A snapshot of the week's airline news
Ethiopian Airlines adds Seychelles flights
ETHIOPIAN Airlines will add a sixth weekly flight to Seychelles,
effective December 6. Flight ET 0879 will depart Addis Ababa
at 09h30 to arrive in Seychelles at 14h20 on Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Flight ET 0878 will depart Seychelles at 18h00 and arrive in
Addis Ababa at 20h30 on the same days.
The flight will be operated by a Boeing 787-800 with 24
seats in business class and 246 in economy. The carrier has
placed an order for ten more Airbus A350-900s, which will be
deployed on long-haul routes from Addis Ababa to destinations
in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The A350-900s
are configured in a two-class layout, with 30 seats in business
class and 313 in economy.
RwandAir to begin flights to Brussels
RWANDAIR will launch flights from Johannesburg via Kigali
to Brussels in July. All return flights from Brussels to
Johannesburg will be via London and Kigali. There will be three
flights a week between Brussels and Kigali operated by the
airline’s Airbus A330 fleet. “Adding Brussels to our fast-growing
network, reaffirms our commitment to create new opportunities
for both continents with smooth connections from cities
with high demand and will go a long way to boost trade and
tourism”, said Chance Ndagano, acting ceo of RwandAir.
Regional carrier suspends operations
DRC airline flyCAA has suspended the majority of its
operations. Currently, the airline only has one Fokker 50
operating regional routes in the DRC. Rod Murphy, commercial
project manager of flyCAA, says the suspension is temporary,
though no date has been set for the airline to resume services.
“We are currently sourcing new aircraft and are suspending
operations while this takes place,” says Rod.
He says the airline is withdrawing from BSP at the end of
September.
HM, EY expand Beijing codeshare
AIR Seychelles has expanded its codeshare agreement with
Etihad Airways to offer one-stop connections to Beijing. The
agreement came into effect on June 14. Air Seychelles’ HM
code is placed on Etihad’s service between Abu Dhabi and
Beijing and Air Seychelles passengers can now travel to Beijing
on the daily flight from Abu Dhabi.
Roy Kinnear, ceo of Air Seychelles, said: “Our new codeshare
route with Etihad Airways provides guests with convenient
travel options to Beijing and reinforces the strong political and
economic relations between Seychelles and China.”
Flight EY888 (HM5372) departs Abu Dhabi at 21h45 and
arrives in Beijing at 08h50. The return flight, EY889 (HM5373)
departs Beijing at 01h10 and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 06h30.
Biometric self-service bag drop from Delta
DELTA Air Lines has introduced four self-service bag drop
machines at Minneapolis St Paul International Airport. The
$600 000 (R7m) machines allow customers to quickly,
securely and easily check their own luggage and can potentially
process twice as many customers per hour. In addition to the
self-service bag drop trial, Delta is launching other customer
solutions such as RFID baggage handling, real-time bag
tracking via the Fly Delta mobile app and more automated
screening lanes.
Lagos airport to install safety scanner
THE Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) plans to install
an upgraded baggage scanner that can detect explosives,
narcotics and other prohibited items at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The airport authority said in a statement that the machine
would boost the safety and security at the country’s airports.
Saleh Dunoma, md and ceo of FAAN says: “Our intention is
to deploy these scanners to our international airports but this
depends on the outcome of its performance in Lagos.
