grjplanes wrote:

Is there a reason they still haven't resumed service to JNB.

The enforcement judgement against TGFA as an agency of Government of Tanzania is still in place, so as long as their entire fleet continues to be leased from TGFA they run the risk of another aircraft being seized down there until the matter is settled. They also have an A220 seized in the Netherlands on a separate judgement debt case.

About the replacement of regional fleet for RwandAir, i forgot to mention some things

I won't be suprised if they add E2 (E190-E2 with 96 seats). The E2 made 2 visits in Rwanda in 2022, once included demo flight over Rwanda and from Kigali to Kamembe in Rwanda (currently served by RwandAir Q400). And Rwanda Air Force is in talks with Embraer to acquire KC 390 (tactical transport aircraft) https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... -airlifter. It will be a good deal for Embraer in Rwanda. Sell aircraft to the Air Force and to the national flag carrier

We know more about the creation of a Pan African group between Kenya Airways and South African Airways

The deal is expected to be finalized in 2024.

The 2 companies should keep their names. But I don't understand because we are talking about a single AOC It seems to me that the companies members of IAG, of the Lufthansa group and Air France KLM have their own AOC and not unique for the group. Unless I'm wrong.

The group will have a network of more than 50 destinations

Eventually having a fleet of 100 planes in the future ( 41 currently), which would therefore make the 2nd largest company in Africa behind Ethiopian.


https://airlinergs.com/kenya-airways-an ... y-in-2024/

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Ethiopian Airlines Eyes Significant Fleet Expansion https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... -expansion


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RwandAir will reduce its flights to Lagos in July, August and September (7 flights per week to 5 flights per week). Daily flights return in October 2023. In the same time Nairobi will be served 4 times a day on certain days (instead of 3) and Dar Es Salaam will see 2 flights a day except Sunday. (1 flight per day).

There will be up to 7 flights per day (3 with Kenya Airways) between Nairobi and Kigali this summer. Back to capacities before covid19.

From the beginning of July 2023, Harare will be served without the tag with Cape Town every Saturday (Cape Kigali will be reduced from 7 to 6 flights per week). The flight will depart at 10:50 a.m. from Kigali instead of 08:10 a.m. (when the flight continues on CPT). HRE will still be still served daily.

I just saw it, RwandAir has extended its partnership with Ethiopian. Only the 2 daily flights between Addis Ababa and Kigali were operated under code share. It would seem that RwandAir has deployed its code on other flights departing from Addis Ababa.

For the moment on 2 routes

Addis Ababa-Geneva-Manchester
Addis Ababa-Oslo-Stockholm

Geneva is the only destination "served" by RwandAir via 3 code shares: WB1259 (Turkish Airlines), WB1010 (Qatar Airways) and WB 1243 (Ethiopian Airlines)

Oslo (WB 1029), Stockholm (WB1027) and Manchester (WB 1003) are already served in code share by RwandAir via Qatar Airways.

On that Ethiopian article where it’s looking to expand fleet, it notes that it has six A350-1000s on order backlog. If I recall this is up from four that they’d converted from -900s for what appeared to be a 1:1 replacement for B77Ws.

rukundo wrote:

The 2 companies should keep their names. But I don't understand because we are talking about a single AOC It seems to me that the companies members of IAG, of the Lufthansa group and Air France KLM have their own AOC and not unique for the group. Unless I'm wrong.

You're right, that makes zero sense.

Yes, most IAG airlines (BA, IB, EI, VY as well as subsidiaries CJ, A0 and I2) have their own AOC, but Level does not. It's using IB's AOC and all its flights are IB-coded. But since it only operates from Spain, in that particular case, that's not a problem. When Level was also operating out of ORY, that operation was using the old AOC of Open Skies (the BA subsidiary originally set up to operate Paris-New York flights).

If this KQ-SA tie up had a single AOC, be it a Kenyan or a South African one, they'd be restricted to that country's bilaterals for traffic rights.

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia has allegedly dismissed the Board Chairman of Ethiopian Airlines, Ato Girma Wake, and replaced him with a military loyalist following dispute over management personnel appointments.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/ethiopi ... air-force/

rukundo wrote:

We know more about the creation of a Pan African group between Kenya Airways and South African Airways The deal is expected to be finalized in 2024.

As I once said in a BBC interview, a partnership between KQ and SAA is like two drunks coming together to help each other get sober. Neither has a scalable or viable business model yet, and in private conversations with people at the very top of both organisations, neither believes a full scale merger is the solution. But political masters keep paying their subsidy bills, so they must pretend to agree with the hare brained ideas.

B747-437B wrote:

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia has allegedly dismissed the Board Chairman of Ethiopian Airlines, Ato Girma Wake, and replaced him with a military loyalist following dispute over management personnel appointments.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/ethiopi ... air-force/

How do you imagine this, Being their management stability is their major strenght

Is there a reason why Ato Mesfin Tasew isn't wanted as CEO? I feel like he's well qualified, especially when referencing his leadership with ASKY

behramjee wrote:

I really feel sorry for the Flight Ops department at TC especially their Crew Rostering/Scheduling department having 5 different airplane types to find crew for such a small fleet size overall.

767F
787
737Max
220
Q400

Unbelievable !

The issues with a220s has made Air Tanzania to choose 737Max , as they cannot depend on the A220s 2 of them are grounded for the PW engine issues 1 is held in nertherlands (Govt issue) , but the unreliability of the A220s has made TC to order Max 9s ,on domestic routes they will still use q400s and another one will be ordered soon, Intercontinetal only 787s noa plan for Airbus A330 or 50, and regional routes will be A220 and Max 9s and maybe more of Max9s in future . Cargo yet to see but i think if they plan to add a plane it will be another 767F

fren wrote:

Is there a reason why Ato Mesfin Tasew isn't wanted as CEO? I feel like he's well qualified, especially when referencing his leadership with ASKY

Ethnic politics..

I won't go into further detail as that will politicize this thread

Superboi wrote:

How do you imagine this, Being their management stability is their major strenght

I'm meeting Ato Girma tomorrow at AviaDev Africa in Nairobi, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say. He has reconfirmed his attendance saying that now he has plenty of extra free time to attend events!

While Ethiopian is looking to serve Lisbon (https://airspace-africa.com/2023/06/09/ ... rk-growth/), Hifly will operate some flights from Lisbon to Zanzibar, this summer from 30 July to 10 September. I wonder if it's the first ever commercial flight between East Africa and Portugal. I don't remmember that TAP served Nairobi

https://kiosquedaaviacao-pt.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp

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Air France resumes direct flights to Dar es Salaam Paris service


28 years after the closure of the route. Too bad I was not at work that day and didn't see how the flight was loaded. On Zanzibar, it won't be a problem. There are a lot of French people.

https://twitter.com/FranceTanzania/stat ... 5081840644

A few years ago XL Airways France made Paris Zanzibar with a fuel stop in Egypt. Unfortunately the route ended when XL closed its medium-haul sector and the competition from FlyDubai, Turkish Airlines and Oman Air which inevitably offered more competitive prices and better comfort. I had been able to speak with an XL executive while I was taking a picture of one of their A330s in Garuda livery for the Hajj at CDG.

In Dar Es Salaam, point-to-point traffic is lower on departure from Paris (11,500 https://simpleflying.com/air-france-add ... m-flights/). Behind Nairobi (56,282) and Kigali (14,243). Figures for 2019. On DAR it will mainly be connecting Europe and North America.

Anyway there is a gap to fill from Europe with the departures of British Airways and Swiss from Dar Es Salaam.

CDG is with Amsterdam, the airport in Europe (EU excluding Turkey) best connected to East Africa:

Amsterdam: Entebbe, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam and Kigali
Paris: Nairobi, Zanzibar, Djibouti, Dar Es Salaam, Kigali (with RwandAir from June 27, 2023). A chance to see Bujumbura and Entebbe again from CDG, one day with Air France?

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Since this Monday, Accra is served without the tag with Abuja. Accra-Kigali operated by RwandAir still 4 flights per week and Abuja decreases to 3 flights per week.

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Interview with the representative of RwandAir in Gabon, by a Gabonese media (sub tittles provided) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16TY4M8M2I&t=615s

We learn that before the covid, RwandAir transported more than 40,000 passengers from Gabon. This includes lines to Douala and Kigali (Kigali-Libreville-Douala). In 2022, we are at 13,000 passengers (with twice fewer flights), but the person remains optimistic about a resumption of pre-covid traffic by 2024-2025. In particular with the opening of new routes to Africa: Luanda (Angola), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mombasa (Kenya).

But it is above all the line to Paris that will help boost traffic. Paris was one of the most populardestinations from Gabon. Besides, she talks about the advantage of going through Kigali (the journalist also asked a lot of questions). Short transit, good schedules, Kigali is a pleasant airport, the comfort of the A330s,...

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The IMF has published a report on the Rwandan economy. Heavily affected by the various crises of recent years (inflation, debt and currency crisis), growth seems to be there and the outlook is rather good (the service sector and agriculture are growing). What is interesting in this report is that we see the subsidies that RwandAir has received since 2021. And what will be paid until 2028. It remains high ( the company is still not profitable) , but the trend is down compared to 2021. We will see what will happen with Qatar Airways.

It must be taken into account that the country will invest massively (and this to subsidize) in the green economy (reduction of emissions by 38% by 2030) and in particular in transport. The country will allocate more than $2.9 billion to aviation by 2050 for greener aviation https://www-agenceecofin-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp


"In the same vein, and within the framework of the revised Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS), the country intends to mobilize around 13 billion dollars for the “green and inclusive” development of its transport system. In detail, 2.6 billion dollars must be allocated to electric mobility in cities, 2.9 billion dollars to the development of aviation, 1.6 billion dollars to the construction of the rail network, 1 billion $4.4 billion for waterways and other regional infrastructure such as border crossings, and $4.4 billion for road infrastructure." https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp

Noted that Rwanda repaid its loan (its very first Eurobond issued in 2013) a few weeks ago. This Eurobond had notably financed the new congress center of Kigali and RwandAir (in particular the order of the A330s)

p38: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/ ... the-534297

It is in Rwandan Francs (billions) and not in USD

Uganda Airlines started this week hajj lfights to Mecca. The airline plans to add Jeddah Entebbe route from September 2023, 3 times a week.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... ht-4275808

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Royal Air Maroc s preparing to launch a tender for new long- and medium-haul aircraft as the airline wants to add new destinations in Americas, Europe and Africa. About America, i will see Philadephia that was supposed to be operated by American Airlines before covid and resume flights to Brazil.

About Africa, in West Africa i don't see new routes, they serve all countries. In Central Africa they serve all countries except Sao Tomé. So i will tend to think that the airline could resume flights to East Africa, since they ended flights to Nairobi. They resumed code share service with Kenya Airways few months ago. They had always the plan to serve Kigali since 2009. Entebbe could be also interesting.

EBB is the "gateway" for Morrocan working in United Nations peacekeeping missions in DR Congo. RAM operates charters flights from Agadir using B787-8.

https://www.atalayar.com/en/articulo/ec ... 86663.html

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For the first time in its history, RwandAir joins the top 100 of the best companies in the SkyTrax ranking. She ranks 90th, ahead of Brussels Airlines

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/

SkyTrax has been highly criticized for quite a few years. She tends to overrate some companies according to some avgeeks. Does RwandAir deserve this place? I don't know. However, it will be illusory not to think that the company didn't made great efforts to upgrade its service (even if there is still a lot work to do, especially in the management of lost or undelivered luggage).

At the African level, the company ranks 2nd for regional companies (13th in the world ranking) and it ranks 6th if all African companies are included.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/best ... by-region/
https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/


Aeroutes has just announced that RwandAir has added its WB code to other lines departing from Doha (that's 68 code share flights departing from Doha). Quite surprising for some destinations, but either Qatar Airways and RwandAir estimate that there are pax in transit from and to Africa on these destinations (I am thinking of Mykonos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia) . Huge additions in Pakistan. A way to compete with Ethiopian?

Athens, Baku, Belgrade, Birmingham, Islamabad, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, Lahore, London Gatwick, Multan, Mykonos, Peshawar, Sialkot, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Zagreb.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230620-wbqrcodeshare


















For the first time in its history, RwandAir joins the top 100 of the best companies in the SkyTrax ranking. She ranks 90th, ahead of Brussels Airlines

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/

SkyTrax has been highly criticized for quite a few years. She tends to overrate some companies according to some avgeeks. Does RwandAir deserve this place? I don't know. However, it will be illusory not to think that the company didn't made great efforts to upgrade its service (even if there is still a lot work to do, especially in the management of lost or undelivered luggage).

At the African level, the company ranks 2nd for regional companies (13th in the world ranking) and it ranks 6th if all African companies are included.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/best ... by-region/
https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/


Aeroutes has just announced that RwandAir has added its WB code to other lines departing from Doha (that's 68 code share flights departing from Doha). Quite surprising for some destinations, but either Qatar Airways and RwandAir estimate that there are pax in transit from and to Africa on these destinations (I am thinking of Mykonos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia) . Huge additions in Pakistan. A way to compete with Ethiopian?

Athens, Baku, Belgrade, Birmingham, Islamabad, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, Lahore, London Gatwick, Multan, Mykonos, Peshawar, Sialkot, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Zagreb.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230620-wbqrcodeshare

From 26th Oct 2023 Air Tanzania will increase its Mumbai Freq to 5x a week

https://twitter.com/AirTanzania/status/ ... 21155?s=20

Source

Looks like Rwandair has bagged itself an interline (well strictly speaking an SPA) with ITA Airways.

Reported in the Italian press
https://italiavola.com/2023/06/22/rwandair-sigla-uno-special-prorate-agreement-con-ita-airways/

BangersAndMash wrote:

Looks like Rwandair has bagged itself an interline (well strictly speaking an SPA) with ITA Airways.

Reported in the Italian press
https://italiavola.com/2023/06/22/rwandair-sigla-uno-special-prorate-agreement-con-ita-airways/

Yep it's the same agreement that they have with British Airways. If you book a flight from an European city to Kigali on RwandAir website. You will see that the part of your trip in Europe will be operated by British Airways then you have the flight from LHR to Kigali with RwandAir

Inauguration of the Africa headquarters of the Air France KLM group. This center is based in Nairobi and will cover Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Djibouti, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

The group also said that Africa represents its 5th largest market (out of the 12 regional centers in the group) behind North America, China, Japan and South Korea. https://www.citizen.digital/business/ai ... on-n322293

The group plans to expand in Africa, by adding capacity to destinations already served (such as Johannesburg, which will increase to 13 flights per week this summer with Air France). We can also imagine the opening of new destinations.

No news about Maputo which was to open last year. The choices are still limited. In Southern Africa, we can forget Lusaka, Harare, Windhoek closed by KLM. Luanda will in my opinion remain served only by Air France (KLM closed its route during the covid).

In West Africa there is also fairly limited development, except for the reopening of routes to Monrovia by AF or KLM or KLM to Freetown already served by AF. Port Harcourt seems to be permanently closed by Air France.

Cape Verde, but I have the feeling that the group is happy to send their subsidiary LCC: Transavia.

There is East Africa. Entebbe and Bujumbura for Air France could be interesting. Kigali with AF I don't really believe it with RwandAir, that will serve Paris even if however France and Rwanda have modified their traffic rights agreements. And KLM serves Kigali 6 times a week

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rukundo wrote:

Aeroutes has just announced that RwandAir has added its WB code to other lines departing from Doha (that's 68 code share flights departing from Doha). Quite surprising for some destinations, but either Qatar Airways and RwandAir estimate that there are pax in transit from and to Africa on these destinations (I am thinking of Mykonos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia) . Huge additions in Pakistan. A way to compete with Ethiopian?

Athens, Baku, Belgrade, Birmingham, Islamabad, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, Lahore, London Gatwick, Multan, Mykonos, Peshawar, Sialkot, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Zagreb.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230620-wbqrcodeshare

Australia has just been added: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide. In addition, there are also Sarajevo, Adana (Turkey) and Bordum (Turkey). I guess the next wave will be South East Asia and East and Southern Asia: Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo,....

https://www.doha-airport.com/departures ... ndair?tp=0

rukundo wrote:

No news about Maputo which was to open last year. The choices are still limited. In Southern Africa, we can forget Lusaka, Harare, Windhoek closed by KLM. Luanda will in my opinion remain served only by Air France (KLM closed its route during the covid).

I had an opportunity to discuss Africa plans with the Air France Africa team in detail last week during AviaDev Africa in Nairobi. Without saying anything specific here that might reveal things said in confidence, you may be surprised by some of the routes they have targeted for the next 12-18 months.

B747-437B wrote:

rukundo wrote:

No news about Maputo which was to open last year. The choices are still limited. In Southern Africa, we can forget Lusaka, Harare, Windhoek closed by KLM. Luanda will in my opinion remain served only by Air France (KLM closed its route during the covid).

I had an opportunity to discuss Africa plans with the Air France Africa team in detail last week during AviaDev Africa in Nairobi. Without saying anything specific here that might reveal things said in confidence, you may be surprised by some of the routes they have targeted for the next 12-18 months.

Thanks for the info can't wait to see this. 12-18 months it's close because you have to add the date of the announcement of the flights (many months before the 1st flight).

I remmember when B Smith arrived at Air France few years ago, he was not happy by the current African network too linked with the French former colonial empire and not focused on some emerging markets in Africa. https://skift.com/2019/07/02/new-air-fr ... ir-france/. Since the arrival of B Smith, AF opened Zanzibar, Banjul (if i m right the flights are now only in winter), resumed Dar Es Salaam and planned to serve Maputo.

AF seems to be the only airline in UE to once again focus to Africa

1st flight for RwandAir to & from Paris CDG. VIP people on arrival (as often in this case). For the return, 150 pax (I talked with the ground staff) boarded at CDG for 274 seats. Jeune Afrique in an article where it explains how the route opened (and by the way AF says that it does not wish to immediately relaunch its ROUTE to Kigali, because there is KLM) says that the flight was full. https://n3k6.wordpress.com/2023/06/28/c ... ali-paris/

You have to combine Brussels and CDG: 150 pax from CDG and 124 pax from Brussels. The bad thing, big delay in Brussels probably due to the queue at the police checks. There were quite a few non-Schengen flights delayed yesterday at BRU. The plane arrived in Paris 2h30 late and therefore left a little over 2h late.

I think no one expected to see a person of Rwandan origin working in the aviation coming to chat with the ground staff


Funny, the plane was parked next to a Qatar Airways B777. Photos of the arrival of the plane from BRU.

The next RwandAir B737-800 will arrive in July 2023



6 check in desk were opened for this flight

Ethiopian Airlines should announce soon, the largest order for an African airline (if im right)

130 planes from both Airbus and Boeing !! https://www.zawya.com/en/economy/africa ... n-cnfdm145

The company currently has 142 aircraft, including 127 for pax. Even if indeed, there are planes to replace. I am thinking about the B737-700s and probably the B777-200 LR / 300ER if the airline orders more A350-1000s or order its 1st B787-10s / B777-Xs. The fleet will soon exceed 200 aircraft. There are currently 42 aircraft on order (pax and cargo).

But with a fleet 3 times larger than Brussels Airlines, larger than Iberia or KLM, Ethiopian carries less pax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_Airlines#Fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberia_(airline)#Fleet



Meanwhile the airline earns more money. We will see if the departure of Girma Wake will change things

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 023-06-15/

rukundo wrote:

We will see if the departure of Girma Wake will change things

The departure of Ato Girma himself won't change anything directly as he wasn't involved in day-to-day operations. That has been Mesfin's forte from the beginning (indeed, even during much of Tewolde's tenure it was Mesfin's responsibility as COO). The question is whether the loss of the layer of insulation that Girma provided between Mesfin and the politics is going to make a difference to how Mesfin himself does things. In any case, Girma swears that his "fourth retirement will be the final one", but I'm not going to bet on it!

B747-437B wrote:

rukundo wrote:

We will see if the departure of Girma Wake will change things

The departure of Ato Girma himself won't change anything directly as he wasn't involved in day-to-day operations. That has been Mesfin's forte from the beginning (indeed, even during much of Tewolde's tenure it was Mesfin's responsibility as COO). The question is whether the loss of the layer of insulation that Girma provided between Mesfin and the politics is going to make a difference to how Mesfin himself does things. In any case, Girma swears that his "fourth retirement will be the final one", but I'm not going to bet on it!

Yes in deed, he made several come backs since he left the airline for the first time early 2010s^^

rukundo wrote:

Yes in deed, he made several come backs since he left the airline for the first time early 2010s^^

No, he returned to Ethiopian Airlines as CEO in 2004 as his first comeback!

His retirement in 2011 was the second retirement.

Third retirement was from Chairman of Rwandair.

Fourth retirement now as Chairman of ET Group.

iadadd wrote:

berari wrote:

What I fail to find however is what ET is doing at ATL for it is not selling any fares that connects via ATL (for example nothing like Florida-ATL-ADD.) I have found ATL to be an interesting new destination for ET, especially going 4x per week rather than it’s usual conservative 3x per week without any feed from a local airline.

Well if ET still doesn't have an interline agreement, let alone codeshare with DL, how would they sell a hypothetical Florida-ATL-ADD ticket ?

To make ATL work for ET it's going to need to either:
1) Aggressively market for ATL O&D to East/Southern/Central Africa .
2) Get into some sort of relationship with Delta to feed passengers via ATL

The first may not work given demand doesn't seem to be high. The 2nd may also be a challenge as it could jeopardize ET's relationship with UA

According to ATL operating statistics there were 529 pax on and 650 off, and I believe there were 9 total flights in May. So a LF somewhere around 25%. Hopefully this can improve.

https://www.atl.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ATL_ATR-2305.pdf

rukundo wrote:

Ethiopian Airlines should announce soon, the largest order for an African airline (if im right)

130 planes from both Airbus and Boeing !! https://www.zawya.com/en/economy/africa ... n-cnfdm145

The company currently has 142 aircraft, including 127 for pax. Even if indeed, there are planes to replace. I am thinking about the B737-700s and probably the B777-200 LR / 300ER if the airline orders more A350-1000s or order its 1st B787-10s / B777-Xs. The fleet will soon exceed 200 aircraft. There are currently 42 aircraft on order (pax and cargo).

But with a fleet 3 times larger than Brussels Airlines, larger than Iberia or KLM, Ethiopian carries less pax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_Airlines#Fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberia_(airline)#Fleet



Meanwhile the airline earns more money. We will see if the departure of Girma Wake will change things

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 023-06-15/

I love how you compare Ethiopian to European giants albeit in simplest of ways. There are a number of things at play here that you should consider:
- Both European carriers have their hubs in the most advantageous part of the world where the strong trans Atlantic market feeds their strong hubs
- Both European carriers enjoy open skies policies with the United States and Canada which allow them to easily place aircraft on the right routes
- Both European carriers enjoy trans Atlantic anti-trust immune joint ventures (Brussels with UA, AC and its parent LH, while KLM with AF and DL and VS) which allow them to get fed by their partners for onward connections, a feed Ethiopian does not have nor can match
- Both Brussels and KLM have their bases in a continent that is heavily traveled by air. Stats from November 17 show that 80+% Brussels Airlines passengers traveled to European destinations. Africa on the other hand remains a continent that does not see such movements within.
- Ethiopian Airlines does not enjoy open skies agreements that European counterparts have at their disposal, and is limited to the rights afforded to it by bilaterals. This is true for the majority of the destinations it serves and cannot increase frequency even if it had the demand.
- Ethiopian Airlines' business is largely built on connections, with banks at Addis Ababa constructed in such way that they connect traffic from East to West and North to South and vice versa and everything in between. This leads to an unusually large number of aircraft that remain at outstations for 9+ hours sometimes in order to depart in time to make it to the ADD bank. This approach requires more aircraft to operate effectively. Off the top of my head i can list the following destinations where ET aircraft remain on ground for longer than 9 hours each day: London, Paris, Frankfurt, Oslo, Milan, Manchester, Brussels, Marseille, Moscow, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Conakry, Dakar, Ouagadougou.
- Ethiopian still has a high utilization rate of its aircraft with the two primary banks (morning and evening) and the being developed third afternoon bank. It is also expanding its service and taking on new aircraft (took delivery a B789 the other day) and is in no apparent rush to remove its older aircraft (B77Ls and B77Ws, as well as B73Ws)

Focusing on Ethiopian Airlines' current fleet of 143 aircraft:
- 33 are Q400s that are exclusively flown domestically, with three examples leased out to Zambia, Malawian, Asky. Brussels Airlines and KLM do not have domestic operations (if any) that match Ethiopian's destination count and frequency
- Out of 39 B737s of various models, 7 are leased out to subsidiaries and 2 are freighters
- 12 other aircraft are freighters or in the process of being converted into one (a B763 will undergo conversion)

And yet, Ethiopian has continued to operate profitably while both KLM and Brussels Airlines in their current form are a result of bankruptcies, government bailouts, mergers and outright acquisition by other airlines.

rukundo wrote:

1st flight for RwandAir to & from Paris CDG. VIP people on arrival (as often in this case). For the return, 150 pax (I talked with the ground staff) boarded at CDG for 274 seats. Jeune Afrique in an article where it explains how the route opened (and by the way AF says that it does not wish to immediately relaunch its ROUTE to Kigali, because there is KLM) says that the flight was full. https://n3k6.wordpress.com/2023/06/28/c ... ali-paris/

You have to combine Brussels and CDG: 150 pax from CDG and 124 pax from Brussels. The bad thing, big delay in Brussels probably due to the queue at the police checks. There were quite a few non-Schengen flights delayed yesterday at BRU. The plane arrived in Paris 2h30 late and therefore left a little over 2h late.

I think no one expected to see a person of Rwandan origin working in the aviation coming to chat with the ground staff


Funny, the plane was parked next to a Qatar Airways B777. Photos of the arrival of the plane from BRU.

The next RwandAir B737-800 will arrive in July 2023



6 check in desk were opened for this flight

Were you on this flight? What's your role within RwandAir? Who handles RwandAir at CDG, does its share facilities with Qatar Airways?

berari wrote:

rukundo wrote:

1st flight for RwandAir to & from Paris CDG. VIP people on arrival (as often in this case). For the return, 150 pax (I talked with the ground staff) boarded at CDG for 274 seats. Jeune Afrique in an article where it explains how the route opened (and by the way AF says that it does not wish to immediately relaunch its ROUTE to Kigali, because there is KLM) says that the flight was full. https://n3k6.wordpress.com/2023/06/28/c ... ali-paris/

You have to combine Brussels and CDG: 150 pax from CDG and 124 pax from Brussels. The bad thing, big delay in Brussels probably due to the queue at the police checks. There were quite a few non-Schengen flights delayed yesterday at BRU. The plane arrived in Paris 2h30 late and therefore left a little over 2h late.

I think no one expected to see a person of Rwandan origin working in the aviation coming to chat with the ground staff


Funny, the plane was parked next to a Qatar Airways B777. Photos of the arrival of the plane from BRU.

The next RwandAir B737-800 will arrive in July 2023




6 check in desk were opened for this flight

Were you on this flight? What's your role within RwandAir? Who handles RwandAir at CDG, does its share facilities with Qatar Airways?

I work at Paris Cgd, but RwandAir is (unfortunately) not our custumers. Only Airlines from Asia, Europe and North America, for me. It's Alyzia who handles RwandAir flights at CDG. The pix was took outside the airport, from the road that lead to terminal 1

Last saturday around 180 pax boarded at BRU and around 90 at Paris. I think last time the woman made confusion about the load for the first flight. It was probably 60 pax from CDG and 214 from BRU (sources from another person). Thyhe used the A330-300 (274 pax). But currently it's the A330-200 (244 seats), probably because the demand is bigger this week from London where the A330-300 is flying.

Qatar Airways uses the Terminal 1 even before the covid. About RwandAir, they uses the T1 but many airlines have moved from 2A and 2C to 2B & T1, because 2A and 2C are closed for works. Donn't know if RwandAir will keep staying at T1 when 2A and 2C will re open. For the moment, ET uses the 2E (Air France long haul, UK-IRL, Turkey-Amernia-Georgia, North Africa and Balkan flights) instead of the 2A.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About my post about comparaison with Ethiopian and UE Airlines, of course it's a simple comparaison. Not very serious i know that the rules in Africa and Europe are not the same. Ethiopian has average load 72-75%, when the most UE have over 85%. The size of market in not the same.

The goal of my comment was to say, if Ethiopian could fly in big African market at its maximum capacity (biggest than the current) , i can image that its trafic could be over Brussels Airlines or KLM.

Malawi Airlines announced on its Facebook page, the launch of a route between Lilongwe (Malawi) and Kigali. No info about frequencies and launch date. RwandAir had LLW in its sights a few years ago. Local traffic is quite low (just over 2,148 pax) and even if there are "many" Rwandans living in Malawi (but for the majority they are refugees from the civil war and the Genocide against the Tutsi of 1994) . But O&D can increase with direct flights

What Malawi Airlines can bring to Kigali are connections to Johannesburg (O&D to Kigali of 41,028 pax in 2019), Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania (O&D of 31,131 pax in 2019), Lusaka in Zambia (O&D 18,112 pax in 2019) and Harare in Zimbabwe (7,890 pax in 2019). Which makes an O&D of 98,161 pax (100,000 pax if we add KGL-LLW). I did not put Nairobi Kgl (115,000 pax) because it was a big detour. As for Kigali, even though Malawi Airlines has Ethiopian Airlines as a strategic partner, an agreement with RwandAir could enable to Malawi Airlines to tap into pax from RwandAir.

Note that between 1999 and 2001, Ethiopian operated a tag service Addis Ababa-Kigali-Lilongwe.

Too bad for my brother who could have taken advantage of this direct routebecause he made almost ten trips to Malawi between 2007 and 2012 with some stops via Kigali for a few days.

-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------

Another surprising info. Atlanta airport has targeted destinations in Africa: Casablanca, Entebbe, Abuja, Kinshasa and...Kigali. The American authorities are promising incentive offers worth several hundred thousand dollars. About Kigali, the airport wants to bring in RwandAir. The status is courting airlines, so we can consider that the market analysis is complete. https://www.globalatlanta.com/hartsfiel ... -and-asia/

I don't believe it. The O&D between ATL and KGL is low (see below) and even if the O&D between the USA and Kigali exceeds 35,000 pax if we take the O&D of more than 1,000 pax per year (more than 45,000 pax if we add Canada). The competition is too big and even with connecting traffic via Kigali on some of the biggest American markets in Africa (Kenya, South Africa or Tanzania), even an agreement with Delta Airlines and a tag servicr via ACC or Abuja (The airport of ATL wishes to see this destination) will surely not be enough.

After the CEO of RwandAir said last week that the USA was obviously part of RwandAir's plans again (unfortunately article for subscribers, if someone could give us a summary), as well as the return of possibility arrival of the A350s to replace A330s. RwandAir had planned to serve New York via Accra. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... -us-routes.

Rwanda has Cat 1 FAA so flights between Rwanda and USA could start at any times

Canada :

Montreal - Kigali : 4 812 (KGL is one of the 25 markets requested froù Montreal via Dubai, even though EK doesn't serve Kigali. Only RwandAir operates the route: https://simpleflying.com/emirates-boein ... -montreal/
Toronto - Kigali : 4 254
Ottawa - Kigali : 2 791
Edmonton - Kigali: 1 242

USA:

New York-Kigali: 8 574
Washington-Kigali: 8 080
Boston-Kigali: 4 092
Chicago - Kigali : 3 313
Los Angeles - Kigali : 2 290
Dallas FW - Kigali : 2 269
Kigali San Francisco: 2 039
Atlanta - Kigali : 1 682
Houston - Kigali : 1 574
Denver - Kigali : 1 407

rukundo wrote:

Malawi Airlines announced on its Facebook page, the launch of a route between Lilongwe (Malawi) and Kigali.

Just curious where they said the route was going to be from Lilongwe rather than Blantyre?

Neither route makes sense in isolation, but if they are going to launch an inexplicable route might as well go all the way.

Rwandair going daily to LHR for this winter.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230721-wbnw23lhr

anyone know where Rwandair got their LHR slot from ? 0620 is a highly desirable arrival time

ET would go head over heals to have a daily 0620 arrival slot in LHR lol

The airline ASKY has loaded flights to Nairobi starting in October, three times weekly

KP78 2/4/7 LFW NBO 1240 2125
KP79 1/3/5 NBO LFW 0905 1140

AF022 wrote:

The airline ASKY has loaded flights to Nairobi starting in October, three times weekly
KP78 2/4/7 LFW NBO 1240 2125
KP79 1/3/5 NBO LFW 0905 1140

Its loaded with 738 for now but when I spoke with them last month they said it would launch with their new MAX which is due for deliver in August. The plan is for the two Max they are getting to operate on NBO/JNB/LAD routes primarily.

I believe I saw their first Max (leased from AerCap) in Addis on Wednesday at the ET MRO ramp.

iadadd wrote:

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230721-wbnw23lhr

anyone know where Rwandair got their LHR slot from ? 0620 is a highly desirable arrival time

ET would go head over heals to have a daily 0620 arrival slot in LHR lol

Qatar Airways i guess

Sean M
@SeanM1997
·
Oct 25, 2022
London Winter 2022 slot news:

Heathrow:
Qatar Airways lease 8x weekly slots (4a/4d) to Rwandair

Gatwick:
Qatar Airways lease 14x weekly slots (7a/7d) to JetBlue

https://twitter.com/SeanM1997/status/15 ... 7005972480

What was the reason behind ET8801 from Guatemala to Addis Ababa via Dakar and Goma?

soups wrote:

What was the reason behind ET8801 from Guatemala to Addis Ababa via Dakar and Goma?

I believe Guatemala has a contingent of troops serving with MONUSCO in DRC.

soups wrote:

What was the reason behind ET8801 from Guatemala to Addis Ababa via Dakar and Goma?

FYI

At ET, 4 digits flight numbers starting with an 8 are typically charter flights

You are correct, that flight is operated once a year, for at least 12 years. UN charter

B747-437B wrote:

soups wrote:

What was the reason behind ET8801 from Guatemala to Addis Ababa via Dakar and Goma?

I believe Guatemala has a contingent of troops serving with MONUSCO in DRC.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230803-etnw23lgw

ET resumes London-Gatwick at 3x weekly, eff. 21NOV23

ET718 ADD0015 – 0515LGW 350 247
ET719 LGW1010 – 2040ADD 350 247

Ethiopian Airlines CEO about new routes:

“As we plan to increase our revenue by 22 percent, we will add 6 international destinations, most of them in Europe,” he stated, pointing out that they are Madrid, London-Gatwick, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Vietnam's Hanoi, and Central Africa's Bangui.

https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_3174217

berari wrote:

Ethiopian Airlines CEO about new routes:

“As we plan to increase our revenue by 22 percent, we will add 6 international destinations, most of them in Europe,” he stated, pointing out that they are Madrid, London-Gatwick, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Vietnam's Hanoi, and Central Africa's Bangui.

https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_3174217

Madrid starts December 9: https://twitter.com/ETWatch/status/1689335496705720320

Bangui starts middle of November: https://twitter.com/ETWatch/status/1689336258999496704

berari wrote:

ghdc10 wrote:

Fantastic development! Nice to see Accra growing again alongside the new BA LGW flights.

ET's strategy utilizing terminating flights is quite interesting when contrasted against KQ's operation through ACC to FNA and ROB. Fondly remember the 90's as a frequent traveller on ET back in the day when it flew 3 stops on one flight: ADD-LOS-LFW-ACC. We would race Sabena from Lagos to Lome if we were on time.

The next logical step would be to upgauge these morning and evening flights to 787 or A350 if demand permits. The jump may be too big to support all those frequencies. Makes you really wonder what happened with that 757 replacement. Badly needed.

IMO the next logical step would be to increase frequency to 3x daily with these new flight times still operated using B737 aircraft. The banks they connect to have daily rotations either inbound or outbound at ADD, so it would be matching those and would give ACC passengers ultimate flexibility. The competition on these routes is not offering up anything superior. If they threw in lie flat seats on their MAX, it'd be gravy.

ACC would eventually join JNB with such 3x daily medium haul rotations out of ADD. I wonder what other African destinations we could see this with (aside from East Africa short hauls that are already seeing this)

Maybe Harare and Lusaka. On some days, they have 2 flights a day. And i would also talk about East Africa: Bujumbura will be also served during the night from Nov23 (from 7 to 11 flights a week). Mombasa will also get more flights (2 flights a day but no night flight). But i think it will take a time to get the full 2 daily flights and then a 3rd daily flight.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230803-etnw23af
https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230807-etsep23mba

KGL had its 1st night flight in 2010 (daily flight since 2006) and full night flight in mid 2010s, but tagged via Entebbe and since late 2010s, the night flight is operated without the tag via EBB.

I guess that Dar Es Salaam and Kigali could be the next destination to get a 3rd daily. However about KGL, RwandAir still planning to serve ADD.They have code share with Ethiopian (now extanded to Brazil Rwandair (WB 1224/5) after UK, Nordic Countries and Switzerland), so maybe, the RwandAir flight could be the 3rd daily fligth to ADD. The aircraft that operates dayloght flight spends hours at Kigali probably because to avoid to back to ADD too early for connecting in late evening.

The RwandAir flight from KGL to ADD was supposed to be a night flight. I don't know why the airline closed the booking few days before the first flight. Maybe you have some informations

Kigali- 27th December, 2018. RwandAir, the national carrier of the Republic of Rwanda is pleased to announce that it will commence flights to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, in April 2019. RwandAir will operate five weekly direct flights from Kigali to Addis Ababa with a CRJ-900NG aircraft. Addis Ababa is not only the administrative, financial and commercial center of the country but it also hosts the Headquarters of the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and many other regional offices for a number of international organizations. With flights to Addis Ababa, RwandAir will be offering seamless connections through its hub in Kigali between Addis Ababa and other African cities in its network.

FLIGHT NUMBER DAYS FROM TO DEPARTURE TIME ARRIVAL TIME
WB430 Tuesday, Webnesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday KIGALI ADDIS ABABA 23:50 3:20
WB431 Webnesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday ADDIS ABABA KIGALI 5:00 6:30

https://www.rwandair.com/media-center/n ... g-network/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.zawya. ... kd%3famp=1

Seems like the Kenyan authorities have given the green light to Flydubai to start Dxb-mba, any idea if this will operate as a tag on? Also, considering KQ also operate the route, any chance we might see a different schedule in timing?

Flydubai from 17th January 2024 will commence dubai-mombasa route 4 times weekly using 737 max 8.
"https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/transport/flydubai-announces-new-direct-flights-to-mombasa-in-kenya

Brussels Airlines will resume Nairobi service next summer 2024 with 6 flights a week. Kigali will be served daily.https://airwaysmag.com/brussels-airline ... t-network/


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Uganda Airlines Schedules Lagos / Mumbai Oct 2023 Launch: https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230912-u ... rq=entebbe

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flynas Launches 6 Direct Flights to Addis Ababa https://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news ... dis-ababa/


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On this article from a Turkish Aviation Website about the hub of Qatar Airways Cargo in Rwanda published one month ago, there is a map showing current and future destinations from Kigali. Nairobi, Entebbe, Lagos, Johannesburg (served by RwandAir with pax flights) are already served by RwandAir Cargo either with the ULS A310F or the RwandAir Cargo B737-800F. However, Lusaka, Harare and Windhoek are on the map as next destinations from Kigali. HRE and LUN are already served by RwandAir (pax flights). Note that Brazzaville and Sharjah are missing as RwandAir cargo destination and also Kano (Nigeria)

https://www-aeroportist-com.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp

Anyone know the story with Rwandair's LHR-KGL being an overnight flight back, rather than turning immediately on itself and flying back during the day?

Have you ever wondered how and why airlines pick the routes they fly? Especially in Africa? Well, you need to wonder no more!

Catch Jon Howell and myself on the new AviaDev Africa Insight Africa Connectivity Update podcast where we discuss the latest routes and rumours in Sub-Saharan African aviation.

Disclaimer : I know I've probably offended many people with my comments here, but these are my opinions alone, so please don't take it out on poor Jon if you're one of his sponsors!

Some highlights from this episode :

* ASKY Airlines will launch Nairobi services soon from Lome with the new 737 Max they are leasing from AerCap. How will they make this route work and where are these people actually flying to?

* Uganda Airlines to start services to Mumbai and Lagos. Perhaps the world's most expensive paperweights (their Airbus A330-800s) will actually get a chance to fly now!


* Malawi Airlines teases flights to Kigali, Pemba and Nampula. Is a social media manager having a laugh at our expense or are the route planners really so clueless?

Plus discussion about flydubai, Brussels Airlines, United Nigeria Airlines , flynas and many more!

You can listen to the podcast on the web at http://bit.ly/45TXHEB, on Spotify, or pretty much any decent podcast provider. Make sure you do, because we'll do this more regularly if you like and share!