News From Africa

Richard Maslen March 17, 2011

EMIRATES RAMPS-UP FREQUENCIES TO THE SEYCHELLES

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines is to double capacity between Dubai and the Seychelles with the introduction of a double daily service from the start of the Northern Winter timetable later this year. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier currently offers a daily schedule but from March 28 this will be increased to 12 flights per week, with a further two rotations following in October. “As compared to January 2010, we are increasing the capacity between Dubai and the Seychelles by 350 per cent,” said Majid Al Mualla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations – West Asia and Indian Ocean, Emirates Airline. “This is remarkable by any standards. The increase in frequency is the fruit of all our efforts and investment in promoting the Seychelles across our network. Our recent campaigns have stepped up demand for the route as well as opened up new feeder markets. The increasing number of tourists will welcome these additional flights as they will have more travel options and better connectivity.” In 2010, 176,088 tourists visited the Seychelles, representing an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year with 9,929 of these travelling from the Middle East. However, Emirates notes that visitor numbers from Russia and Asia, areas with strong connectivity from its Dubai base, have doubled since it launched flights to the archipelago in 2005.

AIR MALI ADDS LINK TO LAGOS

African carrier Air Mali is to offer flights from Accra and Bamako to the Nigerian city of Lagos under a codeshare partnership with Air Burkina. The three-times weekly service will operate a Bamako – Accra – Lagos routing and will be flown by a McDonnell Douglas MD-87. The Accra – Lagos link is already packed with capacity with Aero Contractors , Air Nigeria and Arik Air all offering more than ten point-to-point weekly flights alongside Middle East Airlines, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines, which serve the market as an extension of flights from Beirut, Istanbul and Washington Dulles International, respectively. In the year ending December 2010 around 225,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two capital cities with Air Nigeria holding the largest share of this traffic. Air Mali is the only carrier offering scheduled links between Bamako and Accra, accounting for over 54 per cent of the almost 5,000 O&D passengers that utilised the route in 2010.

COMAIR SWITCHES FLIGHTS FROM ITS LOW-COST ARM

South African carrier Comair is to transfer flights between Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town from its low-cost division Kulula back into its mainline operation. These services will then be flown under its British Airways (BA) franchise agreement offering a two-class product. “We are experiencing demand for premium travel options to coastal destinations, mostly from the increased number of business travellers on these routes,” said Heidi Brauer, Executive Manager for Group Marketing, Comair. “Furthermore, the current BA flight configuration and aircraft types are better suited for these routes, further enhancing operational efficiency,” Brauer said. Comair will also add flights from Johannesburg’s secondary airport, Lanseria International, in May with an eight-times weekly link to Maputo, Mozambique and a five-times weekly service to Gaborone, Botswana. These will be the only international routes from the facility located to the north west of the South African city, with Kulula offering the only other flights – up to seven times a day to Cape Town and Durban. Comair will use a single 66-seat ATR 72 leased from Solenta Aviation on the new services. Although these routes are new for Lanseria the Mozambican and Botswana cities are already served from OR Tambo International, Johannesburg’s main international gateway.

FLYDUBAI INCREASES EGYPTIAN TRAVEL OPTIONS

United Arab Emirates low-cost carrier flydubai is to open a link from Dubai to the Egyptian city of Sohag, on the west bank of the River Nile. The airline will offer a twice weekly service to the city’s recently renovated Mubarak International Airport from April 6, mainly targeting ethnic traffic. flydubai already serves Luxor, approximately 93 miles (150km) to the south, with a three-times weekly service. The budget airline will be one of only seven airlines to offer scheduled links from Sohag this summer, comprising Air Arabia (Sharjah), Air Arabia Egypt (Kuwait City), EgyptAir (Cairo, Kuwait City), Jazeera Airways (Kuwait City), Kuwait Airways (Kuwait City, Sharm el Sheikh), Nasair (Jeddah and Riyadh).

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