even the national airline. Both KQ and SA have seen their absolute capacity to Malawi decrease from 2016-17 peaks as ET has really consolidated its position as the dominant carrier in the Malawi market. When you add on the Malawi Airlines operations, the combined entity was easily triple the size of all other players in the market taken together.

Finally, although Malawi Airlines itself loses money hand over fist, Ethiopian Airlines makes money out of the deal due to the way it is structured. It is pretty much the same with all their other "franchise" operations - the deals are structured as no-risk for ET with equity vesting in lieu of cash contributions, and with long term service agreements for support services that ensure positive cashflow back to the parent entity every month.

Uganda Airlines is expected to start flying its A330-800neo to LHR from next week, 5-6 weekly

https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... 79842?s=20

qf789 wrote:

Uganda Airlines is expected to start flying its A330-800neo to LHR from next week, 5-6 weekly

https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... 79842?s=20

On a such short notice??? Even on their website LHR is not even listed ...
Excellent news anyway!

bmagee wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

reply to Berari #111

I wouldn't be surprised if ET would welcome getting out of this agreement with Malawian. We all know it did not grow into something similar what Asky did at Lome. With recent progress in Zambia however, and with a newer terminal in Lusaka, it's in ET's best interest to walk away from Malawian and go big at Lusaka.

Do you know how long must last the partnership with Malawian? When will Zambia Airways will effectively start flying because it looks like some schedules/routes appear on some OTA with ZN code.

If among the 6 airlines (Chad, Zambia, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Malawi) they invested in, only one does not get a satisfied, i find it pretty good job by ET, because challenges in Africa are much more different, and it could have turn into a disaster à la Etihad - style.

ET owns 49% of Malawian. It's operating at a loss as far as I know, but my understanding was that ET owns the planes and I believe then leases them to the Malawian operation. I was always under the impression that they never really expected it to be as large of an entity as ASKY, but more of a regional feeder to their network. ET had scheduled double daily service starting mid-2020 to LLW prior to CoVID, so they obviously felt the market was doing decent enough. Malawian was getting a fair number of JNB passengers heading to DAR, NBO and even Addis. I would run into people connecting in BLZ/LLW for the Dar and Nairobi flights, and the JNB-BLZ-LLW flight was timed so passengers could connect with the BLZ-ADD ET flight (passengers would literally be walked from one plane to the other). One could also book some interesting connections to the ET network from LLW/BLZ via connections at JNB/NBO/DAR/LUN/HRE (which were occasionally convenient for ff mileage runs!) Overall, seemed like a low-risk strategy to get some skin into the Southern Africa regional market and drive some passengers away from competition in the region. I agree that the focus will probably shift to Zambia once that gets in the air, but seems like they would probably like to keep as many different footholds in that region as possible, so wouldn't be surprised if they hung onto Malawian for a while. I also don't think the Zambia operation will evolve into anything other than a similar regional/domestic carrier.

Though, maybe those ambitions will change now that SAA's future is bleak and there's possibly more room in the Southern African market.

But this is more of a Southern African Aviation discussion Sorry to have derailed it!

Definitely some very good infos here, it will be interesting to see if these 2 mini hubs will compete or complement each other.
It's all linked as region and Ethiopia(n) is part of East Africa, so it's not off topic .

bmagee wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

reply to Bmagee #110

Thanks for sharing these! Following the East African scene a bit more now after having recently relocated to Kigali from Lilongwe.

Muli bwanji Bmagee , hope you like the country of thousand hills, quiet different from Malawi - I used to volunter in Nkhata Bay, near Mzuzu back in 2007 and people were very friendly outhere. coming back to aviation, I hope the Qatar/QR - Rwanda/RwandAir deals will bring good outcomes and enables better performances for both airlines...

Zikomo/Murakoze! Definitely a change of pace - but enjoying it so far. Nkhata Bay life is definitely laid back!
Flew out of Malawi on a charter to DAR at the end of August (LLW was still closed to commercial traffic at that point) and flew into Kigali from DAR on Rwandair. Was nice to get to experience Rwandair for the first time.

Quite unique experience to fly charter! So it means you visited the new T3 at DAR? how is it? a huge change from the past?
The only downside of RwandAir is the FFP. I got the Silver status in 2019 for last year but could never benefit from it - no goodwill gesture from customer service and to redeem award flight is just a PITA
Soft product is decent tho.

Hi

I was going to track flight KL537 Kigali-Entebbe-Amsterdam, when I saw an Air France 787 over Uganda. He is doing a CDG-N'Djamena-Nairobi flight. Tag service ? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af9266

I know that at one time AF operated tag service to Nairobi. It was my very first flight Kigali-Nairobi-Paris in B747, in 1988

rukundo wrote:

Hi

I was going to track flight KL537 Kigali-Entebbe-Amsterdam, when I saw an Air France 787 over Uganda. He is doing a CDG-N'Djamena-Nairobi flight. Tag service ? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af9266

I know that at one time AF operated tag service to Nairobi. It was my very first flight Kigali-Nairobi-Paris in B747, in 1988

Cargo flight using a PAX configured aircraft.

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Hi

I was going to track flight KL537 Kigali-Entebbe-Amsterdam, when I saw an Air France 787 over Uganda. He is doing a CDG-N'Djamena-Nairobi flight. Tag service ? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af9266

I know that at one time AF operated tag service to Nairobi. It was my very first flight Kigali-Nairobi-Paris in B747, in 1988

Cargo flight using a PAX configured aircraft.

Thx a lot

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said Thursday it has embarked on a renovation project to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) terminals in Nairobi to position it as the preferred regional aviation hub.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-0 ... 650054.htm

Yeah the right wing of T1 is really substandard and does feel attractive for passengers who must go though another security check...

rukundo wrote:

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Hi

I was going to track flight KL537 Kigali-Entebbe-Amsterdam, when I saw an Air France 787 over Uganda. He is doing a CDG-N'Djamena-Nairobi flight. Tag service ? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af9266

I know that at one time AF operated tag service to Nairobi. It was my very first flight Kigali-Nairobi-Paris in B747, in 1988

Cargo flight using a PAX configured aircraft.

Thx a lot

Do you know if RwandAir has resumed all its pre covid-19 network ?
If not, which routes are still missing ? Its truly amazing they consider new routes (Bangui ?) nowadays. Unless for other reasons, it was in the pipeline already.

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

MileHFL400 wrote:

Cargo flight using a PAX configured aircraft.

Thx a lot

Do you know if RwandAir has resumed all its pre covid-19 network ?
If not, which routes are still missing ? Its truly amazing they consider new routes (Bangui ?) nowadays. Unless for other reasons, it was in the pipeline already.

They didn't resume services to Dakar, Abidjan, Mombasa (they use Mombasa only for fuel stop on their B737-800 service to and from Mumbai), Tel Aviv and Juba.

Mombasa was even removed from RwandAir booking engine.

Yes in deed, few years ago Rwanda and CAR signed a BASA, that was recalled it in an article few months ago. It didn't mean that RwandAir could serve Bangui, but probably more chances to see RwandAir in Bangui than in Lesotho^^.

https://www.mininfra.gov.rw/updates/new ... air-routes ( Rwanda has, in the past, signed BASAs with several countries that include Cape Verde, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Lesotho, Swaziland, the Central African Republic (CAR), Canada, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania – as part of government efforts to increase air connectivity and deepen trade in Africa and beyond.)

RwandAir B737-800 9XR-WG operating the Kigali-Dubai service diverted to Muscat due to bad the weather at Dubai, on 17Jan21.

Pix https://twitter.com/Hafedh955/status/13 ... 8397861888

It's porbably one of few destinations outside Africa that i want to see on RwandAir Network. However in 2018, Oman Air planned to serve Rwanda in the future (i think it's now postoponed due covid crisis).

"Abdulaziz al Raisi, CEO, Oman Air, said: “The launch of flights to Casablanca in Morocco from July 1 is part of these restructuring initiatives. Currently, there are four weekly flights to Guangzhou in China and we are looking at other cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.”

On the African side, the airline will be targeting countries like South Africa and Rwanda in the next few years.

https://www.omanobserver.om/oman-air-to ... at-as-hub/

RwandAir and Oman Air have already a partnership via a Interline Ticketing Agreement (https://www.omanair.com/gbl/en/alliances-and-partners). Kigali is now on Oman Air booking engine, but i don't know if it's due to the Interline Agreement or the Oman Air / Ethiopian Airlines code share.

RwandAir or Oman Air, i hope one day to make a Paris-Muscat-Kigali trip.

Kigali-Bangui-Douala flights are confirmed by RwandAir, but they are waiting for some papers from Cameroon.https://en.igihe.com/news/article/rwand ... -to-bangui

I m still sceptical about this route. However it's interesting to see on various facebook pages and groups of Central African diaspora, that many people wanted to see a Bangui Brazzaville route. In deed i remmember that TAAG Angola from 2007 to mid 2010s has operated a Luanda-Brazzaville-Bangui-Ndjamena service.

Per January 19, 2021, KLM has adjusted its operations to South Africa to operate via Dar-es-Salaam to meet COVID restrictions:

- KL527 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.35 - JNB13.05 B77W 1,2,5,6,7
- KL528 JNB17.10 - 21.35DAR22.35 - 05.55AMS B77W 1,2,3,6,7

- KL525 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.15 - 14.10CPT B772 3,4,7
- KL526 CPT 16.00 - 21.50 DAR 22.35 - 05.55AMS B772 1,4,5

KLM now operates 3x daily to DAR, early morning from AMS, evenings from JNB/CPT and the regular scheduled JRO/ZNZ-AMS.

What have other carriers done?

factsonly wrote:

Per January 19, 2021, KLM has adjusted its operations to South Africa to operate via Dar-es-Salaam to meet COVID restrictions:

Forgive my ignorance, what are these COVID restrictions?

rukundo wrote:

They didn't resume services to Dakar, Abidjan, Mombasa (they use Mombasa only for fuel stop on their B737-800 service to and from Mumbai), Tel Aviv and Juba.

Wasn't MBA axed before C-19 crisis? South Sudan is still closed to all international air travels (except cargo). Strange that for DSS and ABJ, especially with the hub in COO.

eastafspot wrote:

Forgive my ignorance, what are these COVID restrictions?

Netherlands is requiring the crews returning from South Africa layovers to quarantine, so instead they will layover in DAR and operate a shuttle from DAR-South Africa-DAR. The crew unions have also threatened to refuse flights with SA layovers.

B747-437B wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

Forgive my ignorance, what are these COVID restrictions?

Netherlands is requiring the crews returning from South Africa layovers to quarantine, so instead they will layover in DAR and operate a shuttle from DAR-South Africa-DAR. The crew unions have also threatened to refuse flights with SA layovers.

Thanks a lot for this interesting info!
Based on which criterias DAR was selected over NBO or EBB?

rukundo wrote:

RwandAir B737-800 9XR-WG operating the Kigali-Dubai service diverted to Muscat due to bad the weather at Dubai, on 17Jan21.

Pix https://twitter.com/Hafedh955/status/13 ... 8397861888

It's porbably one of few destinations outside Africa that i want to see on RwandAir Network. However in 2018, Oman Air planned to serve Rwanda in the future (i think it's now postoponed due covid crisis).

"Abdulaziz al Raisi, CEO, Oman Air, said: “The launch of flights to Casablanca in Morocco from July 1 is part of these restructuring initiatives. Currently, there are four weekly flights to Guangzhou in China and we are looking at other cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.”

On the African side, the airline will be targeting countries like South Africa and Rwanda in the next few years.

https://www.omanobserver.om/oman-air-to ... at-as-hub/

RwandAir and Oman Air have already a partnership via a Interline Ticketing Agreement (https://www.omanair.com/gbl/en/alliances-and-partners). Kigali is now on Oman Air booking engine, but i don't know if it's due to the Interline Agreement or the Oman Air / Ethiopian Airlines code share.

RwandAir or Oman Air, i hope one day to make a Paris-Muscat-Kigali trip.

Kigali-Bangui-Douala flights are confirmed by RwandAir, but they are waiting for some papers from Cameroon.https://en.igihe.com/news/article/rwand ... -to-bangui

I m still sceptical about this route. However it's interesting to see on various facebook pages and groups of Central African diaspora, that many people wanted to see a Bangui Brazzaville route. In deed i remmember that TAAG Angola from 2007 to mid 2010s has operated a Luanda-Brazzaville-Bangui-Ndjamena service.

I believe the TAAG route was Luanda-Brazzaville-Bangui-Douala

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

They didn't resume services to Dakar, Abidjan, Mombasa (they use Mombasa only for fuel stop on their B737-800 service to and from Mumbai), Tel Aviv and Juba.

Wasn't MBA axed before C-19 crisis? South Sudan is still closed to all international air travels (except cargo). Strange that for DSS and ABJ, especially with the hub in COO.

Both ET and KQ are operating from their hubs to JUB, so I don't think South Sudan airspace is closed.

AF022 wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

They didn't resume services to Dakar, Abidjan, Mombasa (they use Mombasa only for fuel stop on their B737-800 service to and from Mumbai), Tel Aviv and Juba.

Wasn't MBA axed before C-19 crisis? South Sudan is still closed to all international air travels (except cargo). Strange that for DSS and ABJ, especially with the hub in COO.

Both ET and KQ are operating from their hubs to JUB, so I don't think South Sudan airspace is closed.

Looks like you are totally right. I've been misled by trustworthy (??) French foreign affairs website:

https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conse ... an-du-sud/

The conflicting info, is opposite to what British FCO states indeed and, must get an update.

Ethiopian Airlines and Air Djibouti to support development of Djibouti as a logistics hub

DPFZA @dpfza (Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority)

20 janv 2021

Chairman @Omar_Hadi took part in an important meeting at @Ddiftz with the Ethiopian Ambassador to Djibouti @BerhanuTsegaye
on making Djibouti a hub for air-sea logistics in the region, combining Djibouti’s expertise in ports with @flyethiopian
and @theredseairline (Air Djibouti) in air.

https://twitter.com/dpfza/status/1351889766585929729

Here is the Air Djibouti cargo network:

Aden (Yemen), Juba (South Sudan), Ndjamena (Chad), Bangui (Central African Republic), Khartoum (Sudan), Nairobi (Kenya), Bujumbura (Burundi), Lubumbashi (DR Congo), Entebbe (Uganda), Dubaï, Kinsangani (DR Congo), Kinshasa (DR Congo), Mogadiscio (Somalia), Berbera (Somaliland), Hargeisa (Somaliland), Pemba (Mozambique), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Mwanza (Tanzania) and Kigali (Rwanda)

https://airdjibouticargo.com/index.php/ ... d-offices/

Translate from Kinyarwanda, from the the official Twitter page of His Eminence Antoine Cardinal Kambanda

Antoine Cardinal Kambanda 21jan21

The #Angola Ambassador is pleased that in #Rwanda we have seen Cardinals, we both enjoy the good relations between our countries and discuss how the #Church in Rwanda and #Angola are getting closer. 1/2

@FlyRwandAir is about to begin its journey, Christians in #Angola will come to #Kibeho on a pilgrimage, and we also have a 500-year history of the Church in Angola to visit.

https://twitter.com/KambandaAntoine/sta ... 5182150656


In France we have Lourdes, in Rwanda they have Kibeho. Kibeho hosts pilgrims from around the world (ok number of visitors is lower than in Lourdes^^)

I don't know if it will the begining of regular flights between Angola and Rwanda (Luanda is on the list of futur RwandAir destination since few years), or in a first time only special flights.



A new lockdown started at Kigali, on 19 January 2021 (for 2 weeks), where are recorderd the highest number of covid cases. Kigali Airport still receiving regular flights, contrary to the first nationwide lockdown the only domestic route from Kigali operated by RwandAir to Kamembe (south west of Rwanda, near the DR Congo Rwanda boarder) is not suspended

With the suspension of KLM long haul flights, it means that probably there won't be flights between Amsterdam and Nairobi, during Februrary month. I think that Air France still keeping its weekly service from Paris.

Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) announces the temporary suspension of its services to France – Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Netherlands – Schiphol Airport

Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) announces the temporary suspension of its services to France – Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Netherlands – Schiphol Airport through the month of February 2021. The temporary suspension is due to the new COVID-19 regulations in Europe that have resulted in depressed demand. The airline expects to resume regular services to France on 3 March 2021 and to the Netherlands on 7 March 2021, and will keep customers updated in case of any changes to these resumption plans.

https://www.busiweek.com/kenya-airways- ... l-airport/

factsonly wrote:

Per January 19, 2021, KLM has adjusted its operations to South Africa to operate via Dar-es-Salaam to meet COVID restrictions:

- KL527 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.35 - JNB13.05 B77W 1,2,5,6,7
- KL528 JNB17.10 - 21.35DAR22.35 - 05.55AMS B77W 1,2,3,6,7

- KL525 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.15 - 14.10CPT B772 3,4,7
- KL526 CPT 16.00 - 21.50 DAR 22.35 - 05.55AMS B772 1,4,5

KLM now operates 3x daily to DAR, early morning from AMS, evenings from JNB/CPT and the regular scheduled JRO/ZNZ-AMS.

KLM has now also launched a 2nd AMS-JNB-AMS route 3x weekly with B77W via NBO:

- KL529 AMS22.50 - 08.55 NBO 09.55 - 12.55JNB B77W Wed, Thu, Fri
- KL530 JNB16.00 - 20.55 NBO 22.00 - 04.40AMS B77W Thu, Fri, Sat

Overall KLM to East Africa at present total 26x weekly and MP/KL Cargo 4x weekly:
- KL565 AMS-NBO-AMS B781 5x weekly
- KL529 AMS-NBO-JNB B77W 3x weekly
- MP8xxx AMS-NBO-JNB B74F 4x weekly
- KL527 AMS-DAR-JNB B77W 5x weekly
- KL525 AMS-DAR-CPT B772 3x weekly
- KL567 AMS-JRO-DAR B789 4x weekly (KL569/KL571)
- KL515 AMS-ZNZ-DAR B789 2x weekly
- KL535 AMS-KGL-EBB-AMS A332 4x weekly (KL537)

Another good article, from the very serious Kenyan Newspapers The East African which is circulated in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda)

Covid-19 worsens turbulence facing East Africa's airlines

Executives at Kenya Airways, RwandAir and Uganda Airlines all concede to a challenging business environment that has seen a rise in costs, cutbacks in capacity and a revision of business projections.


[...]

RwandAir


Just like its counterparts in the region, the carrier recorded a sharp drop in passenger traffic, with its key routes caving under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite them seeing the airline through last year’s turbulence.

Upon resumption of its flights in August through December last year, passenger numbers were boosted by repatriations of citizens and business travel especially on the Guangzhou and Dubai routes.

“The traffic trend was initially positive when we resumed services last August, but we are now seeing a decline in demand on our key routes like Dubai and China due to new Covid-19 testing protocols even for connecting flights, where now two tests are required,” said Musoni Jimmy, RwandAir’s head of global operations.

Kenya Airways


The carrier was grappling with debt, so Covid-19 could not have come at a worse time. While the management said the carrier is up to date with its debt obligations, it has been negotiating rescheduling of lease payments on some of its aircraft from flat rates to utilisation-based rentals, which would bring some relief.

To exploit the Covid-19 cargo boom, Kenya Airways (KQ) repurposed part of its fleet from passenger to cargo.

KQ last August announced that its half year net loss had increased by 67.3 per cent to $132 million on account of Covid-19 disruptions, which led to the grounding of flights.


Uganda Airlines

The carrier, which launched commercial operations in August 2019, had hoped to have increased its route network to 20 destinations by the end of 2020. Only half that number was achieved after a service to Kinshasa was launched in mid-December. The carrier, which also took delivery of its first long-haul aircraft, an Airbus A330-800neo last December, planned to launch its first inter-continental services to London and take delivery of a second A330 this month.

The resurgence of a second wave of Covid-19 and the discovery of a new strain that saw many countries exclude the UK from their travel bubbles has interrupted those plans. The launch of new routes to Johannesburg and Lusaka, Dubai and India, have also been affected. The arrival of the second A330 has been pushed to February and even then, there is no assurance about putting it into service.


https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... es-3268062

France has just announced that Ethiopian Airlines won't be able to serve France due to high number of imported Covid19 cases in France, from passenegers flyging with ET. Don't know when the ban will be lifted. Flights to Paris and Marseille will be suspended

Statement from the French Secretary of State for Transport

https://twitter.com/Djebbari_JB/status/ ... 6904662018

factsonly wrote:

factsonly wrote:

Per January 19, 2021, KLM has adjusted its operations to South Africa to operate via Dar-es-Salaam to meet COVID restrictions:

- KL527 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.35 - JNB13.05 B77W 1,2,5,6,7
- KL528 JNB17.10 - 21.35DAR22.35 - 05.55AMS B77W 1,2,3,6,7

- KL525 AMS22.35 - 09.30DAR10.15 - 14.10CPT B772 3,4,7
- KL526 CPT 16.00 - 21.50 DAR 22.35 - 05.55AMS B772 1,4,5

KLM now operates 3x daily to DAR, early morning from AMS, evenings from JNB/CPT and the regular scheduled JRO/ZNZ-AMS.

KLM has now also launched a 2nd AMS-JNB-AMS route 3x weekly with B77W via NBO:

- KL529 AMS22.50 - 08.55 NBO 09.55 - 12.55JNB B77W Wed, Thu, Fri
- KL530 JNB16.00 - 20.55 NBO 22.00 - 04.40AMS B77W Thu, Fri, Sat

Overall KLM to East Africa at present total 26x weekly and MP/KL Cargo 4x weekly:
- KL565 AMS-NBO-AMS B781 5x weekly
- KL529 AMS-NBO-JNB B77W 3x weekly
- MP8xxx AMS-NBO-JNB B74F 4x weekly
- KL527 AMS-DAR-JNB B77W 5x weekly
- KL525 AMS-DAR-CPT B772 3x weekly
- KL567 AMS-JRO-DAR B789 4x weekly (KL569/KL571)
- KL515 AMS-ZNZ-DAR B789 2x weekly
- KL535 AMS-KGL-EBB-AMS A332 4x weekly (KL537)

KL is taking advantage of KQ services suspension.
Even to LHR, they fly only twice weekly. And to JFK once a week. Clearly a good move for AF/KL...

rukundo wrote:

France has just announced that Ethiopian Airlines won't be able to serve France due to high number of imported Covid19 cases in France, from passenegers flyging with ET. Don't know when the ban will be lifted. Flights to Paris and Marseille will be suspended

Statement from the French Secretary of State for Transport

https://twitter.com/Djebbari_JB/status/ ... 6904662018

Wow, that must be a big hit for them ! And for how long the ban will stay?
Even cargo flights are impacted ?
I've noticed that now the MRS-ADD flight stops in GVA, instead of MXP as initially launched, is there any reason for that ?

The change was to provide for a GVA ADD non stop flight to accommodate typically more premium traffic

Rwanda, Burundi placed on UK travel ban

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/n ... an-3273506

Rwandan newspapers quotes Chinese Media saying, that RwandAir will once again suspend flights to China after 5 passengers tested positive for #COVID19,

https://twitter.com/ChroniclesRW/status ... 9545024513

pmartin wrote:

The change was to provide for a GVA ADD non stop flight to accommodate typically more premium traffic

It makes sense !
So now MXP is non stop ?

Uganda Airlines second Airbus A330neo will be delivered on February 2, 2021.
Apparently Dubai will become the first intercontinental destination very soon. Will follow London, then CAN via BOM...

1st flight to Bangui this morning. According to the Rwandan public media, there were 75 passengers whose final destination was Bangui. The flight making a stopover in Douala. Flight operated by B737-800 (RwandAir WB212)

Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA)
@rbarwanda
·
7h
For the first time, RwandAir carried 75 passengers to Bangui, which will operate twice a week (Kinyarwanda translation)

https://twitter.com/rbarwanda/status/13 ... 3023555585

Some pix

Note that Kenya Airways resumed its red eye flights to Kigal, few weeks ago



The traditional water salute

https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 4324518913

© RwandAir (Kigali)

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central African Republic announced 24 hours ago that RwandAir will begin flights to Bangui. Routing will be Kigali-Bangui-Douala-Bangui-Kigali and flights will be operated 2 times a week

Is it linked to Rwandan heavy troops in CAR?
Once (3/4 years ago) they used to send the A330 frequently to Bangui.

RwandAir operates soem flights for the Rwandan army deployed in peace missions in Africa or Haiti, replacing more and more Ethiopian, EuroAtlantic or Air Europa who have contracts with the UN.

RwandAir A330s are regular visitors to Bangui, as here in Bangui, in 2017. Rwanda does not have military transport planes.

Credit to the author of the Photo

If I am right that makes 4/5 airlines on the BGF-DLA route now? Never realised it was so popular.

Good for WB though expanding

As for UR I’m interested to know what London airport they will fly to. I saw a tweet saying LHR but I could find any more info regarding it. I assume it will most likely be LGW? Hopefully the announce soon. Their A330s looks mighty nice and would be good to see one up close

rukundo wrote:

1st flight to Bangui this morning. According to the Rwandan public media, there were 75 passengers whose final destination was Bangui. The flight making a stopover in Douala. Flight operated by B737-800 (RwandAir WB212)

Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA)
@rbarwanda
·
7h
For the first time, RwandAir carried 75 passengers to Bangui, which will operate twice a week (Kinyarwanda translation)

https://twitter.com/rbarwanda/status/13 ... 3023555585

Some pix

Note that Kenya Airways resumed its red eye flights to Kigal, few weeks ago



The traditional water salute

https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 4324518913

© RwandAir (Kigali)

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central African Republic announced 24 hours ago that RwandAir will begin flights to Bangui. Routing will be Kigali-Bangui-Douala-Bangui-Kigali and flights will be operated 2 times a week

Is it linked to Rwandan heavy troops in CAR?
Once (3/4 years ago) they used to send the A330 frequently to Bangui.

RwandAir operates soem flights for the Rwandan army deployed in peace missions in Africa or Haiti, replacing more and more Ethiopian, EuroAtlantic or Air Europa who have contracts with the UN.

RwandAir A330s are regular visitors to Bangui, as here in Bangui, in 2017. Rwanda does not have military transport planes.

Credit to the author of the Photo

Good news for RwandAir and CAR, these days new route launches are real events, even here on A.Net

Maybe you've mentioned it previously but, does RwandAir have 5th freedom rights on Bangui-Douala vv sectors ?

YALAS wrote:

If I am right that makes 4/5 airlines on the BGF-DLA route now? Never realised it was so popular.

Good for WB though expanding

As for UR I’m interested to know what London airport they will fly to. I saw a tweet saying LHR but I could find any more info regarding it. I assume it will most likely be LGW? Hopefully the announce soon. Their A330s looks mighty nice and would be good to see one up close

Interesting, which are the other operators on the Bgf-dla segments ?
Regarding Uganda Airlines, pre c-19 they said lgw, but if ops start within a couple of months it will certainly be LHR....
Travelling to the UK is a nightmare right now (even from France), hope UR will stick to DXB as first destination ....

eastafspot wrote:

YALAS wrote:

If I am right that makes 4/5 airlines on the BGF-DLA route now? Never realised it was so popular.

Good for WB though expanding

As for UR I’m interested to know what London airport they will fly to. I saw a tweet saying LHR but I could find any more info regarding it. I assume it will most likely be LGW? Hopefully the announce soon. Their A330s looks mighty nice and would be good to see one up close

Interesting, which are the other operators on the Bgf-dla segments ?
Regarding Uganda Airlines, pre c-19 they said lgw, but if ops start within a couple of months it will certainly be LHR....
Travelling to the UK is a nightmare right now (even from France), hope UR will stick to DXB as first destination ....

According to Flightradar (and Wikipedia as well - I know it’s not too accurate) it’s WB, KQ, KP, AT and HF

Not sure if they all have 5th freedom on it but apparently they all fly it at least.

YALAS wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

YALAS wrote:

If I am right that makes 4/5 airlines on the BGF-DLA route now? Never realised it was so popular.

Good for WB though expanding

As for UR I’m interested to know what London airport they will fly to. I saw a tweet saying LHR but I could find any more info regarding it. I assume it will most likely be LGW? Hopefully the announce soon. Their A330s looks mighty nice and would be good to see one up close

Interesting, which are the other operators on the Bgf-dla segments ?
Regarding Uganda Airlines, pre c-19 they said lgw, but if ops start within a couple of months it will certainly be LHR....
Travelling to the UK is a nightmare right now (even from France), hope UR will stick to DXB as first destination ....

According to Flightradar (and Wikipedia as well - I know it’s not too accurate) it’s WB, KQ, KP, AT and HF

Not sure if they all have 5th freedom on it but apparently they all fly it at least.

Thank you for the precision ! What does make Bangui so popular ?

I remember that when Royal Air Maroc flew to Entebbe (for one year tho) , the stop was at BGF too.

eastafspot wrote:

reply to Berari #111

I wouldn't be surprised if ET would welcome getting out of this agreement with Malawian. We all know it did not grow into something similar what Asky did at Lome. With recent progress in Zambia however, and with a newer terminal in Lusaka, it's in ET's best interest to walk away from Malawian and go big at Lusaka.

I don't think ET will walk out, unless there are other reasons. ET understands that newer aircraft can fly far and therefore provide African pax with direct flights instead of connecting through ADD (think of the E190s and A220s), which will make point to point air traffic possible in Africa, or even beyond Africa (think of A321XLR). To cement Addis as a Regional hub, they need to support local airlines to feed into their international traffic, else their business model is hanging on dry coconut leaves. This same challenge will haunt Emirates and other airlines in the future which depending on the hub and spoke business model (Think or A321XLR, B788/789; A359 etc).

A little bite suprised to see once again this info. I was already not very optimistic for such flights, but now with the covid crisis.

If people are interested to get more infos about RwandAir (financial situations between 2016 and 2019 ), you can get maany infos from this document.

In deed RwandAir has made another request to the FAA, to serve New York, from Kigali via Accra (Ghana). RwandAir has already get its FAA Cat 1 few years ago. The airline can put its code share on flights to USA operated by another airline. Someone can confirm me, but i think that RwandAir A330s can also operate flights for an airline which serves USA.

Only Rwanda CAA needs to get FAA Cat 1 (audit was planned to happen in 2018 https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... er-1394830) before flights start (around december 2021). Since mid 2010s, many upgrade have made at Kigali Airport

Another meeting happened in 2019

RwandaCAA
@RwandaCAA
Following @aviationafrica @RwandaCAA and @FlyRwandAir meet @FAA delegation led by Executive Director Office of International Affairs Mr Chris Rocheleau in Kigali, #Rwanda.

https://twitter.com/rwandacaa/status/11 ... 4010864642

Accra is served by RwandAir since 2013, 4 times a week via Abuja (Nigeria) mostly using B737S and sometimes the A330. This flights was previously operated by Lagos (Nigeria), during a few period the aircraft made a night stop at Accra.

https://beta.regulations.gov/document/D ... -0049-0006

rukundo wrote:

A little bite suprised to see once again this info. I was already not very optimistic for such flights, but now with the covid crisis.

If people are interested to get more infos about RwandAir (financial situations between 2016 and 2019 ), you can get maany infos from this document.

In deed RwandAir has made another request to the FAA, to serve New York, from Kigali via Accra (Ghana). RwandAir has already get its FAA Cat 1 few years ago. The airline can put its code share on flights to USA operated by another airline. Someone can confirm me, but i think that RwandAir A330s can also operate flights for an airline which serves USA.

Only Rwanda CAA needs to get FAA Cat 1 (audit was planned to happen in 2018 https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... er-1394830) before flights start (around december 2021). Since mid 2010s, many upgrade have made at Kigali Airport

Another meeting happened in 2019

RwandaCAA
@RwandaCAA
Following @aviationafrica @RwandaCAA and @FlyRwandAir meet @FAA delegation led by Executive Director Office of International Affairs Mr Chris Rocheleau in Kigali, #Rwanda.

https://twitter.com/rwandacaa/status/11 ... 4010864642

Accra is served by RwandAir since 2013, 4 times a week via Abuja (Nigeria) mostly using B737S and sometimes the A330. This flights was previously operated by Lagos (Nigeria), during a few period the aircraft made a night stop at Accra.

https://beta.regulations.gov/document/D ... -0049-0006

I forgot to say that USA is the biggest market for Rwanda outside Africa, ahead United Kingdom and India. And of course, RwandAir serves Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa which are big markets for USA. But i have doubt about the success for this route

For, Rwanda: KLM, Egytpair, Turkish Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Qatar Airways, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines provides flights to and from Kigali, to and from USA. RwandAir has partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Qatar Airways.

Stiff comeptition.

Here is the link to the DOT https://beta.regulations.gov/document/D ... -0049-0006

eastafspot wrote:

First of all, happy new year to everyone
Unlike 2020, this might be a very dynamic year in the region...

Govnerment of Burundi to revive (Air Burundi) or launch the new national company Burundi Airlines. According to various sites, SN Brussels Airlines will have a 4% stake in it... is it really true?

AKEZA Burundi
@akezanet
Aviation # burundi-ease is transformed and appears under a new image.
Since 02/04/2021, the companies Air Burundi and SOBUGEA have merged to form BURUNDI AIRLINES. The new company has the slogan: "Flying to bridge Africa with the world"
@MinCommerce


https://twitter.com/akezanet/status/1357297994547232775

The @BurundiGov, authorized to participate in the constitution of the share capital of #BurundiAirlines resulting from the merger of Air Burundi and SOBUGEA

Reminder: the shareholders will consist of the State of #Burundi (92%), SOCABU (4%) and bankrupt SABENA (4%)

Decree

The share capital of #BurundiAirlines ~ 15 billion BIF: the @BurundiGov, that is 5,408 shares out of 5,868, or 92% of the shares

More risks for the company in these times of Covid-19? The @MinCommerce: "Even with the pandemic, [commercial] flights continue"

#Burundi

https://twitter.com/JimbereMag/status/1 ... 2372207623

rukundo wrote:

If people are interested to get more infos about RwandAir (financial situations between 2016 and 2019 ), you can get maany infos from this document.

The most interesting thing in the filing is their updated financials from 2019.

$221m revenue
$169m losses
$143m Government subsidy

Effectively the Government of Rwanda spends around 1.5% of their national GDP (and nearly 12% of the aid they receive from other countries) to subsidise this loss making operation.

And this was BEFORE COVID-19. I can't imagine what the 2020 financials are going to look like, let alone 2021.

rukundo wrote:

rukundo wrote:

I forgot to say that USA is the biggest market for Rwanda outside Africa, ahead United Kingdom and India. And of course, RwandAir serves Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa which are big markets for USA. But i have doubt about the success for this route

Even if the USA is the biggest market for Rwanda outside of Africa, how much traffic can that possibly be? It sounds like it might be the biggest of some extremely small markets. And by flying to JFK, how are they going to access the rest of the continent? Are they in a codeshare with anyone?

I can't see how this is going to work. Vanity project. Rwandair doesn't seem to tire of losing money. I would think they are already losing lots of money on their intercontinental routes.

B747-437B wrote:

rukundo wrote:

If people are interested to get more infos about RwandAir (financial situations between 2016 and 2019 ), you can get maany infos from this document.

The most interesting thing in the filing is their updated financials from 2019.

$221m revenue
$169m losses
$143m Government subsidy

Effectively the Government of Rwanda spends around 1.5% of their national GDP (and nearly 12% of the aid they receive from other countries) to subsidise this loss making operation.

And this was BEFORE COVID-19. I can't imagine what the 2020 financials are going to look like, let alone 2021.

That's probably why talks with Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad have failed. It seems that only QR is ready to put money on RwandAir. But i think the goal of Qatar is aslo to expand its influence in Africa and compete with others countries in the Gulf Region such as Saudia Arabia or UAE which have a big presence in Africa. Like China and India are doing with Europe and USA.

Since mid 2000s, Gov of Rwanda wants to sell a part of its stake.

Talks have started with SN Brussels Airlines (french https://www.rtl.be/info/monde/economie/ ... 13846.aspx), Meridiana via Aga Khan (https://allafrica.com/stories/200707240684.html) and Lonrho Kenya (Fly540) (https://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/99583). A brand new Ffly540 ATR-72-500 was planned to be delivered to Fly540 Rwanda (you can see the flag of Rwanda) https://www.airhistory.net/photo/93015/F-WWEC

All talks have failed and SN has created AirDC then Korongo Airlines, Meridiana has created Air Uganda and Fly540 has created Fly540 Angola and Fly540 Ghana

AF022 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

rukundo wrote:

I forgot to say that USA is the biggest market for Rwanda outside Africa, ahead United Kingdom and India. And of course, RwandAir serves Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa which are big markets for USA. But i have doubt about the success for this route

Even if the USA is the biggest market for Rwanda outside of Africa, how much traffic can that possibly be? It sounds like it might be the biggest of some extremely small markets. And by flying to JFK, how are they going to access the rest of the continent? Are they in a codeshare with anyone?

I can't see how this is going to work. Vanity project. Rwandair doesn't seem to tire of losing money. I would think they are already losing lots of money on their intercontinental routes.

Biggest market doesn't mean big market. It's pretty hard to find stats about Rwanda (in terms of visitors from countries)

In 2014, of the total number of visitors, 24,488 were Americans, followed by India with 13,008 visitors, then United Kingdom with 12,320, Belgium with 8,733, and 8,228 Germans on the fifth spot: https://www.ktpress.rw/2015/04/american ... s-in-2014/

The most recent stats about Americans tourists were about the growth which were +114% between 2018 and 2019 https://www.fdiintelligence.com/article/76645. Probably due to many documents seen on CNN by Christiane Amanpour and Richard Quest, more and mrore documents and articles about American primatologist and conservationist Dian Fossey and big marketing campaigns.

I don't know if they include Rwandans living in USA in these stats.

As i said, i think it's not good idea for RwandAir to open a such route. Same thing for Europe. They should focused on their African network and at least keep Dubai and China as long haul destinations.