Analysis for Africa
30-Apr-12 3:00 PM
Cameroon’s new national carrier Camair-Co has started its second year of operations with the launch of two new international routes from its hub at Douala in Jun-2012, taking its network to 12 destinations, an impressive build-up for just one year of flying.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo capital Kinshasa will join the carrier’s network from 10-Jun-2012 with three weekly flights, marking the first service between the two cities. Camair-Co will follow this with the launch of service to Lagos, Nigeria on 12-Jun-2012, also with three weekly flights.
19-Apr-12 7:43 PM
Air Nigeria is resuming its long-haul network after services were cut during a period of restructuring, ownership transfer and re-branding three years ago. The privately held flag carrier, formerly known as Virgin Nigeria and briefly as Nigeria Eagle Airlines, will resume long-haul services in May-2012 to London Gatwick and Johannesburg with plans in the short-term to launch Rome and Paris services.
The Lagos-based carrier has had a false start, expecting last year to resume long-haul flights in Sep-2011, but plans this time are more concrete, with Air Nigeria loading schedules and fares. Its planned services will see notable competition, but like many routes in and out of Africa, are typically high-yielding. Air Nigeria’s forthcoming Lagos-London route is the latest in West Africa-Europe expansion, following notable capacity increases from Brussels Airlines.
16-Apr-12 8:36 PM
Kenya Airways plans to launch its first services to North America, South America and Australia by 2017, making it one of the few carriers to serve every inhabited continent. While these three continents will give Africa's currently fifth-largest airline by seats a global presence, its future is pegged on Asia, with the carrier over the next 10 years planning to launch seven new routes into China, six in the Indian Subcontinent and three across North and Southeast Asia as well as having a growing presence in Europe and the Middle East. It is poised to become Africa's largest carrier.
Growth will be fuelled by Africa's status as a burgeoning market, as well as reliance on partners: Kenya Airways will open routes to SkyTeam member hubs in Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines), Hanoi (Vietnam Airlines), Seoul (Korean Air), Moscow (Aeroflot) and Prague (Czech Airlines). The intercontinental focus follows Kenya's strong emphasis on regional Africa, with the carrier aiming to serve every African nation by the end of 2013.
13-Apr-12 11:28 AM
International Airlines Group (IAG) is targeting winter 2012/13 as its first opportunity to fully incorporate the 42 daily London Heathrow slots it will acquire as part of its purchase of bmi from Lufthansa, now approved by regulators with only minor concessions. The initial integration will look to bring the predominantly short-haul bmi operation to breakeven by increasing seat capacity on each slot pair, making network changes and leveraging IAG's marketing and distribution power on the inherited bmi network. The medium-term integration will see the short-haul bmi slots allocated for services on IAG carrier British Airways' (BA) long-haul operation, which is smaller than its major European rivals. BA will target emerging markets including Asia, Africa and Latin America.
This new and large increase in Heathrow capacity will require significant fleet adjustments, and already BA plans to delay retirement of Boeing 747 aircraft as well as to re-examine its purchase options, which it holds on 787 and Airbus A380 aircraft. It will also seek clarity from Boeing on its 777 successor programme.
9-Apr-12 10:20 PM
United is moving international capacity around its largest hubs in what appears to be an effort to maximise its network now that a crucial passenger service system cutover is complete. The IT system cutover allows United and Continental, whose merger is now complete, to fully utilise the combined networks and properly cross-fleet to operate optimal-sized aircraft in United’s markets. One of the more prominent changes is the elimination of flights from United’s Washington Dulles hub to Accra, which was the carrier’s first point in Africa when the route was launched in 2010. Other changes include the seasonal elimination of flights from Washington to Moscow and from Newark to Rome.
The changes will support an overall revised capacity forecast for United this year. The carrier has refined its 2012 capacity guidance from an overall decrease of 0.5% to 1.5%, compared with a previous estimate of between growth of 0.5% and a drop of 0.5%. United’s international capacity is now projected to grow this year by 0.3% to 1.3%, but some of that will be driven by new long-haul flights from Washington Dulles to Doha beginning in May, followed by Dulles to Manchester and Dublin.
15-Mar-12 3:47 PM
The fourth Airports Council International Economics and Finance conference took place in London, UK, between 07 and 09-Mar-2012, attracting some 250 speakers, panellists and delegates and with a notably strong representation from Africa. Despite the continuing economic downturn, especially in Europe, the conference, which covered a wide range of topics from ‘the State of the Industry’ via several sessions on airport investment and performance management to airport competition and performance management, was generally upbeat, at least for the long term. Some of the major issues discussed are highlighted below, in this second article. See Part One.
15-Mar-12 11:56 AM
Zimbabwe has forced the issue of rising debt at national carrier Air Zimbabwe by disbanding the airline, officially known as Air Zimbabwe Holdings, and re-launching it as Air Zimbabwe Private Limited. Local reports have put the carrier's debt at USD150 million, USD30 million of which is owed internationally, including in the US and China. The ownership structure of the new airline has not been disclosed, although the Government is reportedly trying to woo investors.
The move is not a cure-all. Before the new carrier can be taken seriously, it needs not only independent management but also structural changes within government to benefit the country and trickle down to the airline.
14-Mar-12 2:45 PM
The fourth Airports Council International Economics and Finance conference took place in London, UK, between 07-Mar-2012 and 09-Mar-2012, attracting some 250 speakers, panellists and delegates and with a notably strong representation from Africa. Despite the continuing economic downturn, especially in Europe, the conference, which covered a wide range of topics from ‘the State of the Industry’ via several sessions on airport investment and performance management to airport competition and performance management, was generally upbeat, at least for the long term. Some of the major issues discussed are highlighted below, with the remainder to follow in a later article.
New Cameroon national carrier Camair-Co fails to reach first year targets, but continues to grow
Air Nigeria to resume long-haul network as West African aviation grows
Rapidly expanding Kenya Airways charts growth with plan to serve every inhabited continent by 2017
British Airways plans two phases to bring bmi, and its London Heathrow slots, to profitability
United continues international network shifts and drops service to Accra in Ghana
Worldwide airport investor community relatively upbeat - ACI Economics & Finance report, Part 2
Simple ownership change to forgive USD150m of debt is not enough to place Air Zimbabwe back on track