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Rwanda Air recently opened a new chapter in African aviation history by becoming the first East African airline to fly from Kigali, Rwanda, to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, with a stop over in Mombasa.
By doing so, it also became the first East African airline to operate a service from Mombasa to Dubai.
This new route follows closely on the heels of RwandAirs acquisition of two Boeing 737-500s earlier this year. This has enabled it to launch the two new destinations, Dubai and Mombasa.
The service currently operates three times a week with the possibility of it being increased if the route becomes more popular.
Speaking during the services launch ceremony, RwandAirs newly appointed chairman, John Mirenge, said: “We are excited at the prospect of the national carrier connecting Rwanda to the second port city of East Africa after Daresaalam and also Middle East hub, Dubai. We look forward to tapping into the potential presented by connecting Kigali to these key business and holiday destinations.”
RwandAir offers both business and economy class on both routes. The airline currently operates a fleet of two B737-500s, two Bombardier CRJs and a Bombardier Dash 8. Two Boeing 737-800 aircraft will be joining the fleet in August and October 2011.
The carrier aggressively growing its fleet to cater for its network expansion plans that will see it fly to more regional and intercontinental destinations in the near future.
In an interview with World Air news before the official launch, Mirenge stated that his plans for the next five years were for the carrier to expand into Europe as well as West Africa by consolidating some of its routes, and not being the biggest but by being the best African airline.
Air Travelers’ Up In Arms over Poor Service
Incessant flight delays and cancellations by airline operators in Nigeria are beginning to draw the ire of air passengers, who are now considering legal options to counter the problems.
They are seeking ways in which to compel the operators to pay them compensation and arrange for hotel accommodation any time their flights are cancelled without recourse to them.
They said this was the practice abroad. The passengers, represented by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) , have written to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), saying the operators had been subjecting their customers to undue suffering and hardship, without compensation.
The CPC letter, signed by the Director-General, Mrs. Ify Umenyi, said the trend had continued because the operators had been “getting away with their unpalatable behavior.”
According to the CPC, the behavior in Nigeria was not in accordance with international practice. The council bemoaned the situation when flights were cancelled without recourse to the passengers, even when they had their contact addresses and telephone numbers. The council is particularly piqued by the fact that the airlines randomly cancel and reschedule flights without considering customers social and business engagements.
The CPC stressed that it was against international norms and global best practices for consumers to be denied any form of compensation when they experienced long delays or cancellation of their flights.
Meanwhile, in another development, the NCAA and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said, in response to complaints by some passengers, that body scanners installed at airports did not violate passenger’s privacy.
Three-dimensional total body imaging scanners were recently installed at the nation’s international airports to screen passengers as a result of security threats.
The two agencies, in separate statements, said the introduction of the full body scanner followed the terror attack on a United States airliner by a Nigerian, Farouk Abdul Mutallab, and a year ago.
The statement by the NCAAs general manager, Public Affairs, Akin Olukunle, said the machines were configured in such a way that only the blurred image of the person is being screened would show without revealing his face or identity.
The director-general, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, in a separate statement described as “false and self-contradictory,” an editorial comment in a national daily newspaper recently that the full body scanners at the airports were lying idle.
“The Abuja declaration of the African Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation Security affirmed the position that we would enhance security measures at the airports around the world to protect traveling passengers,” he said.
Airline Orders
Orders for airliners of all sizes continue to flow in as the industry shows signs of recovery.
Among the largest ones announced recently were three for Airbus, one of which came from China Aviation Supplies Holding Company which has signed with Airbus for a total for 102 aircraft of which 66 are new orders. The new orders comprise 50 A320 Family aircraft, Six A330S and ten A350XWBs.
Another was BOC Aviation, the Singapore-based aircraft leasing subsidiary of Bank of China, which has placed a new firm order with Airbus for the purchase of 30 A320 Family aircraft.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Airlines has finalized a firm of 10 more A330-200 long range aircraft and converted an existing order for 15 A330-200 long range aircraft and converted an existing order for 15 A330s to the A350 XWB.
Egypt Orders C295 Aircraft
The Egyptian Air Force has signed a contract with Airbus Military for three C295 aircraft which are to be delivered from 2011 and will be used to increase the Egyptian Air Forces capacity in tactical and logistic transport.
Two 190S for Gulf Air
Two Embraer 190 jets were recently delivered to Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, under a newly ratified agreement with Jets cape ,Inc., an aircraft leasing company based in Fort Lauderdale ,Florida.
This delivery comes just seven months after the carrier’s first acceptance of two Embraer 170 jets.
BAE Systems Support Strategy
BAE Systems is to develop a more regionalized African strategy to support the growing numbers of its commercial aircraft now in operation across the continent.
The new approach was unveiled at its first African operators conference held in Johannesburg recently, Sean McGovern, business director support for BAE Systems regional aircraft, who chaired the conference, said:”We are placing growing numbers of our portfolio aircraft into African countries, and third parties are also finding Africa a very receptive market for our products.
“We have decided to regionalize our support to provide a more responsive service to African operators. We are looking to work with local industry to help support repair and overhaul facilities for components to ensure more convenient access for African operators and continued competitive operating costs and reliability. We are also exploring the possibility of setting up a regional spares centre.”
South Africa has proven to be an attractive market for the 70-110 seats BAe 146/Avro RJ Regional jetliner in particular and today there are four operators of the type in the country. Two of these provide aircraft and crew for the African operators in different countries, such as Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kenya and the Republic of the Congo. Additional aircraft are operating in Libya.
The latest deals for the aircraft incude SA Airlinks acquisition of four Avro RJ85s for domestic and regional airline services, and the sale of five BAe 146S TO African Airline Investments for use in its growing aircraft leasing operations.
A400M Principle Agreement
The customer nationals and EADS have come to a principle agreement regarding the A400M military transport aircraft with the intention to amend the original contract.
In this agreement the customer nations agree to increase the price of the contract by Euros 2-billion: waive all liquidated damages related to current delays: provide an additional amount of euro’s 1, 5-billion in exchange for a participation in future export sales, and accelerate pre-delivery payments in the period of 2010 to 2014, a new schedule of which will be finalized in the amended contract.
Based on this agreement, an estimate at completion of updated revenues and costs including an assessment of risks, reviewed by the EADS Board of Directors, leads to an increase of the A400M loss provision of euro’s 1, 8-billion pre-tax for the full year 2009.
Power –On For B747-8-1
Boeing has completed the power-on sequence for the new 747-8 Intercontinental .This milestone enables the programme to begin functional tests on the airplane.
Mechanics connected the 787-8 to an external power cart to energize the flight-deck display and maintenance systems. The electricity coursing through the airplanes 214 km of wire will be as high as 105 kilovolt ampere (kVa) .
The programme also activivated the airplanes hydraulic and pneumatic systems.Pressurises to 3000 pounds psi,the hydraulic power the flight control surfaces, landing gear, brakes and steering.
Mid-East Scoops Awards
Doha-Airlines, airports and individuals from the Middle East were honored at the Leaders in Aviation Awards at the second Doha Aviation Summit recently.
Among the winners were Air Arabia, named as Low Cost carrier of the Year, Abu Dhabi Airports Company which took the award for the Green Initiative of the year by an Airport, and Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways who was honoured for his long term contribution to the economic growth of Qatar.
Among other award winners were: Airport of the Year-Athens International Airport; Green initiative of the year by an Airline-Firefly Malaysia; Best Airport and Airline Partnership of the Year-Malaysia Airports Berhad and Malaysia Airlines, and Long Term Contribution to ICAO from the MENA region-Captain Sameh El Hefny, president, Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority.
ASC in Me for Dassault
Paris-Dassault Falcon has appointed Jeddah-based Saudia Private Aviation Engineering and Maintenance (SPA-E&M) as a line service centre, expanding the Falcon authorized service centre network (ASC) in the Middle East.
SPA-E&M, the business aviation unit of Saudi Arabia Airlines, has more than 35 years of experience in maintaining and inspecting business aircraft of all makes, incuding Falcons.
Dassaults other ASC in the region, Jet Aviation Dubai, is a line service centre capable of servicing Falcon 900,2000 and 7X aircraft.
A spare parts depot nearby in Dubai houses $ 1, 4-million in spares and tooling.Dassault also established a sales office in Dubai in 2008.
Jet links Route Expansion
Nairobi- Jet link inaugurated a new route linking the Kenyan capital with Mwanza (Tanzania) via Kisumu last month.
This route will also open a new connection by offering a direct flight to MWANZA FROM Kisumu , a route that has demand but which was only offered over 26 years ago and never tried again until now. Jet link has deployed its Canadian Regional Jet CRJ-100 on this route with an initial frequency of two flights a day.
The airline also plans to begin flights to Daresaalam next year, with Khartoum, Asmara and Hargesia expected to be the new destinations to follow in the coming year.
P&W Sues R-R
Miami-Pratt & Whitney’s jet-engine unit has filed patent-infringement complaints against Rolls-Royce Group Plc, a counterpunch in a dispute that may affect delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dream liners.
Pratt & Whitney claims the Trent 900 and Trent 1000 engines made by UK-based Rolls-Royce are infringing a patent for a swept-fan blade, according to a recent filing at the US International Trade Commision, in Washington. A complaint making similar allegations was submitted at the UK High Court.
A ruling in favour of Pratt & Whitney by the ITC would block Rolls-Royce from shipping Trent 1000 engines into the US for the Dream liner, Boeings newest passenger jet that has been delayed six times. The UK lawsuit may limit shipments of the Trent 900 for the Airbus A380, now in use by international carriers, and the Airbus A350XWB model powered by another version of the Trent.
Airlines that ordered the 787 Dream liner, which is almost three years late for its first delivery, have a choice of the Rolls-Royce engine or the GEnx from General Electric Co.
Lufthansa Adds 1100 Seats to SA Route
Johannesburg-Lufthansa German Airlines in November last increased its capacity between South Africa and Germany by almost 1100 seats per week by upping the earlier two A380 flights per week to five, effectively boosting capacity by 20%.
Boeing 737 Gets New Look
Seattle- Boeing recently delivered the first of its 737 jets outfitted with a new interior as it ponders the future of what it claims to be its best-selling, narrow-body jet.
The company’s new “Sky Interior,” is slated to be installed on 1200 of the more than 2000 B737s currently on order.
About the Author
Anthony Juma is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Aviation.
This is an Air Charter Company that specializes on Route & Fleet Expansion & Flight News On World Air News Round Up. The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http:// / www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/our-fleet.html
