Ethiopian Airlines Bombardier DHC-8-Q400 © Bombardier The Somaliland government has lifted its suspension of Emirati low-cost carrier flydubai (FZ, Dubai Int’l ) following a bilateral agreement between their respective civil aviation authorities.
This was disclosed at a news conference recently by Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airports Authority (SCAAA) director Omar-Sayid Qalombi, reported the Som Tribune newspaper.
As previously reported , the Emirati low-cost carriers flydubai and Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah ), in November 2020, found their route licenses to Hargeisa , the capital of Somaliland (an unrecognised self-proclaimed territory in northern Somalia), withdrawn. This came after they had adhered to a Somali government ban on international flights imposed due to COVID-19. The Somaliland government demanded an apology from the two carriers and that they should come to an agreement with its own regulator, which appears to have now ensued.
Omar-Sayid Qalombi said the ban had been based on a decision by the Somaliland Ministerial Council dated October 17, 2020, that foreign state-owned carriers must have a license from the SCAAA based on a business entry agreement between both states. Such an…
Victoria Falls International Airport, located in northwestern Zimbabwe, will see its first scheduled intercontinental passenger flights next year after EW Discover (4Y, Frankfurt Int’l ), the new Lufthansa long-haul brand, announced the start of a 3x weekly return service to the resort town from Frankfurt Int’l via Windhoek Int’l , Namibia starting on March 30, 2022.
Lufthansa’s General Manager (Southern & East Africa), André Schulz, confirmed to ch-aviation the airline has not been granted fifth freedom traffic rights on the Namibia-Zimbabwe sectors and vice versa but is working on attaining such. Fifth freedom rights would entitle the airline to fly from Germany and pick up revenue passengers in Namibia and carry them on to Zimbabwe, and vice versa.
The Zimbabwe government has previously granted fifth freedom rights to Kenya Airways (to Cape Town ), RwandAir (to Cape Town), and Ethiopian (to Gaborone ) through Victoria Falls in the interests of driving up tourist inflows to the region, situated along the Zambezi river. During the last decade, it spent over USD200 million to build…
Black-owned South African-based Takatso Consortium has been selected as the new 51% preferred strategic equity partner (SEP) of South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo ), with the government retaining a 49% share, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan told an online media conference on June 11.
The consortium comprises of Harith […]