Africa > East Africa > Transportation

Transportation in East Africa

  • Routes Africa forum aims to improve African air connectivity

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/15  An event dedicated to the development of the African aviation industry will take place next month in Tenerife (26-28 June) to encourage the launch of new air services to, from and within the African continent. Routes Africa 2016 will help to improve African connectivity by bringing together airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss next air services. Around 250 route development professionals are expected to attend the forum which was founded ten years ago to stimulate increase in the industry.
  • Kenya Airways to send home 600 employees in restructuring

    KENYA, 2016/04/04 The move will see the national carrier shed off ten % of its 4,000-plus labour force across its various departments. “The board has, next re-evaluating the various options, come to the painful decision that part of the required overhead savings will be derived from a decrease in staff headcount,” read in part a statement announcing the lay-offs. “In light of the foregoing, we will embark on a restructuring process that will result in approximately 600 members of staff being declared redundant or redeployed.” KQ moved to assure staff members that the exercise will be carried out in full compliance with labour laws, Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) and individual staff members’ contracts as appropriate. The employees will know their fate in the coming weeks as the lay-offs begin in May.
  • Mozambican state spends millions of dollars on improving airports

    MOZAMBIQUE, 2016/03/26 Mozambican national-owned airport management company Aeroportos de Moçambique (AdM) expects this year to spend US$60 million improving airport infrastructure in the country, which will have the support of France, Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias reported. The schedule of works cited by the newspaper, which includes the acquisition of equipment and systems, will spend most of the money on repairing runways (US$22 million) and construction and modernisation of buildings (US$22 million).
  • Somalia: Two Somali Airport Employees Detained Over Plane Blast

    SOMALIA, 2016/02/09 Somali authorities arrested two employees of the Mogadishu airport in connection with an explosion on board a Somalian passenger plane caused by a bomb, a spokesman for the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said. On Tuesday, a blast tore a hole in the side of the Airbus A321, belonging to the Dubai-based Daallo Airlines, minutes next it took off from the Mogadishu airport to fly to Djibouti.
  • Dr Getachew Betru, CEO of the Ethiopian Railways Corporation

    ETHIOPIA, 2016/01/29 The new 800km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway line is on track to open fully this year and its anticipated impact on the socio-economic development of the country, and indeed the region, is expected to be dramatic. The result of new technology, talent and trust, it comes just months next the Ethiopian capital inaugurated sub-Saharan Africa’s initial light rail system, similarly signaling rapidly changing times in the country and its unprecedented economic optimism. Dr Getachew Betru, CEO of the Ethiopian Railways Corporation, reveals just what the project – a central link in a vast planned railway network – means to one of the world’s fastest growing economies and its people.
  • High-speed rail to give Kenya economic boost

    KENYA, 2016/01/10 The high-speed rail project, to be completed this year, will give Kenya an economic boost, and join it additional closely for trading with neighboring nations in East Africa, a railway official said on Thursday. Phase one of the construction of the Kenya high-speed Standard Gauge Railway is almost complete, Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina said. Phase two is due to start early this year, he added. The line will run from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, and, once Phase two of the construction of the rail is completed, it will be extended to neighboring Uganda and onward to Rwanda and South Sudan.
  • African airline will pull out of the Lamu route effective next Tuesday

    KENYA, 2016/01/08 Aviation pundits are divided in their opinion over the announcement and reasons given before in the week that an African airline will pull out of the Lamu route effective next Tuesday. Initial mention of this move was by presently made weeks ago and reported here the same day, at the same time as the airline’s management complained about being forced to operate with half loads into the Lamu aerodrome due to insufficient runway length. While, as seen by this correspondent in November last year during a stopover at Lamu, the runway has been extended by the Kenya Airport Authority, the owners and operators of the aerodrome, it appears that the extension has from presently on to be cleared by Kenya’s aviation regulators, leaving it not ready for use by Jambojet’s larger aircraft.
  • East Africa: The Expense Of The SGR And Related Implications

    KENYA, 2015/12/17 It is presently well known that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is being developed under the leadership of the Kenyan government and will connect Mombasa to Malaba (with a branch line to Kisumu) onward to Kampala, Kigali (with a branch line to Kasese) and Juba (with a branch line to Pakwach). What is as well well known is that Ethiopia is developing Ethiopia Rail (ER) which will link Addis Ababa to Djibouti. The importance of the SGR to Kenya is, yes, the potential dividend that will arise from bolstering infrastructure in the country; indeed the government expects the project to reduce freight costs from $0.20 per tn/km to $0.08 per tn/km. But importance as well lies in the fact that the SGR is expensive. Indeed, last week Treasury made the point that the SGR has caused an upwards revision of the fiscal deficit from the initial 7.4% of GDP to 12.2%. So is the approach towards the construction of the SGR the majority cost effective possible? A comparison with the ER would be useful. As early as 2013, experts raised questions about the costing of Kenya’s SGR; Kenya is being charged $6.6 million per kilometer compared to $4.9 million per kilometre for Ethiopia’s ER. This is particularly a concern because, as experts have pointed out, there are no major rivers or lakes or large hills to justify the high cost of the SGR. In addition, parts of the ER will be a double track, not a single track as the SGR will be in its entirety.
  • Ethiopian to Order More Airbus Aircraft

    ETHIOPIA, 2015/12/15 Ethiopian Airlines is planning to order additional Airbus A350-900 aircraft in the coming years, it was learnt. Ethiopian placed firm orders for 14 A350-900 aircraft to be delivered between 2016-2019. The initial two which are leased from IFLC (presently Air Cap) will be delivered to Ethiopian in May and June 2016. The remaining 12 due bought from Airbus will be delivered between 2017-2019. The A350-900 test flight aircraft (MSN2) with carbon livery arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday for a demonstration flight. The aircraft conducted a one hour demonstration flight to the South East of Addis Ababa. Workneh Gebeyehu, Minister of Transport, ambassadors, executives of Ethiopian Airlines and other invited guests visited the additional wide body aircraft with a seat capacity of 350. Ethiopian is the initial airline in Africa to order the jetliner in 2009.
  • Boda Bodas Banned From Ferrying Passengers in Nairobi CBD

    KENYA, 2015/11/15 The Nairobi County Government has banned motorcycle operators from ferrying passengers to and from the Central Business District (CBD). In a statement, County Secretary Gregory Mwakanongo stated that the ban takes result instantly and any operator and passenger found contravening the law will be arrested. "Pursuant to the provisions of the Traffic Act CAP 403 of 2014 of the Laws of the Republic of Kenya, the Nairobi City County Government wishes to inform all motorcycle (boda boda) operators ferrying passengers to and from the Central Business District (CBD) that such activities have been banned with immediate result," he stated. "Any operator and passenger found contravening this law will be arrested for an offence punishable by hefty fines and long jail terms as provided for in the Traffic Act of 2014."