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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…)

Brazilian airline Varig suspended 27 flights on Friday, the country’s airport management company Infraero said.

Varig, which is on the edge of bankruptcy, suspended 27 flights, 13 of them from Rio de Janeiro.

As well as that, Brasilia airport sealed one of its runways for 90 minutes after a Varig aircraft lost a part of its landing gear, after the plane had already landed safely. (more…)

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…)

US Airways Group Inc. is stepping up its Philadelphia operations this fall with more flights to and from three cities.

The company said Monday there will be one more flight per day to and from New Orleans and Wilmington, N.C. There will be two flights added per day to and from Buffalo, N.Y.

The change starts Sept. 6. US Airways (NYSE: LCC) said it is adding flights to meet demand for the markets. (more…)

Think your commute is bad? Try Wichita to New York, Vancouver, B.C., to Dallas or Panama to Miami.

For pilots and flight attendants, those commutes are not just routine but long-standing matters of choice, supported by two of the perks that make working for an airline special: They can hitch a ride on almost any airline with an empty seat, and they usually have to work only 15 to 18 days a month, making it easy for them to live anywhere they want.

But nowadays, they find it hard to get home because planes are so full. “Sometimes it takes me two days,” said Jason Miller, 36, an Airbus 320 captain for JetBlue Airways. (more…)

MEMBER-nations of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) have forged a new agreement, which is expected to increase the load factor of airlines companies in the growth area.

The agreement was reached during the recently concluded BIMP-Eaga Transport Ministers Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

Mindanao Business Council chair Romeo Serra said the granting of full fifth freedom traffic rights in the BIMP-Eaga region is a start to further smoothen air transport linkages in the region. (more…)

Airports of Thailand Plc said today that five budget airlines have agreed to participate in tests of the overall systems at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport on July 29, before its official opening about two months later, a senior official said Saturday.

Somchai Sawasdipol, director of Suvarnabhumi airport, said five low-cost airlines had agreed to join tests of the check-in system at both arrival and departure lounges. He indicated that his agency was also contacting Thai Airways International to participate in the test as well. (more…)

HONOLULU — New airline Go! began a schedule of interisland flights on Friday as an airfare war rages between the newcomer and its competitors.

Chris Barth and his family flew in one of Go!’s first flights from Maui on Friday morning. He said that it was an enjoyable trip because the price was right.

“Three-hundred dollars. The four of us got over here; normally it would cost us about $850 or $900. So, it’s great,” Barth said.
(more…)

Tunis, Tunisia, 06/05 - The new West African airline company, whose creation was announced in Dakar in 2005 will be operational in 2007, according to Gervais Djondo, chairman of the board of directors of SPCAR (society for the Promotion of a regional air transport company).

(more…)