San Marino Aircraft Registry's ratification to Cape Town Convention

As part of the San Marino Aircraft Registry's commitment to the aviation industry, the Registry has announced the San Marino Republic's Ratification to the Cape Town convention.

The Cape Town Convention is one of the most important and innovative international conventions to have been concluded in the field of transitional commercial law and has already secured nearly 50 ratification.
 
The Convention is intended to give parties involved in such transactions greater confidence and predictability, principally through the establishment of a uniform set of rules guiding the constitution, protection, prioritization, and enforcement of certain rights in aircraft and aircraft engines. It alters the rules governing aircraft sales, leases and financing on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis by establishing a new international framework and providing for the creation of an International Registry ("The International Registry") to be supervised by the International Civil Aviation Organization ("ICAO").
 
David Colindres ,president of the San Marino Aircraft Registry said: "This ratification is very important as it gives value added and confidence to banks and leasing companies. The Registration of interest in an asset such as an aircraft is considered to be best practice for owners, creditors, debtors, lessors, lessees, agents and others in protecting their financial interest in such an asset."

NCAA suspends Discovery and warns other domestic carriers over safety

Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued warning letters to a number of its domestic airlines following an audit which revealed severe breaches of safety regulations.

 It also suspended the operating licence of Discovery Airways
"In pursuit of our oversight responsibilities as stipulated by law, the NCAA has lately carried out a review of the operations of some domestic airlines," said Sam Adurogboye, spokesperson for the agency.
Discovery Airways began flight operations last year. The NCAA has repeatedly raised fresh fears over the safety of some airlines still plying domestic routes noting that some of the airlines were defaulting in meeting staff basic salary demands, a trend Adurogboye said could weaken staff morale and commitment as well as result in safety compromise.
"The moment an airline cannot meet its financial obligations, it is believed that the staff morale will be down and this can impact negatively on safety and security of its operations," said the NCAA.

Proflight champions young Zambian pilots

Twenty-year-old Kalenga is a First Officer flying with captains across the airline's network, having been hired as part of the company's commitment to support Zambian youth and nurture new local talent.

Kalenga joins an elite team of 36 pilots flying for Proflight on routes from Lusaka to Livingstone, Mfuwe, Lower Zambezi, Ndola, Solwezi and Kasama, as well as Chipata, Mansa and Lilongwe in Malawi.
He joined the airline in September last year, having been given the job on August 26 – his 20th birthday.

Born in Kitwe, the second of three children, his father is an engineer and his mother a nurse. Having studied at Nkana Trust Primary School and Mpelembe Secondary School, Kalenga went straight to the 43 Air School after graduating from grade 12 in 2012.

In one year and three months he graduated with his commercial pilot’s licence, having flown 200 hours and been rated to fly Caravan aircraft.
Since joining Proflight he has now notched-up almost 500 hours of flying time and flown to more than ten destinations on over 100 flights.

It was Kalenga’s parents who encouraged and supported their son’s dream of a career in aviation. He had originally planned to become an engineer, but after hearing that there was a mistaken belief that Zambians could not become pilots, he decided to prove people wrong.

He recalls his first day as a commercial pilot: “I was nervous; I didn’t even have the full uniform. I was flying to Kasama and had to be up at 4hrs.”
But the satisfaction of the job soon came through: “There are tons of thrills, from something as simple as seeing a passenger happy, to the thrill of flying.”
Kalenga draws his inspiration from the colleagues he is working with at Proflight, and in particular is guided by Capt. Vivian Sikazwe, who at 64 is the airline’s oldest commercial pilot.

Fellow pilot, Capt. Josh Mwambazi praised Kalenga’s commitment and explained that Proflight is one of the few airlines in the world where pilots have the opportunity to progress from flying Caravans to twin-engine aircraft in the space of two to three years, and take advantage of the airline’s investment in world-class training for its staff.

Kalenga’s CV was one of almost 300 received by Proflight every month, but his attendance at a good quality flight school, along with having the required number of flying hours, tipped the balance in his favour, along with the fact that Proflight actively seeks to recruit Zambian nationals to its team.
Kalenga’s dreams do not stop with flying Caravan aircraft, however, and he has his sights set on the airlines’ lager planes, before one day graduating to fly the world’s largest passenger plane – the Airbus A380.

Summit reaches AGC for climb into Africa

Two US businesses have created an MRO alliance to develop their business further into Africa.

Summit Aerospace and American General Supplies, (AGS) say their combined financial strength and capabilities would improved their offer to African airlines, far more than going alone.
“We’ve wanted to expand our product and services offering into Africa for some time,” said Jorge Fernandez, managing partner of Summit Aerospace. “We just needed to come up with an effective way of doing it. After discussing our desire to grow ourselves into the commercial aviation landscape in Africa, we called an old friend, American General Supplies to solicit their help.”
Summit’s other managing partner Allan Jiron added: “ “We knew that AGS has been successfully serving the needs of African commercial aviation for more than 30 years, so it was a no brainer for us to approach AGS about representing us in the African market,” he said. “They agreed with our belief that the synergy of bringing our two companies together would be greater than each of us going it alone.”
AGS CEO Kassa Maru said: “Companies operating in the commercial aviation space in Africa face daunting obstacles, including regulatory constraints, access to capital and easy access to proven, international MRO support
“Since AGS currently operates in the capacity of purchasing and financing agent to a few African airlines, we know our financial strength and experience in the marketplace will work to the benefit of our customers and our MRO partner,” he said.

Finalists for the top "on time: airlines revealed

FlightStats, the global flight data services business for the travel industry has released the list of the top ten finalists for the 6th annual Airline On-Time Performance Service Awards - with Kenyan Airways and Ethiopian going head to head with the Gulf carriers

 The category for the Middle East and Africa has the following airlines on the shortlist. 
· EgyptAir
· Emirates
· Ethiopian Airlines
· Flydubai
· Kenya Airways
· Pegasus
· Qatar Airways 
· Royal Jordanian
· Saudia
· Turkish Airlines 
Saudi has also been shortlisted for the top global airlines section.
For a carrier to be included it must rank in the top 150 worldwide in terms of capacity (Available Seat Miles) and
data tracking coverage must exceed 90%, meaning that FlightStats has scheduled and actual gate arrival times on at least 90% of the scheduled flights for most categories. For the Middle East/ Africa regions, a 70% coverage threshold was used.
The results will be announced next week

Two new airports given go ahead in Djibouti

Djibouti's President, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, has laid the first stones of two new airports as part of the country's infrastructure development drive.

The airports are being built at a combined cost of US$599 million and it expected to transform Djibouti into a regional travel, tourism and business hub for Africa. Together the airports will cater for over two million passengers and over 100,000 tons of air cargo, and create 2,000 jobs.
Moussa Ahmed Hassan, Djibouti’s Minister for Equipment and Transport, said: “The investment in transport infrastructure in Djibouti will act as a catalyst for economic growth and development. The airports form part of the major transport infrastructure investment programme, enabling the country to build on its position as a key regional trade hub.”
The two new international airports will complement Djibouti’s existing U$5 billion, multiple seaport investment plan. Djibouti will start work on liquefied-natural-gas and crude-oil terminals in 2015, which will add to four new ports already being built that will quadruple cargo handling to almost 80 million metric tons annually. The direct rail link to Addis Ababa is also currently under construction and will be completed this year.
Planned to go operational in 2018, the first airport, named Hassan Gouled Aptidon International Airport after Djibouti’s first president, is being built in Ali-Sabieh, 25km south of the capital. It will be capable of catering for 1.5 million passengers and 100,000 tons of air cargo per year. The airport will accommodate all modern commercial aircraft including the giant Airbus 380.
The second airport, Ahmed Dini Ahmed International Airport, named after the former prime minister, is located in the north of Djibouti and is designed to handle up to 767,400 passengers per year. It is expected to open its doors in 2016. The two new airports will create approximately 2,000 jobs during construction and operation.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is providing financial support for the project.
Djibouti is making significant strides in the development of its sea, air, road and rail infrastructure. It is developing rail links, oil pipelines and other infrastructure as it seeks to become a middle-income country by 2035. The economy is forecast by the World Bank to grow 6.5 per cent in 2015, the highest estimates for the whole of the MENA region

Spanish budget carrier stretches African network to Accra

Spanish low cost carrier Vueling – an IAG subsidiary - is to begin a weekly flight to Accra from its main base in Barcelona.

This is part of an expansion of its African network which also includes additional routes to Morocco and Tunisia.
The weekly flight to the Ghana capital will be the airline’s longest flight at nearly 4,000km.
In June, it will also begin twice-weekly flights to the Tunisian island of Djerba and to Rabat, Morocco's capital.
All three new destinations will be served from Rabat Vueling’s base at Barcelona’s El Prat airport.