KENYA: AFRAA Executive Committee Meets In Nairobi

The Executive Committee of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) held its 167th meeting on 27 July 2015. The meeting was hosted by Kenya Airways at its headquarters in Nairobi - Kenya under the Chairmanship of Mr. Mbuvi Ngunze, CEO of Kenya Airways. The meeting discussed a wide range of issues some of which have been highlighted below:

The Executive Committee reviewed the Statements of Accounts and Auditors Report for the year ended 31 December 2014 and approved their submission to the 47th Annual General Assembly. They appointed Messrs. Ernst & Young as the external auditors for 2015 and endorsed the proposed budget for submission to the 47th AGA.

On the subject of establishment of a single African sky, the Committee received a presentation by IATA Senior Economist, Mr. James Wiltshire on the experiences from other regions on the implementation of liberalization and its impacts. This comes at a time when the thrust for the opening up of African skies has gained momentum with 11 African States having declared their solemn commitment to the immediate implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision towards the establishment of a single African Air Transport market by 2017.

With regards to the development of AFRAA land, the meeting received the report on the Project’s concept, financials and funding proposals and authorized the Secretariat to proceed with its implementation under the guidance and support of a Task Force composed of AFRAA member airlines.

The Executive Committee took stock of the performance of the Secretariat’s joint projects and activities in the first half of the year and commended the progress made. The meeting also noted with appreciation the progress on the preparations for the 47th AFRAA Annual General Assembly scheduled to take place from 8-10 November 2015 at the kind invitation of ECAir.

New members and partners

The Executive Committee noted the approval of Cronos Airlines membership and approved the membership for Mauritania Airlines International. AFRAA welcomes the new members to its fraternity.

The membership programme is open to all airlines registered and headquartered in African States. AFRAA members represent over 85% of total international traffic carried by all African airlines.

The meeting received and approved the partnership applications for L’Académie Tuniso–Française de Formation en Sûreté de l’Aviation Civile (AFSAC) as a Full Partner and Manyatta Engineering Services Ltd as an Associate Partner.

Tour of Kenya Airways facilities

Following the conclusion of the meeting the Executive Committee made a tour of Kenya Airways’ world class facilities at Kenya Airways Technical and Kenya Airways Pride Center.

CONGO: ECAir CEO, Fatima Beyina-Moussa, Pushes For Open Skies, Calls For Healthy Competition, Strategic Collaboration

ECAir or Equatorial Congo Airlines is the national carrier of the Republic of Congo. It was set up in 2011 with its hub in Brazzaville. Fatima Beyina-Moussa, chief executive of ECAir, is mandated with the task of developing its hub by opening further regional destinations. Beyina-Moussa, an economist by profession, was an adviser to the country finance minister and one of the key matters she was assigned was to set up a national airline.

Subsequent to her project report, she was appointed the first CEO of the airline when it was created in 2011. She is also the current president of African Airline Association (AFRAA) and ECAir will host the 47th Annual General Assembly of AFRAA in November this year in Brazzaville. Beyina-Moussa talks to Reji John about open skies and the urgency of healthy competition and strategic collaboration.

As a host airline for the 47th AFRAA annual general assembly and ready to welcome delegates, what are your thoughts on the African aviation industry and what are your expectation from the AGA this year?

I am very optimistic about the future of the African aviation industry. In 2010, the aviation industry in Africa supported about seven million jobs (including 257,000 direct jobs) through the impact on travel and tourism which translated into $67.8 billion of the continent's GDP. Forecasts indicate that the aviation industry's impact on African economies is set to grow. Over the next 20 years, implied job creation by the industry is projected at 879,000.

From the AGA, we are looking forward to giving people a taste of central Africa, while discussing the challenges faced by our industry and particularly the open skies subject. We really expect the exchanges to be rich and fruitful during the AGA and that ideas can be turned into action plans for implementation.

AFRAA was set up in 1968 with a mission to be the leader and catalyst for the growth of a globally competitive and integrated African airline industry. As an airline chief executive what is your current assessment of this mission statement?

I have been to several AFRAA meetings over the years and I perceive that we are now moving from projects theory to projects implementation. AFRAA is a true leader and catalyst for growth of a globally competitive and integrated African airline industry. For example, we are actively working at setting up a joint African airlines fuel purchase project allowing us to reduce costs. We are also setting up an African route coordination project to optimise airline schedules in the interest of our passengers.

Apart from the big efforts the Secretary General of AFRAA and his team put at the service of African aviation on a daily basis, I have also modestly tried to lobby for our industry during this year of presidency of AFRAA. During 2015, I have travelled internationally, met and discussed with stakeholders of the aviation industry such as Tony Tyler, CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). I also met and discussed African airlines challenges with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African Union.

In your welcome message to AFRAA delegates, you say the times are both "challenging and exciting". What, according to you, are the biggest challenges for the African aviation industry to make it a world leader?

Challenging and exciting are the two key words when we talk about the African aviation sector. IATA has predicted annual growth of 7.2 percent between 2013 and 2017. These projections show optimism over the airline's future. Certainly the size of the market and its spending capacity is a present challenge. The implementation of the open skies policy is also a challenge and at the same time an opportunity for the airlines of the continent to expand in a profitable way.

Brazzaville hosting the 47th AFRAA assembly in November 2015, will have the chance to present the progresses in the area of civil aviation and there seems little reasons to doubt that the country's aviation sector will continue to blossom. Open skies, our biggest challenge, will be the subject of the 47th AGA of Afraa, "Open skies: Growth through competition and collaboration," that I will have the honour to chair as the current Afraa president.

What is your realistic outlook for 2017 by when the African aviation industry has another chance to unlock its value with the liberalisation of skies expected through the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision towards the establishment of a single African Air Transport market?

I really think that the commitment of these 11 states will encourage their peers to do the same. The chairperson of the African Union Commission has told us that she will continue pushing for more African governments to commit to the liberalisation of the African skies. She has asked that airlines and AFRAA also play their part in lobbying countries that are not committed yet. I remain optimistic. African airlines initially underestimated the importance of the Yamoussoukro Decision, but are now becoming more committed to it. They are still facing additional challenges like high fuel and services costs, inadequate infrastructure, lack of human resources and competition from non-African airlines.

How important is partnerships and collaboration to realise the dream of making the African aviation industry globally competitive and sustainable?

During my presidency, I have lobbied with stakeholders of the aviation industry about setting up a great cooperation in order to ease travel in Africa. I have, for example, discussed with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African Union. I have asked her to help us with the african governments in the areas of liberalisation, high airport charges, poor infrastructure. Aviation enjoys a natural advantage as a means of connecting cities, where most of Africa suffers from poor or non-existent ground transport infrastructure.

Africa must seize the opportunity to develop its own aviation industry and boost regional integration. That is the ultimate goal of everything we are doing now, to make it as easy to travel in Africa as it is in other parts of the world. That's not the case yet, but we are getting there and I feel AFRAA is really implementing projects to bring us together. Words are good, but actions are even better and we can see some action now. ECAir is intensely pursuing partnerships with established African carriers, through the development of code share and interline agreements.

For our company, the key world to succeed in the aviation industry in Africa is "cooperation", and real efforts are dedicated to leverage those partnerships. We understand that we can only be successful by doing so, considering the small size of our fleet, the limited market and the high operating costs in the region.

As an airline operator how do you plan to grow ECAir in terms of additional capacity and new destinations?
So far, ECAir has carried over a million of passengers. Our airline launched its first international direct flights to Paris at the end of 2012. A very challenging operation, being the first time for a Congolese Airline.

In early 2014, ECAir took the challenge of becoming the only central African country to launch a direct route to Dubai (Brazzaville-Dubai), thus linking the Republic of Congo to the Middle East for the first time. Similarly, the new direct route Brazzaville-Beirut which opened this summer with two frequencies a week, follows the same approach and development path as the route to Dubai.

In addition to the existing routes [Pointe-Noire, Ollombo, Kinshasa, Cotonou, Douala, Libreville, Dakar, Bamako, Paris, Dubaï, Beyrouth, Bruxelles], ECAir is endeavoring to open Abidjan, Yaoundé, Bangui, Ndjamena and Ouesso in the coming months. These new routes are the fulfillment of our efforts to connect the African economic capitals with each other and with the rest of the world.

Those ambitions are a direct emanation of the vision of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Denis Sassou-Nguesso, materialized through significant investments in the construction and modernization of the country's airports infrastructure and a relentless support from his government.

Give us an update of your fleet size and how do you plan to increase your fleet?

Now, at the end of 2015, we are up to seven aircrafts. We now have a 767-300, two 757-200s, two 737-700s and two 737-300s. That is the size of our fleet. Today, ECAir operates 136 weekly flights. We hope to increase our fleet in the coming months.

CONGO: Congolese Airline To Launch Dubai Flights

Congolese national airline Equatorial Congo Airlines has announced plans to launch commercial flights to Dubai at the end of next month

The carrier, also known as ECAir, launched its maiden flight to Dubai from Brazzaville on Wednesday night, carrying officials from the Republic of Congo.

The airline will start of a three times a week service between Dubai International and Brazzaville, Congo, from March 31, the airline said in a statement.

The new route will operate a Boeing 757 aircraft for the Monday, Thursday and Saturday flights, it added.

Airline chairman Jean Louis Osso said: "This is a historic event for ECAir because this will strengthen our Middle East network through one of the most important hubs in the world.

"This flight is the first direct connection from Brazzaville, Congo to the United Arab Emirates. The Middle East, particularly Dubai, is one of the most preferred destinations of travellers from Central Africa because it has so much to offer to both leisure and business travellers."

Helen Woodrow, vice president of Forecasting & Research at Dubai Airports added: "Africa is a fast growing market with huge potential and we are happy to welcome ECAir as an important link between the Republic of Congo and Dubai one that is sure to further boost tourism, trade and commerce between both markets."

According to the annual traffic report released recently by Dubai Airports, the world's second busiest hub for international passengers showed a 13 percent increase in 2013 in passenger traffic arriving from Africa.

ECAir has a fleet of five aircraft, and flies more than 300,000 passengers per year to seven destinations.

CONGO: Sabena And ECAir Combine For New MRO in Congo

Belgian MRO specialist Sabena Aerospace is to establish a new facility in Brazzaville following a joint venture deal with Equatorial Congo Airlines (ECair)

The two organisations plan to create an EASA compliant aircraft MRO facility in the Republic of Congo capital.
The JV—called sa@ec, for sabenaaerospace@ecair—will be majority controlled by the Belgian MRO provider, which is EASA Part 145, and EASA Part 147 approved.

At the signing event the companies said that an MRO hangar able to handle Boeing 787’s will be built at Brazzaville’s Maya Maya International Airport.

A training centre will also be established to create a labour force and help build a safety-orientated culture in the Republic of Congo.

At the Paris signing ceremony, ECair CEO Fatima Beyina-Moussa said: "One of our priorities is training and we are confident that this partnership between Equatorial Congo Airlines and Sabena Aerospace will play a key role in our moving to the next level.”
ECair have slowly expanded its fleet and route network to help in government plans to develop Maya Maya airport into a regional Central African passenger and freight hub.

The Congolese government has invested heavily in aviation infrastructure with over $200 million having been invested in Maya Maya refurbishment.