AIR FRANCE-KLM REDEEMS €500 MILLION OF THE OUTSTANDING €4 BILLION BANK LOAN

 

      Following early signs of a recovery of the worldwide air traffic, combined with an improved access to capital markets, Air France-KLM has agreed with the syndicate of the nine banks of the PGE and the French State to redeem €500 million of the outstanding bank loan notional, bringing it down to €3.5 billion and, concomitantly, to amend its redemption profile by substituting the single repayment initially due on May 6, 2023 with a new maturity on May 6, 2025, at the latest, at Air France-KLM’s discretion.   

      The new maturity schedule is changed to: In May 2023:

Toys

 

R.A Gibson submitted this photo and note: “A beautiful picture of beautiful toys.”

Ethiopian Airlines and Liege Airport extend partnership

 

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services and Liege Airport have announced that they have renewed their long standing partnership agreement until 2026.

Image courtesy Ethiopian Airlines

Liege Airport, Belgium’s largest cargo airport and the 6th largest cargo airport in Europe, will continue to be Ethiopian Airlines cargo hub serving as a freighter gateway between Africa and Europe for the next five years. Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services, Africa’s largest cargo network operator, has been working with Liege airport for its freighter operations between Africa and Europe.

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services Acting Managing Director, Mr. Enquanhone Minyashal said: “We are glad to have renewed our partnership agreement with our long-standing partner airport at a time when we are registering tremendous growth in our cargo destinations and capacity. In collaboration with Liege Airport, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services has been providing fast and secure cargo transportation service across Europe and beyond for the last 15 years of successful cooperation.

"In the next five years, we will work to transform our freighter operation to serve Europe better with our renewed commitment with Liege Airport. As the largest pan African carrier, Ethiopian Airlines will continue to strengthen its partnership with Liege Airport to boost its freighter operations between Africa and Europe.”

Steven Verhasselt, VP Commercial of Liege Airport said “First of all, Liege Airport would like to congratulate Ethiopian Airlines and all its staff and partners a very happy 75th birthday. It is with great pride that we are part of the Ethiopian’s success story for almost 15 years and LGG will continue to be Ethiopian Airline’s cargo hub in Europe. Looking back from the start to where we are today, Ethiopian has already operated 15,000 freighter flights into LGG, approaching an incredible one million tonnes of cargo carried. Still, this is the past and can be considered as a very impressive start.

"Today, we celebrate the future. Ethiopian and LGG have renewed their partnership agreement that not only confirms the European Cargo hub in LGG for the next five years but also states that Ethiopian will become much more than an airline flying into LGG. In the future a dedicated cargo hub can be established in Liege North, for which Ethiopian was the launch customer to start with. We are very much looking forward to this next step that will help Ethiopian to serve its customers even better. More than ever, LGG will be the hub for Ethiopian and the main freighter gateway between Africa and Europe.”

ASECNA teams up with NIGCOMSAT and Thales Alenia Space to continue developing SBAS aviation services

 ASECNA, NIGCOMSAT and Thales Alenia Space are working together to accelerate the development of SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation System) services for aviation in Africa.

The three partners conducted on June 2nd 2021 a successful SBAS demonstration flight between Douala and Kribi in Cameroon with a rotorcraft. The aim was to show on the field the effectiveness of this technology developed as part of the “SBAS for Africa & Indian Ocean” programme, designed to autonomously provide SBAS services across the continent, thus improving the performance of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), GPS and Galileo.

The rotorcraft carried out a low-altitude, two-way demonstration flight along a low-level route linking two point-in-space (PinS) approaches to the Douala airport and a point near the oil platforms off the Kribi coast. The helicopter was provided by Heli Union and the SBAS receiver by Pildo Labs. This experimental flight demonstrated the ability of the SBAS service to improve navigation safety and efficiency, in view of the operational SBAS services expected to be delivered in 2024.

On June 3 and 4 in Douala, a seminar organized with the EGNOS-Africa JPO will host representatives of major aviation institutions in Cameroon to raise awareness about the development of SBAS aviation services in Africa.

“We will continue to support and contribute to the success of SBAS flight demonstrations using NIGCOMSAT-1R  navigation payload to sensitize stakeholders towards acceptance and adoption of SBAS technology in Africa’s Aviation sector for its many benefits especially as it concerns  improvement of operational safety, reduction in operational costs and environment”, declared Dr. Abimbola Alale, MD/CEO of NIGCOMSAT Ltd. “It is in line with marching order and directive of the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Federal Republic of Nigeria; Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FNCS, FBCS, FIIM who has directed full exploitation of the capabilities and capacity of NIGCOMSAT-1R satellite for digitalized economy in all sectors for sustainable development in the continent.”

“Thales Alenia Space is the ideal partner to support countries that want to implement their own SBAS system, based on our proven expertise in developing EGNOS1 for Europe and KASS for South Korea, coupled with our advanced satellite positioning technologies,” said Benoit Broudy, Vice President,  Navigation Business Unit at Thales Alenia Space “This latest demonstration proved the service's ability to improve satellite navigation for helicopters, in addition to civil planes, and it will help accelerate the rollout of SBAS aeronautical services in Africa.”

“I’m proud that we were able to demonstrate the utility and efficiency of SBAS services on our continent for all the community of airspace users, from commercial aviation to general aviation, and including rotorcraft,” said Mohamed Moussa, Director General of ASECNA. “In line with my vision of unification of the African Sky, the upcoming deployment of the ‘SBAS for Africa & Indian Ocean’ system, the navigation solution for Africa and by Africa, will benefit to all the aviation stakeholders of the continent, enhancing sustainably the flight safety and efficiency” Commented Mohamed Moussa, ASECNA General Director.