Browsing: Airlines

Lufthansa Group’s newest leisure airline Eurowings Discover has commenced direct flights to the Kenyan coast, at a time when the country’s tourism sector is expected to post modest recovery in 2021.

Eurowings Discover commenced its flights on the 24^th of July 2021 with two weekly flight services from Frankfurt, Germany to Mombasa, with onward flights to the region.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala said the flights will result in the region receiving more international tourists.

This comes at a time when a study by Deloitte has forecast Kenya’s international arrivals to rise by 37 percent to 806,000 this year.

Balala said that the flight was a testament to the strides Kenya is making in the recovery of tourism activities, which were minimal due to restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that the Kenyan coast was a popular destination for European …

According to a top official Seychelles is expected to establish airline connectivity with Angola and enter into a bilateral air services agreement signing that is scheduled in September.

This economic agreement will spur tourism and commerce between the two nations. Seychelles prides in their wonderful natural tourism assets in its beautiful beaches and mountain backdrops which contributes 24.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) while Angola is rich in natural resources as well as having large reserves of oil and diamonds, hydroelectric potential, and rich agricultural land.

Speaking to a press earlier this month the Seychelles Minister for Transport, Anthony Derjacques, said that Angola has always been very attractive to Seychelles and its national carrier, Air Seychelles, and such an agreement will open the countries for commerce, exchanges and visitors.

“We are already flying to South Africa and Angola is also in Southern Africa. It will help us a lot …

Airlines are expected to make big losses in 2020 with the challenges being experienced in containing new coronavirus variants and slower vaccination in some African countries according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to IATA, airlines are expected to post-tax losses of 47.7 billion in 2021 from the initial projection of $38 billion in December.

“Financial performance will be worse and more varied this year than we expected in our December forecast, because of difficulties in controlling the virus variants and slower vaccination in some regions,” said IATA.

The aviation sector is expecting $81 billion in cash burn despite large airlines having raised enough cash to cover for losses. IATA said that smaller airlines will need support from the government or to raise funds from banks or capital markets which will add to the debt burden and balance sheet leverage problem in the industry.

African airlines in 2020 …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlighted three main priorities that governments in Africa can work on to ensure the survival of African aviation, travel and transport and be able to support economic growth, recovery and development.

IATA highlighted the priorities as: the safe reopening of borders, planning safe restart of operations and the release of committed aid and blocked funds as well as constant financial relief.

IATA noted that in 2020 African airlines received $2.04 billion in government aid which was mostly distributed through cash injections, direct government loans and equity financing. Despite this support, eight airlines in Africa filed for bankruptcy or entered into business administration last year.

In 2020, Air Mauritius (AM) was the first African airline to enter voluntary administration due to the pandemic. South African Airways (SAA) which racked up more than $3.9 billion in debt since 1994 followed as well as South African Express …

Ethiopia has had a good run as a country these past few years and its national carrier has had an even better time in business despite the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The pandemic has almost crushed many airlines but Ethiopian has remained one of the most resilient ones not only in Africa but also globally. 

Ethiopian Airlines has performed so well that Airbus has awarded it for its unique agility and resilience that it displayed amid the global crisis. 

Functioning under Ethiopian Airlines Group, which is the largest aviation group in Africa, the airline has managed to maintain the operation of all its fleet in a sector where its peers are operating at 10 per cent of their capability. Many airlines have gone bankrupt leading to many losing their livelihoods. 

Also Read: Lessons from Ethiopian Airlines success despite pandemic

To survive the Covid-19 onslaught, Ethiopian converted its A350 passenger aircraft to …

IATA(International Air Transport Association)

Airlines will need to cut more jobs for them to survive the pandemic crisis or face failure in the next 12 months, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Speaking during a webinar, the director-general and CEO of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac said that while the body doesn’t advocate job cuts, it may be the only way for airlines to survive.

According to the latest reports from IATA, in 2021 the global airline revenue will decrease by 46 per cent compared to 2019’s record of $838 billion, compared with previous projections of a 29 per cent drop.

The body also warned that the airline industry will burn through $77 billion in cash during the second half of 2020 (almost $13 billion/month or $300,000 per minute), despite the restart of operations.

Therefore, maintaining labour productivity levels of 2019 in 2021 will require employers to be …