Africa > Transportation

Transportation in Africa

  • Air Seychelles Inaugural Flight to Mumbai Connects a Regional Diaspora to the Indian Subcontinent

    INDIA, 2014/12/05 After officially re-opening a regional thrice-weekly route to India\'s capital city of Mumbai on Wednesday, Air Seychelles\' CEO Manoj Papa promised that this time the Seychelles to India air link was here to remain . Air Seychelles briefly flew between the country\'s major inhabited island of Mahe and Mumbai in 1995 and again between 1998 and 2005, at one time with a stopover in the Maldives. Both times, the routes were halted due to low occupancy levels. This time, however, coupled with the commencement of a new direct regional flight to the east African city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania which commenced Tuesday, and existing direct flights to Johannesburg, Air Seychelles hopes to tap into the large Indian diaspora living in Eastern and Southern Africa to sustain its connecting Mumbai link in the long term. The national carrier of the Seychelles arrived in India\'s commercial hub in its brand new Airbus A320, named Amirantes next an atoll within the outer reaches of the archipelago of 115 islands.
  • Chinese Firm Signs U.S.$12 Billion Deal to Build Lagos-Calabar Railway Line

    CHINA, 2014/12/05 A national-owned Chinese company has signed a $12 billion agreement with the federal government to build a railway along Nigeria's coast that is billed as China's single major overseas arrangement, the national media said on Thursday. China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. (CRCC) signed the official construction arrangement with the Nigerian government on Wednesday in Abuja, the Xinhua news agency said. The Nigerian railway will stretch for 1,402 kilometres (871 miles) along the coast, linking Lagos, the financial capital of Africa's major economy and leading oil producer, and Calabar in the east, according to the statement.
  • Air Operator’s Certificate a serious bone of contention in Kampala

    UGANDA, 2014/11/19 News broke yesterday afternoon that an aero club was recertified next months of working to get their Air Operator’s Certificate back in good standing. This issue has been a bone of contention for completely a long time in Kampala. Fly Uganda Aero Club has been recertified and given their Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) back. The Kampala Aero Club is the initial of the remaining companies still in business part the Ugandan aviation fraternity, next initial Asante Aviation and again Air Uganda bowed out of the race, the latter next completing four of the five stages of re-certification before throwing in the towel next their entire route network was given away by the same UCAA staff who were responsible for pulling their AOC in the initial place exactly five months ago. “In a civilized regulatory environment, and regional regulators have privately agreed to this, would the UCAA have given temporary AOCs until the process of re-certification under new rules was completed. However, they chose to cover their a**** to avoid being cited by ICAO, and no all of misleading the public by their mouthpieces can make that fact go away. I admire the Aero Club boys to have spent all that money and effort to be recertified at the same time as they had not broken one policy, had not one safety infringement, and were plain and simple victims of a regulatory regime gone bonkers and rogue.
  • The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)

    GHANA, 2014/11/03 The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has proposed the placement of a cap on the age aircraft permitted to fly from the airspace controlled by Ghana, known as the Accra Flight Data Region, as a way of checking recent aviation incidents in the sub-region. Acting Deputy Director-General (Technical) of the GCAA, Martey Boye Atoklo, told the B&FT “we want to look at what's happening in other jurisdictions. Nigeria, for example, has a cap of 18 years and below. If an aircraft is over 18 years in Nigeria, it won't get an operating certificate.” “I think that as a country we have to look at it again, involve all the stakeholders and again come up with, it possible, a cap. For presently, there is no cap on ageing aircraft,” he added.
  • Air Tanzania on Friday announced the suspension of four domestic routes

    TANZANIA, 2014/10/19 Reactions came in fast and furious next Air Tanzania on Friday announced the suspension of four domestic routes next one of the airline’s aircraft had to leave for heavy maintenance. Flights to Mwanza, alongside Mtwara and two other destinations were suspended until at least mid next week for lack of an aircraft. Industry observers rubbished the explanation by the airline’s Managing Director Lazaro Milton as ‘lame’ and ‘unprofessional’ at the same time as he was quoted to have said that the safety of passengers had approaching initial which is why planes are sent for maintenance.
  • RwandAir has just announced that it will resume flights to Mwanza, Tanzania

    RWANDA, 2014/10/09 RwandAir has just announced that it will resume flights to Mwanza, Tanzania’s lakeside city, effective November 1. Flight WB 470/1 will operate initially each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, using the airline’s Bombardier Q400NextGen, leaving Kigali at 13.30 hrs local time and arriving in Mwanza at 15.30 hrs local time (one hour time difference). The dual class cabin configuration offers passengers across the network, even at the same time as traveling on the turboprob aircraft, the choice of premium services besides economy class.
  • New airline for Tanzania to launch before Christmas

    TANZANIA, 2014/10/07 Fly Sax (Tanzania) has announced that it is looking at a mid-December operations launch, using a Bombardier Q 400 with 68 seats to fly between Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Kigoma. It is understood that recruitment of staff is instantly ongoing and that Tanzanian nationals will have preference, as long as they have the required skills. This, according to a media release by the company, applies for cockpit crews too who will be trained on the type of aircraft Fly Sax (T) will use for their flights.
  • KLM Nonstop Amsterdam - Kampala

    NETHERLAND, 2014/10/07 The KLM Kampala office confirmed that effective 28th of October three of the presently daily flights will be de-linked from the stopover in Kigali and become nonstop services. Ugandans traveling abroad, or returning home and visitors from across the KLM and SkyTeam network will save precious time at the same time as they choose to fly with KLM to Entebbe on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The airline chose to make the announcement to coincide with its 95th birthday –HAPPY BIRTHDAY KLM – which will be suitable celebrated not just in Kampala but around the world KLM destinations, which stretch from Amsterdam across Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia.
  • The South African government intends to spend just over R34 billion on the development of the Moloto rail corridor.

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2014/10/06 The South African government intends to spend just over R34 billion on the development of the Moloto rail corridor. Initial estimates based on the findings of the feasibility study indicate that  R20 billion will be allocated toward a rapid rail service, R10 billion on rolling stock and an extra R4,5 billion to improve associated road infrastructure. Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters signed the project over to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) late last week.
  • RwandAir would temporarily suspend flights to Kamemebe

    RWANDA, 2014/09/29 At the same time as before last week details emerged that RwandAir would temporarily suspend flights to Kamemebe, a lot of questions were asked about the reasons with much speculation involved, inspite of the mention of runway repairs. The speculation was very likely based on the closure for traffic of the Gisenyi Airport, where security reasons – the airport is very close to the border with Congo DR – were the major driver to halt flights from Kigali. The Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority has reportedly signed contracts presently to have the Kamembe runway re-surfaced and even lengthened to in general 2.2 kilometres, so on completion it would be able to handle larger aircraft than the present runway length of just 1.5 kilometres permits. Emerging potholes and the top layer of tarmac influenced the decision taken to have the airport closed for fixed wing traffic and from the beginning of November the work will go underway.