Africa
Iberia and British Airways expand code share flights including Entebbe
Under new code sharing arrangements with British Airways, Iberia customers can now book flights to Entebbe, Uganda from Madrid or Barcelona via London. Read more
Rwanda flights begin as Qatar Airways continues Africa expansion
Qatar Airways has further expanded operations in Africa with the launch of its 17th destination on the Continent – daily scheduled flights to Rwanda.
Qatar Airways countdown to Rwanda flights launch
Qatar Airways is counting down the days until it begins daily flights to Rwanda’s Kigali International Airport on 21st March.
Etihad Airways continues Africa expansion with Lagos flights
Etihad Airways today announced the launch of flights to Lagos, the airline’s first destination in West Africa, from 1st July, subject to regulatory approvals.
Ethiopian Airlines joins Star Alliance
Ethiopian Airlines today became Star Alliance‘s 28th member airline, and the third African airline in the alliance. SAS was already a partner of Ethiopian Airlines, code-sharing on the Stockholm-Rome-Addis Ababa route and full EuroBonus privileges. Read more
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner reaches Africa on Dream Tour
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner touched down in Ethiopia‘s capital on Sunday to kick off the Africa portion of Boeing‘s 787 Dream Tour – a six-month worldwide tour featuring the Dreamliner. Read more
United Airlines expands service to Europe and Africa through Brussels Airlines codeshare
United customers may enjoy convenient new connections to cities in Europe and Africa under a new codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines that is open for sale today. Codeshare flights begin on the 6th April 2010 and are in addition to United’s previously announced nonstop service between Chicago and Brussels that launched on the 28th March.
“We are focused on strengthening our world-class network and adding more destinations for our customers through alliance opportunities,” said Mark Schwab, United’s senior vice president of Alliances, International & Regulatory Affairs. “This partnership with Brussels Airlines expands our network breadth into several European destinations and emerging African markets.”
“This codeshare agreement with United is an important step in the development of Brussels Airlines”, says Erik Follet, executive vice president of Strategy & Business Development for Brussels Airlines. “With United we have now a very strong partner in the U.S. who brings, as a member of the Star Alliance, many new advantages to our passengers.”
United customers may now purchase tickets on Brussels Airlines-operated flights between Brussels and 24 European destinations as well as 12 African destinations*, many of which are new United codeshare markets. Brussels Airlines customers will enjoy codeshare service to two of United’s U.S. hubs, Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare, allowing connection to hundreds of United’s U.S. destinations.
Both airlines are members of the Star Alliance — United is a founding partner, and Brussels Airlines joined as a partner in December of 2009. Members of United’s Mileage Plus® and Brussels Airlines’ Miles & More programs may continue to earn and redeem miles while traveling to destinations never-before served.
Fly540 look to UK to increase East Africa passenger numbers
Africa’s low cost airline – Fly540 – pronounced Fly Five Forty – is launching a new sales campaign aimed at getting more UK passengers onto its low cost services throughout East Africa.
Fly540 is backed by the giant 100 year old, UK based investment and mining conglomerate, Lonrho PLC and Fly540 plans to become the first pan-African low cost carrier operating to International safety standards.
The airline with its headquarters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, began operations between Nairobi international Airport (Jomo Kenyatta) and Kenya’s second largest city and premier port, Mombasa on 24th November 2006. By summer 2009, Fly540 was already uplifting 20,000 passengers per month and operating to nine airports in Kenya as well as to eleven international destinations: including Entebbe in Uganda and Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Grumeti, Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Mwaza in Tanzania, Juba and Rumbek in Sudan and Bujumburra in Burundi. In 2010 the airline also announced plans to open new hubs in Angola, Ghana and Zimbabwe.
Fly540 provides daily domestic services to both the Kenyan Coastal regions of Mombassa, Malindi and Lamu as well as to the Western Kenya tourist circuits of Kisimu, Eldoret, and Kitale, plus the world renowned Maasi Mara Game reserve (as featured in the BBC TV wildlife programme, “Big Cat Diary”).
Daily flights from Nairobi to Zanzibar are becoming increasingly popular and the Nairobi to Kilimanjaro route has been linked with daily services to Lake Manyara and Serengeti for the growing number of adventure seeking holidaymakers who wish to combine game viewing in the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti with climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
The airline has a fleet of six modern turbo prop aircraft plus one regional jet, all offering an ideal mix of comfort, speed and economic operating costs.
The current fleet is as follows:
3 ATR 42-320 aircraft with capacity for 46 passengers.
1 Dash 8-102 aircraft with capacity for 37 passengers
1 Beechcraft 19000D with capacity for 19 passengers
2 all cargo Fokker F27
and the latest addition a Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200 with capacity for 50 passengers.
The new CRJ aircraft has initially been deployed on the Nairobi to Entebbe and Bujumbura /Mwanza routes and has enabled Fly540 to reduce the flying time between the two capital cities to 50 minutes.
Further CRJ aircraft and new turboprops are planned to join the fleet during 2010.
Fly540 combine a strong emphasis on quality customer service with a no-frills business concept. The senior management team comprises of highly qualified Kenyan and International staff with many years experience working for global, regional and domestic airlines. Fly540′s Joint Chief Executive Officers are Don Smith and Neil Steffen. The post of Operations Director is held by Nixon Ooko who worked for 24 years in British Airways and held senior positions in both Kenya and South Africa.
In order to promote Fly540 in the UK market, Fly540 have appointed a specialist UK representative, Flight Directors, to support their UK sales and Marketing initiative.
Fly540 Commercial Manager, Sujal Raja-Haria said: “We are delighted to appoint Flight Directors to spearhead our campaign to raise awareness of Fly540 in the UK market. Over the last three years our straightforward and accessible product has demonstrated that there is a growing demand for “value for money” reliable air services in East Africa and throughout the rest of the Continent.
We want more UK originating passengers to learn about and benefit from the affordable prices on our growing number of routes.”
Vikki Joyce, Head of Sales at Flight Directors said ” East Africa is such an exciting destination and when you are there you want to experience as much of it as you are able. With Fly540′s daily
frequencies and low fares, travelling between the region’s most exciting destinations becomes possible – even for the most budget conscious travellers”
