Iata sees slower international freight growth until 2017 
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) Airline Industry Forecast 2013-2017 shows that international freight volumes are expected to grow by 17% over the next five years. This consensus outlook incorporates a conservative estimate of the recovery in global economic... more
Mauritania Airlines returns to Europe
After being removed from the EU blacklist one year ago, Mauritania Airlines International returned to Paris (France), yesterday (15 December). After three years of forced suspension inherited from defunct Mauritania Airways, the flag carrier of the West African country... more
Lufthansa Cargo's second triple 7 in service
The German airline Lufthansa Cargo's second Boeing 777F is making its maiden commercial flight to Chicago IL (USA) today (6 December). The aircraft with the D-ALFB registration landed at Lufthansa Cargo's home base Frankfurt on 27 November and received the name "Jambo... more
SAA realigns African network
Effective tomorrow (7 December 2013), South African Airways (SAA) will cease to operate its own aircraft on the Johannesburg-Bujumbura (Burundi) and Kigali (Rwanda) route. The carrier will service that market through its recently announced code share partner RwandAir. This... more
Cargolux launches Mali operation
Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International is launching a weekly service to Bamako, the capital of Mali today (5December). The flights on the Luxembourg – Bamako – Lagos (Nigeria) – Libreville (Gabon) – Nairobi (Kenya) – Manston (UK) – Luxembourg route are operated with... more
Air Seychelles announces international expansion
Air Seychelles, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, is to launch flights to Paris Orly (France). From February 2014, the carrier will operate two return services per week with an Airbus A330-200 between Seychelles and Paris Orly, via Abu Dhabi (UAE). The new link... more
First paperless round-trip for general airfreight
Panalpina is the first company in the world to achieve completely paperless flights for general airfreight. Using its own controlled Boeing B747-8 freighters, the Basel (Switzerland)-based forwarder now operates several paperless (e-freight) port-to-port services with final... more
Ethiopian goes to Singapore
Ethiopian Airlines, one of the fastest growing airlines in Africa, was presented with the 2013 African Airline of the Year Award by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA). The accolade was presented at the trade body's 45th annual general assembly meeting which was held in... more
Embraer crash in Namibia reawakens safety issue questions
On 29 November 2013, only a few days after the International Air Transport Association (Iata) asserted that "in 2012 there was not a single Western-built jet hull loss by any of Iata's 25 African member airlines", LAM Mozambique Airlines lost an Embraer 190. The... more
Northern African airlines order Airbus aircraft
At the recent Dubai Airshow 2013, the European airframe manufacturer Airbus received five firm orders from Qatar Airways Cargo (plus eight commitments) and one firm order with Etihad Airways for the versatile A330-200F, bringing the order and commitment total to14 orders valued... more