Page 29 - World Airnews Magazine March 2020 Edition

NEWS NEWS

QATAR AIRWAYS EYES CATHAY PACIFIC

STAKE IN RWANDAIR STAFF TO TAKE

UNPAID LEAVE

earching for alternatives to counter the traffic effects of the

Stwo-and-a-half-year-old Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, the
Gulf state’s national airline has entered talks over an investment

of a 49 percent stake in RwandAir. ong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific has asked staff

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker made the announcement Hto take three weeks of unpaid leave to help it cope with

at the CAPA Qatar Aviation Aeropolitical and Regulatory Summit the impact of the corona virus.
recently in Doha. The carrier had already been hit by the effect on passenger
“In Africa there is a big demand for air travel and today Africa is very demand of several months of anti-government protests in Hong
poorly connected, so we always look at opportunities in our field to do Kong.

investments similar to what we have done in the past,” said Al Baker. It has offered a voluntary special leave scheme to all employees

In December the airline took a 60-percent equity stake in the from 1 March to 30 June.

new Kigali airport, the base of operations for RwandAir. The airline said that preserving cash was "key to protecting"

Qatar also plans to sign within the next six months a comprehen- its business.
sive air transport agreement with the European Commission as Cathay said it intended to cut services by about 30% over the

part of the EU aviation strategy for Europe, becoming the first in next two months, including a cut of about 90% in flights to main-

the region to do so. land China.

The agreement will take effect once both internal procedures existing agreements between Qatar and individual EU member states. The airline had already been facing difficulties because of

“including translation in Arabic and 20 European languages are The agreement includes a gradual market opening over five years anti-government protests in Hong Kong, an international financial

finalised,” said Henrik Hololei, the EU’s director for mobility and to EU member states that have not yet fully liberalised direct con- and travel hub and a key part of its business.

transport. The agreement will upgrade the rules and standards for nections for passengers, including Belgium, Germany, France, Italy Analysts said the airline had been likely to offer the unpaid leave

flights between Qatar and the EU and include provisions not nor- and the Netherlands. scheme to staff because of those issues anyway.

mally covered by bilateral air transport agreements, such as social An independent economic study made by the commission notes
In a statement, the airline said, "In view of the novel coronavi-
or environmental matters. the agreement, with its robust fair competition provisions, could rus outbreak and also significant drop in market demand, we just

Moving beyond traffic rights, the agreement will provide a single generate economic benefits of nearly €3 billion and create around

set of rules and a platform for future co-operation on aviation issues, 2,000 new jobs by 2025. Q announced massive capacity cuts yesterday.

such as safety, security and air traffic management. The agreement Article courtesy: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ Cathay chief executive Augustus Tang has sent a video message

also commits both parties to improve on social and labour policies in air-transport/2020-02-05/qatar-airways-eyes-stake-rwandair to employees saying the airline had also asked its suppliers to cut
prices, stopped hiring new staff and postponed some major proj-

ects and stopped all non-critical spending. Q
AFRICA
UGANDA TRAVEL FAA CERTIFICATION
ASSESSMENT SYSTEM FOR DUBAI MRO
FACILITY

World Customs Organisation chose Uganda Customs officials have previously

for the GTAS pilot and partnered with URA. recovered cosmetics potentially being
assengers arriving at Entebbe “The flight passenger manifest will be smuggled valued for as much as (US)

PInternati onal Airport in Uganda available to us within 15 minutes after a $6,000 from a passenger. renchard Aviation Group, a leading partner in aircraft

can now be checked for drug smug- plane has taken off on its way to Entebbe The new tracking platform will initially Tcabin component design, manufacture, repair and on-wing

gling, wildlife trafficking, terrorism and Airport. We shall be on the lookout for accommodate Kenya Airways and Rwan- maintenance, has announced that its MRO facility in Dubai, Aero

Customs violations hours before their plane passengers who travel frequently, dAir passenger booking systems before Technics FZCO, has been confirmed as an approved Repair Station

arrival following the roll out of the Glob- carry a lot of luggage and bear unclear busi- integration of other airlines operating at by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

al Travel Assessment System (GTAS) by ness particulars. The law offers a duty free Entebbe, said URA officials. Serving airlines across the Middle East region, Aero Technics’
the Uganda revenue authority. cargo allowance of (US) $300 per passenger While smuggled goods are usually facility offers a wide range of services, from repair of crew seats,

GTAS is a digital platform developed and any amount above that is taxable under seized by customs officials and released galley inserts, megaphones, emergency locator transmitter, and

by the US customs and border protec- customs rules,” said Dicksons Kateshumb- after payment of taxes, drug smugglers cabin and flight handsets to the overhaul of oxygen assemblies, fire

tion unit to allow officials to scan airline wa, URA’s commissioner for customs. and other non-tax offences will be extinguishers, and emergency evacuation systems including slides,

passenger details and flag criminals. The URA is targeting illegal imports referred to the Uganda police force, joint rafts, life vests and smoke hoods.

The platform went live in Uganda recently of smart phones, cosmetics, jewellery, anti-terrorism taskforce and the chief of Lassaad Yousfi, General Manager of Aero Technics FZCO said,

and is interlinked with URA’s National Target- high-end textiles and earphones which military intelligence. Q “This is excellent news for us and for the whole Trenchard Group.

ing Centre, a surveillance unit that monitors are often concealed by passengers in Article courtesy: https://www. Together with our EASA and GCAA certifications, it further estab-

suspicious customs transactions. In 2017, the suitcases and leather jackets. theeastafrican.co.ke/ lishes our position as one of the most trusted MRO operations in

the region.” Q
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