The debilitated national carrier Kenya Airways is fighting for a draft by the National Assembly’s Transport Committee to entrust its ownership to the government. “We had to think beyond mere business performances of two entities — KAA and KQ. And the only way to ensure Kenya continues to enjoy the privilege of housing a UN headquarters is by boosting the capacity of our national carrier and the JKIA to enable Nairobi to retain the status of a regional hub in this part of Africa,” explains the Pokot South MP.

Kenya Airways is seriously disadvantaged in competing favorably with most airlines in Africa: “KQ is not fully enjoying government protection and related favors, such as taxation exemption and is even paying parking fee in their own country!” The members of parliament further believe that this would ensure integrity since State ownership would subject its operations to the public.

 

Airlines Award 2019

Ethiopian Airlines has been voted Africa’s Best Airline for the third time in a row at the Skytrax 2019 World Airlines Awards held in Paris.

Qatar Airways walked away with multiple awards; The top award being the World’s Best Airline, the World’s Best Business Class, the World’s Best Business Class Seat and the Best Airline in the Middle East. Singapore Airlines also won the World’s Best Cabin Crew, coupled with the World’s Best First Class, the Best Airline in Asia and the World’s Best First-Class Seat. Kenya Airways did not participate in any of the categories, which also included World’s Best Cabin Staff, World’s Best Low-Cost Airlines and World’s Cleanest Airlines. View more details on the awards here.

 

Ethiopian Airlines crash compensation

Boeing Co. is offering $100 million to help families and communities affected by the deadly crashes of its 737 Max jetliner, which killed 346 people, and that has led to scores of lawsuits even with the ongoing investigations. Neither the Kenyan nor the Ethiopian governments, whose countries suffered greatly in the crash of Flight ET302, have had any discussions about the offer.

Asrat Begashaw, the Ethiopian Airlines spokesman said they have no details on Boeing’s offer. “There is no information,” he said. The money would be given to the local governments and NGO’s.

 

Nigeriair?

Ethiopian Airlines recently announced its meetings with the Federal Government and private sector moguls on plans to establish an international carrier for Nigeria.

According to Ethiopian Airlines, the lack of a national carrier in Nigeria that has tremendous potential if they had, was not good for the country and for Africa, considering Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa and second country with the highest passenger traffic.

This has however been cut short after industry stakeholders dismissed the plan to set up a domestic carrier in Nigeria, using local investors.

Aviation collaborators described Ethiopian Airlines' plan as a strategy to sustain its existence amid challenges in the global air travel market at the expense of Nigeria, thus leading to the continued underdevelopment of Nigerian domestic carriers

 

South African Airlines under fire!

South African Airways’ CEO Vuyani Jarana has quit after serving the national carrier for less than two years. He said that his turnaround strategy for the loss-making airline was being crippled by lack of state funding and intense bureaucracy.

The airline, which has not generated profit since 2011, has come up with a five-year mega plan that includes slashing costs and cancelling unprofitable routes as it grapples with cost increases that far outstrip revenue growth.

 

IATA meets Zimbabwe President over USD 196 million-dollar debt!

In a statement issued by IATA director-general Alexandre du Juniac on Tuesday, he mentioned how the aviation was a key contributor to Zimbabwe's prosperity, but funds from the sale of air tickets in the country currently could not be repatriated to airlines. 

"It will be negative for business, trade and tourism if airlines are forced to reduce their service to Zimbabwe," he said. This comes after the government banned the local use of foreign currencies including the US dollar and the rand, after hyperinflation rendered the Zimbabwe dollar virtually worthless.

 

Turkish Airlines in Nigeria

Turkish Airlines on Tuesday launched direct flights from Istanbul to Port Harcourt, the capital and largest city of Rivers State, Nigeria. It became Turkish Airlines' fourth destination in Nigeria and its 56th in Africa.

Round-trip flights between Istanbul and Port Harcourt will be operated four times a week. With a fleet of 335 passenger and cargo aircraft, Turkish Airlines now flies to 311 destinations in 124 countries -- 261 international and 50 domestics.

"We are happy to add Port Harcourt to our flight network, and enable our passengers in here to experience a seamless flight journey with the Turkish Airlines privilege," Kerem Sarp, Turkish Airlines senior vice president of sales said.

 

American Airlines in India and Africa.

American Airlines is looking to expand to India and Africa once a second batch of Boeing 787 orders starts arriving in 2020,.

“That’s the airplane that is going to take us eventually to India and into Africa, and into markets which are very different from the ones that we have been in historically, but ones we believe will be very profitable,” said Vasu Raja, the airline’s vice president for planning.

The major American airline has flown the Indian route before, but turned to be a money-losing route from Chicago between 2005 and 2012.

The route, Raja said, did not work for several reasons. First, they used a Boeing 777-200, which had a huge passenger capacity. Second, Fares are too low. the fare environment to India has not changed at all. Third, the airline often operated at poor times, with customers unable to make connections in Delhi.