FlyDubai

hen flights by FlyDubai were announced two weeks ago for Bujumbura and Kigali, via Entebbe, it generated much excitement in particular in Burundi, which was until now lacking any form of direct flights to the UAE’s most vibrant city.

The twice-weekly flights, Kigali will have three weekly flights while Entebbe will see daily operations, are considered a huge bonus for tourism and trade development in Burundi and the latest development, an agreement between FlyDubai and Emirates to interline, will only add yet more buzz to the talk in Bujumbura’s tourism circles.

The interline agreement will have very practical upsides for travelers using FlyDubai as they can now seamlessly connect in Dubai on to Emirates flights, with baggage checked through from the point of origin, in this case Bujumbura, to the final destination.

FlyDubai’s network is, of course, also extensive but covers mainly the radius from Dubai which is within range of the Boeing B737-800NG, while Emirates of course operates a global network to destinations which are not on offer by FlyDubai. Travelers wanting to reach such places around the globe now have this option of using both airlines and simply transfer on arrival in DXB on their FlyDubai service to an Emirates flight at Dubai International Airport, which both airlines use as their main hub.

The battle of the skies in East Africa - reloaded

When Ethiopian Airlines, come 04th of June, doubles their number of flights from Addis Ababa to Nairobi from presently two to four, will the stage be set for notching up the ‘air war’ between two of Africa’s leading airlines, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
Ethiopian appears clearly intent to take the battle for continental superiority to rivals Kenya Airways with the doubling of the flights and it is yet to be seen how Kenya Airways will respond to this bold move of invading their own patch in such an expansionist manner.
Ethiopian was of course the erstwhile Pan African carrier, connecting the continent via Addis Ababa, also the city where the African Union and its predecessor the Organisation of African Unity, in short OAU, is headquartered. Flying with Ethiopian spared African travelers the trip to distant Europe only to connect back into another part of Africa at a time when there were but few options to fly from East to West and from South to North.
ET’s concept to feed and de-feed traffic via their Addis hub and then carry passengers, even from way back in the 1970’s to for instance Beijing, combined with having traffic rights into North America for many years now, did clearly inspire other airlines on the continent to roll out similar strategies, especially as the African economies continued to grow, offering an expanding pool of passengers to compete over.
Kenya Airways certainly took a hint when they announced two years ago that by the end of 2015 they would want to connect from their own hub in Nairobi to every political and commercial capital across Africa, while at the same time expanding their network into Europe, the Gulf, to India and into the Far and South East.
The immediate battle between in particular those two airlines will be fought on several fronts, the pace of delivery of new aircraft, the pace of rolling out new destinations, the linkage with a global airline alliance, the creation of partnership airlines in Africa and the hitherto restricted access by Kenya Airways to the North American market place due to a lack of Category 1 certification by the American FAA. This latter point is something the Kenyan government and the Kenya Airport Authority need to address by creating aviation infrastructure which meets such requirements, but for the rest, it is up to the two airlines and their top management to slug it out.
Ethiopian will this year alone take delivery of a further 5 B787 Dreamliners – they already got 5 of these state of the art birds flying – and a further 2 B777-300ER’s, of which they already operate two with a further 6 B777-200LR in the fleet. In contrast does Kenya Airways expect delivery of one B777-300ER, making it two such aircraft besides their 4 B777-200ER, and 5 more B787 Dreamliners, following the arrival of their first such aircraft on April 05th.
Kenya Airways presently operates a fleet of 6 B767-300ER’s, all due for retirement by the end of this year, while Ethiopian, after equipping most of their B767 fleet with blended winglets to reduce fuel consumption, operates 12 which will be due for retirement by the 2017/18 period. The fleet size of the two airlines also shows the advantages for Ethiopian at this stage, with Kenya Airways operating 45 aircraft to 56 destinations while rival ET operates 62 aircraft to 80 destinations. Notably does ET also have 14 Airbus A350-9 on order, due for delivery from 2017 onwards, again cementing the numerical advantage of aircraft projected to fly for them. It was also learned that ET is in talks with Boeing about the acquisition of up to 10 of the brand new B777X, which is presently under development and will eventually complement if not replace the current B777 models. Kenya Airways in their strategic plan intends to operate an overall fleet of 119 aircraft, including freighters, to then 115 destinations by the year 2022, a notice of intent that they are serious in competing for Africa’s number one airline spot. No such longer term forecast is presently available from Ethiopian at this time but it is thought that they will roll out a similar expansion to retain their current advantage in terms of aircraft and destinations.
On the destination front Ethiopian just launched flights to Shanghai, their 4th destination in China, while Kenya Airways will only be able to follow suit later in the year when they also intend to launch flights to Beijing, which then makes 3 destinations including Guangzhou. Vienna will be added as another European destination for ET in a few weeks’ time, to be followed later in the year with planned flights to Tokyo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manila and Jakarta, while Kenya Airways is restoring flights to Paris in June but not yet Rome which was dropped last year.
Moving on to the alliance issue, where again Ethiopian is one of three airlines in Africa belonging to market leader Star Alliance, the other two carriers being South African Airways and Egypt Air, effectively covering the continent like none of Star’s rivals does. Kenya Airways is a member of SkyTeam and the only such member in Africa at present, showing the added traffic potential of Star Alliance over SkyTeam when it comes to the number of airports served and passengers carried into Africa as a result of strategic code share arrangements and commercial partnerships.
The last but not the least area of continental rivalry can be seen vis a vis the partner airlines, where Ethiopian presently holds significant equity in West Africa’s ASKY and in Malawi’s new national carrier Malawian Airlines. Plans are also afoot by ET to launch another equity partner airline in the Congo DR, where a huge potential exists for passengers finally having another option of a quality airline serving the sprawling country. When Malawian started operations, Kenya Airways’ fifth freedom rights between Lilongwe and Lusaka were promptly cancelled, an example of how equity partnerships can be used for a direct commercial advantage. Kenya Airways in contrast, apart from launching a 100 percent subsidiary on the 01st of April, a low cost carrier by the name of Jambojet, which now serves four domestic destinations and has already announced that flights into the wider region are due to follow as the operation settles down and the fleet grows, has no expressed plans at this moment to seek equity partnership with other African airlines, existing or start up’s, leaving that field also to Ethiopian.
The combination of all these factors will no doubt influence the future development of aviation in Eastern Africa and the continent at large as the strategists are pitted against each other. In Kenya another game changer will come into play as long serving CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni is due to retire by the end of the year, after serving in that position since early 2003, and whoever will take over from him will have his work cut out to lead Kenya Airways to a level par against Ethiopian, which is in the capable hands of Tewolde Gebremariam. He took over in September 2010 from Girma Wake, ensuring continuity at the top level. Tewolde looks back at nearly 30 years of service at Ethiopian Airlines and can best be described as an old fox when it comes to aviation in Africa, such as been there, done that and got the award cabinet to prove it.
Competition, or so goes the saying, is good for the market but competition in Africa is sadly not restricted to battling it out for market share between African airlines alone. Increasingly are the African skies now the battleground where African carriers, besides being in an often cut throat struggle for market share among themselves, now face the Gulf giants which have been given almost unlimited market access by African governments, often to the detriment of their own as well as of other African airlines. Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Air Arabia and Fly Dubai all have made inroads into the African market, the latter two being LCC’s and still relatively limited in their range of African destinations. All of them offer state of the art fleets, and the big league players offer global connectivity via their hubs in Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi and are renowned for their service levels and frequent flyer perks. It is here that African airlines, as incidentally suggested by Kenya Airways’ CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni at the IATA Convention in Cape Town last year, need to examine areas where cooperation is possible, where co-ompetion is the desirable way forward in order to stem the outflow of passengers to non-continental airlines and thereby dimming the prospects of our own leading airlines to eventually rise to similar levels in terms of fleet and destinations. Exciting times ahead for sure in Kenya, in Ethiopia and across the continent, giving the pundits much to speculate over and regular aviation observers and journalists much to write about.

SA's borders closed to Ebola-affected countries

South Africa has imposed a total travel ban for all non-citizens traveling from identified high risk countries to prevent the spread of Ebola to the country.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that travellers from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will not be allowed to travel to South Africa and anyone wanting to visit those countries has been advised to delay the trip for the foreseeable future. Image: GCIS

Addressing media at a briefing in Pretoria, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said South African citizens who want to travel to those countries will be asked to delay their travel unless it is essential.

The high-risk countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia - with Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia being identified as medium risk. He said the travel advisory was part of enhanced precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Ebola into South Africa.

"All South Africans are hereby advised to avoid non-essential travel to Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone. South Africans are not restricted from travelling to these countries but returning travellers will be subjected to rigorous screening and medical assessments before being allowed entry into the country," Motsoaledi said.

He said South Africans returning from these countries will be subjected to a stricter screening process including completing a comprehensive health questionnaire, body temperature screening and possibly a complete medical examination.

Designated hospitals standing by 

"If anyone has symptoms or signs typical of Ebola, they will be referred to one of the designated hospitals for further investigations and management," he said.

More than 1,300 people have died from the virus in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each declared the outbreak a national disaster.

The Ebola virus has been declared a national disaster by some West African countries as the death toll climbs to more than 1,300 people. Image:Thisis50

African countries have been classified into three categories:

• High risk Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone;
• Medium risk including Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia;
• Low risk, where no trace of Ebola has been found but where the countries are used as transit points to get to South Africa.

"For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.

"There is a special category of individuals who are South Africans but work in the mines, communications, security and retail sectors and they will be subjected to normal scrutiny procedures," said Motsoaledi.

He said Cabinet had agreed to provide funding of R32.5m to the Department of Health from the African Renaissance Fund to support containment of the disease and prevent further sit spreading.

"Part of the funds will be used to set up a mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone and send a team of health care workers to that country," he added. 

The Minister said the department had distributed guidelines to all hospitals in public and private sectors as well as to designated health facilities for the treatment of patients. It had deployed personal protective equipment (PPE) to designated facilities and is operating a hotline for clinicians through the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

SA's borders closed to Ebola-affected countries

South Africa has imposed a total travel ban for all non-citizens traveling from identified high risk countries to prevent the spread of Ebola to the country.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that travellers from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will not be allowed to travel to South Africa and anyone wanting to visit those countries has been advised to delay the trip for the foreseeable future. Image: GCIS

Addressing media at a briefing in Pretoria, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said South African citizens who want to travel to those countries will be asked to delay their travel unless it is essential.

The high-risk countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia - with Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia being identified as medium risk. He said the travel advisory was part of enhanced precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Ebola into South Africa.

"All South Africans are hereby advised to avoid non-essential travel to Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone. South Africans are not restricted from travelling to these countries but returning travellers will be subjected to rigorous screening and medical assessments before being allowed entry into the country," Motsoaledi said.

He said South Africans returning from these countries will be subjected to a stricter screening process including completing a comprehensive health questionnaire, body temperature screening and possibly a complete medical examination.

Designated hospitals standing by 

"If anyone has symptoms or signs typical of Ebola, they will be referred to one of the designated hospitals for further investigations and management," he said.

More than 1,300 people have died from the virus in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each declared the outbreak a national disaster.

The Ebola virus has been declared a national disaster by some West African countries as the death toll climbs to more than 1,300 people. Image:Thisis50

African countries have been classified into three categories:

• High risk Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone;
• Medium risk including Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia;
• Low risk, where no trace of Ebola has been found but where the countries are used as transit points to get to South Africa.

"For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.

"There is a special category of individuals who are South Africans but work in the mines, communications, security and retail sectors and they will be subjected to normal scrutiny procedures," said Motsoaledi.

He said Cabinet had agreed to provide funding of R32.5m to the Department of Health from the African Renaissance Fund to support containment of the disease and prevent further sit spreading.

"Part of the funds will be used to set up a mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone and send a team of health care workers to that country," he added. 

The Minister said the department had distributed guidelines to all hospitals in public and private sectors as well as to designated health facilities for the treatment of patients. It had deployed personal protective equipment (PPE) to designated facilities and is operating a hotline for clinicians through the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

SA's borders closed to Ebola-affected countries

South Africa has imposed a total travel ban for all non-citizens traveling from identified high risk countries to prevent the spread of Ebola to the country.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that travellers from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will not be allowed to travel to South Africa and anyone wanting to visit those countries has been advised to delay the trip for the foreseeable future. Image: GCIS

Addressing media at a briefing in Pretoria, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said South African citizens who want to travel to those countries will be asked to delay their travel unless it is essential.

The high-risk countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia - with Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia being identified as medium risk. He said the travel advisory was part of enhanced precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Ebola into South Africa.

"All South Africans are hereby advised to avoid non-essential travel to Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone. South Africans are not restricted from travelling to these countries but returning travellers will be subjected to rigorous screening and medical assessments before being allowed entry into the country," Motsoaledi said.

He said South Africans returning from these countries will be subjected to a stricter screening process including completing a comprehensive health questionnaire, body temperature screening and possibly a complete medical examination.

Designated hospitals standing by 

"If anyone has symptoms or signs typical of Ebola, they will be referred to one of the designated hospitals for further investigations and management," he said.

More than 1,300 people have died from the virus in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each declared the outbreak a national disaster.

The Ebola virus has been declared a national disaster by some West African countries as the death toll climbs to more than 1,300 people. Image:Thisis50

African countries have been classified into three categories:

• High risk Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone;
• Medium risk including Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia;
• Low risk, where no trace of Ebola has been found but where the countries are used as transit points to get to South Africa.

"For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.

"There is a special category of individuals who are South Africans but work in the mines, communications, security and retail sectors and they will be subjected to normal scrutiny procedures," said Motsoaledi.

He said Cabinet had agreed to provide funding of R32.5m to the Department of Health from the African Renaissance Fund to support containment of the disease and prevent further sit spreading.

"Part of the funds will be used to set up a mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone and send a team of health care workers to that country," he added. 

The Minister said the department had distributed guidelines to all hospitals in public and private sectors as well as to designated health facilities for the treatment of patients. It had deployed personal protective equipment (PPE) to designated facilities and is operating a hotline for clinicians through the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

SA's borders closed to Ebola-affected countries

South Africa has imposed a total travel ban for all non-citizens traveling from identified high risk countries to prevent the spread of Ebola to the country.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that travellers from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will not be allowed to travel to South Africa and anyone wanting to visit those countries has been advised to delay the trip for the foreseeable future. Image: GCIS

Addressing media at a briefing in Pretoria, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said South African citizens who want to travel to those countries will be asked to delay their travel unless it is essential.

The high-risk countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia - with Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia being identified as medium risk. He said the travel advisory was part of enhanced precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Ebola into South Africa.

"All South Africans are hereby advised to avoid non-essential travel to Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone. South Africans are not restricted from travelling to these countries but returning travellers will be subjected to rigorous screening and medical assessments before being allowed entry into the country," Motsoaledi said.

He said South Africans returning from these countries will be subjected to a stricter screening process including completing a comprehensive health questionnaire, body temperature screening and possibly a complete medical examination.

Designated hospitals standing by 

"If anyone has symptoms or signs typical of Ebola, they will be referred to one of the designated hospitals for further investigations and management," he said.

More than 1,300 people have died from the virus in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each declared the outbreak a national disaster.

The Ebola virus has been declared a national disaster by some West African countries as the death toll climbs to more than 1,300 people. Image:Thisis50

African countries have been classified into three categories:

• High risk Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone;
• Medium risk including Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia;
• Low risk, where no trace of Ebola has been found but where the countries are used as transit points to get to South Africa.

"For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.

"There is a special category of individuals who are South Africans but work in the mines, communications, security and retail sectors and they will be subjected to normal scrutiny procedures," said Motsoaledi.

He said Cabinet had agreed to provide funding of R32.5m to the Department of Health from the African Renaissance Fund to support containment of the disease and prevent further sit spreading.

"Part of the funds will be used to set up a mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone and send a team of health care workers to that country," he added. 

The Minister said the department had distributed guidelines to all hospitals in public and private sectors as well as to designated health facilities for the treatment of patients. It had deployed personal protective equipment (PPE) to designated facilities and is operating a hotline for clinicians through the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Kenya Airways to introduce direct flights to Israel

Following successful bilateral trade relations talks between the Kenyan government and Israeli business and government delegation, Kenya Airways has announced its intentions to introduce direct flights to Tel Aviv in Israel.

Speaking during a farewell cocktail hosted by Kenya Airways in honour of the delegation, the airline's chief executive officer and group managing director, Dr Titus Naikuni, said the strategic business move will be integral to helping the national carrier fulfil its mission of bringing the world to Africa, and taking Africa to the rest of the world.

Without disclosing the date when the flights will be introduced, Dr Naikuni said, "The introduction of flights to Israel is anchored on the renewed economic interest in Africa, and will also open up the continent for tourists and trade, particularly in agriculture and technology. This is yet another testament of our commitment to contribute to the sustainable development of Africa."

Foreign investment

Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Amina Mohammed, on her part commended Kenya Airways. "We are in the process of making it easy for foreign companies to invest in Kenya, and we wish to extend a firm welcome to Israeli firms to take advantage of the more conducive business environment that we are creating."

The delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Liberman. He described their mission as successful, having established strong ties that will be pursued for mutual gains between Kenya and Israel.

"In addition to establishing and strengthening trade relations, we also wish to assure the people of Kenya that we remain united even in light of recent terror activities. Terrorism is a global threat and we will support efforts to make Kenya safe for business at all times."

Liberman also welcomed the intention by Kenya Airways to begin flights to Tel Aviv, noting that the move will enhance trade relations between the two countries. "The intention by Kenya Airways to begin flying to Tel Aviv will open up both countries for business opportunities as well encourage more tourist activities in your beautiful country," he added.