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Zambia Skyways, a local airline company, is to launch direct flights to London and Dubai in partnership with Air Zimbabwe effective from Dec. 1 following an investment of 4 million U.S. dollars, local newspaper Zambia Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

Zambia Skyways would wet lease aircraft from Air Zimbabwe, which has two B767s, three B737s and three MA60s in operation, the paper cited the company’s managing director Suleman Patel as saying.

A wet lease is a leasing arrangement whereby a company agrees to provide an aircraft and at least one pilot.

Zambia Skyways would also serve the Lubumbashi route to the Democratic Republic of Congo with five flights every week and daily flights between Lusaka and Harare, capital of Zimbabwe.

The London route is pegged at 800 dollars for return flight while the Dubai route would cost 500 dollars for return flight.

Currently, the British Airways is the only operator of the London route in Zambia.

Original Article

BY KEITH BENMAN
kbenman@nwitimes.com
219.933.3326

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, November 27, 2006 12:34 AM CST

SkyValue USA will be flying into Gary with high hopes of soaring where previous airlines have stalled.

It won’t be easy, according to air industry observers and local travel agents.

“I think the problem they will have is they are going after the greater Chicago market, which I would throw Gary into, so they’re competing with the bigger airlines out of Midway and O’Hare,” said Roger King, senior analyst for transportation with CreditSights, a provider of independent credit research.

SkyValue flights from Gary/Chicago International Airport to five leisure destinations, including Las Vegas and Orlando, start Dec. 15. (more…)

Xiamen Airlines became the first carrier to cancel a firm order for Boeing’s 787 aircraft, said Flight International, citing an unnamed person close to the airplane maker.

The Chinese airline canceled three 787 orders as part of a review, which may include switching the 787s for six 737-800s, the London-based trade publication said on its Web site. (more…)

The award, presented at the Middle East Contact Centre World Forum 2006 (CCW 2006) in Dubai, comes soon after Gulf Air winning the coveted Skytrax ‘best onboard catering’ award, for the third time in a row.

Ruth Birkin - front and centre - with a handful of the 190 Omani strong workforce in the Gulf Air Call Centre team in Knowledge Oasis - Muscat

“We are delighted at the recognition,” says Gulf Air President and Chief Executive James Hogan.

“Customers these days are demanding a more positive customer experience, not just service. It needs tremendous amount of dedication, persistence and people skills to deliver that experience especially when managing a centre that handles more than 125,000 calls a month on an average and employs more than 190 staff members, 90 per cent of whom are Omani nationals.” (more…)

U.S$3.5 billion of net assets have been wiped off the opening balance of airlines on transition under IFRS, according to KPMG International’s Disclosure Handbook: Accounting and Financial Reporting in the Global Airline Industry which is launched today at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Paris.

KPMG International surveyed the 2005 public financial regulatory filings of 23 of the world’s airlines, including Air France, KLM, British Airways, and United that currently or in the near future will report under U.S. GAAP or IFRS. The report aims to highlight some of the key financial reporting trends and issues that impact airlines. It considers their critical accounting policies, disclosures around transition from previous GAAP to IFRS; and disclosure of risk (or cautionary factors). (more…)

Unisys Corporation’s subsidiary in Germany has recently signed a contract with Hahn Air Systems GmbH, the IT subsidiary of Hahn Air Lines GmbH, for the implementation of Unisys Airline Core Systems Solutions (AirCore). The solution will control business-critical processes of the Hahn-Air eTops passenger system for selling and distributing airline tickets in more than 50 countries.

AirCore solution enables airlines to offer their tickets worldwide via various distribution channels and to manage other service activities, such as marketing campaigns, car rentals and hotel room bookings. Hahn Air Systems GmbH will offer AirCore functions as an Application Service Provider (ASP). (more…)

The Managing Director, Dr. Yele Akinrolabu and his team is about concluding a deal to acquire a leading airline in Nigeria to boost its operation. In the next few months, NICON Airways is expected to be one of the country’s top domestic commercial airlines.

Airlines in Nigeria desirous of operating local routes were asked to have a minimum capital base of N500 million, N1 billion for those that are to ply the regional routes and N2 billion for airlines eyeing international routes.

THE UAE national carrier Etihad Airways plans to operate double daily service to Doha from Abu Dhabi even as the airline’s first flight will touch down in the Qatari capital on June 18.
Initially, there will be six weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Doha using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft, Etihad regional general manager (Middle East and North Africa) Ian Lovelock said at a press conference yesterday. There will be no Etihad service between the two cities on Tuesdays. (more…)

The business services division of Orange SA has expanded its relationship with airline comms provider SITA SC with a view to seeking work as prime contractors on the industry’s entire IT outsourcing requirements.

In its previous guise as Equant, Orange Business Services had a longstanding relationship with SITA, from which the global network operator was spun out in 1995, before being acquired by France Telecom SA in 2001. In May Equant was renamed as part of Orange, which is now the French group’s global brand for mobile and broadband consumer and business customers. (more…)

Blocked at U.S. Ports, Foreign Capital Comes After U.S. Airlines
Flight Attendants Launch Massive Grassroots Effort to Save U.S. Aviation

CHICAGO, June 13 /PRNewswire/ — Directly in line with the Dubai ports
deal, the Bush Administration bypassed Congress and arbitrarily set a rule
that changes long-standing aviation law to allow foreign control of U.S.
airlines and their operations. United Airlines Flight Attendants,
represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO, has
launched a massive grassroots campaign to protect U.S. aviation. United
Master Executive Council (MEC) President Greg Davidowitch made the
following statement about the critical call to action to save U.S.
aviation:
“Allowing foreign investors to slice up our airline industry is not
good for workers, the traveling public or the communities we serve. The
Bush plan to carve up our airlines and serve them to foreign interests on a
silver platter is one that deserves serious Congressional scrutiny.
Congress should be concerned not only about the impact on our safety and
security but the viability of our jobs and the communities we support. (more…)