Page 43 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

AFRICAN AFRICAN
AIRLINES AIRLINES

FLIGHTS RESTART IN TANZANIA IBOM AIR TARGETS

POST-CRISIS BOOM

he new tourism season launched
Tearlier this year is unfolding in style
in this African country as major airlines

restart flights bringing in a substantial
number of tourists.
Of late, Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) landed

at the Kilimanjaro International Airport
(KIA) with more than 177 tourists.
The KLM plane was graced by a water
cannon salute as it was the first time to

land at KIA after an almost a four-month
suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Kilimanjaro regional commissioner
Anna Mghwira was present at the occa-

sion as well as acting managing director flights to Dar es Salaam meant a lot to Qatar. Tanzania is safe to travel to.

of the Kilimanjaro Airports Development "Our wide network of flights during these KADC acting managing director Mwakatobe

Company (KADC) Christina Mwakatobe and challenging times has ensured we have kept said the resumption of the flights is very im-

other senior government officials who were up to date with the latest in international portant for the aviation and tourism sector.

present to witness the Boeing 777 landing. airport procedures and implemented the Mwakatobe said what the Tanzanian
"We are back to normal, we have won most advanced safety and hygiene mea- government has accomplished in ensuring

back a huge number of tourists because of sures on board our aircraft and in Hamad safety of tourists is huge and that KADCO
strategies that have been devised by presi- International Airport," Al Baker said. will work to ensure these standards are

dent Magufuli and the government in deal- RwandAir have also resumed its flights in maintained and flights continue.

ing with Covid-19, pushing away fear but and out of Tanzania - five months after its Standard operating procedures (SOPs) to

also helping others observe the same, with government put in place mandatory lock- prevent the spread of Covid-19 were present-
much needed precautions to ensure that down and stringent measures in travel and ed and adopted by minister Hamisi Kigwan-

life goes back to normal,” said Mghwira. transportation. A Bombardier Q4109 has also gallah. The protocols have been adopted and

Airlines that have resumed their flights touched down at KIA with several passengers customised by all tourism entities.

to and from Tanzania include Flydubai, destined to take part in different tourist activ- A Tanzanian tourist board senior official

Emirates and Turkish Airlines. ities in the country. RwandAir manager Jimmy Francis Malugu said the resumption of

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways chief Mitali said the flights had been allowed after flights to Tanzania is a milestone for the

executive officer said that the resumption of the Rwandan government ascertained that tourism sector. Q been put on hold until the impact of the DEPRESSED REGIONAL MARKET

Covid-19 crisis is better understood. West Africa’s civil aviation market never

bom Air is planning to add another “We are busy reviewing our business plan fully recovered from the demise of Air

DRONES Idomesti c route in the coming weeks now and waiting to see what kind of trac- Afrique, the transnational carrier that

as management re-boot efforts to tion we get,” Uriesi affirmed. “We intend dominated air traffic across the sub-region

transform Nigeria’s under-exploited civil to grow our fleet of CRJ900s to ten, and we in the second half of the 20th century.

HOW CHINESE DRONES ARE BEING aviation market. will then change to another, bigger aircraft d'Ivoire are currently the largest local

Togo’s ASKY Airlines and Air Côte
type. We were going to get to ten in three
The start-up carrier began operations in
June 2019 with funding from the govern- years, but with Covid-19 only God knows operators, but thin demand keeps their
what's going to happen.”

ticket prices high.
USED TO DETECT TYPHOONS ment of Akwa Ibom, the country’s largest type will drive expansion across West Af- populous country, the sector is fragmented

He said the addition of a larger aircraft
In Nigeria, by far West Africa’s most
oil-producing state. Its network was
grounded during the onset of the Covid-19

capable in military operations. The drone a maximum flight speed of 180 miles per pandemic, but flights resumed in July and rica and Central Africa - and “maybe up to between a handful of small airlines with
East Africa eventually” - but that long-haul
generally poor service levels and outdated
one of two new routes planned before the
took off from Bo’ao Airport located in the hour and uses a specially designed tur- crisis has already been launched. flying is not in the business plan. fleets. The federal government pledged to

hinese drones have just had a Hainan Province in South China and flew bojet engine. Other drones made by the Calabar became the airline’s fourth Prior to the diversification of the fleet, raise the bar in 2018 by establishing a new,

Csuccessful debut fl ight in an ef- at an altitude of 10,000 metres. During company all use turboprop engines. scheduled destination last month, joining Ibom Air will also launch cross-border oper- state-owned airline – only to abandon the

fort by the Chinese government to detect the flight, the drone took a multidimen- The Wing Loong-10 has been specially capital city Abuja, financial hub Lagos and ations with its existing aircraft. project two months later.

them sooner and be better prepared. sional scan of the typhoon using its built for typhoon detections with its Uyo, the state capital of Akwa Ibom. “We will start with some of the nearby Admitting that corruption and poor
millimetre wave radar and temperature,
specially built jet engine. More tests are

The drone hit the sky recently and was humidity and hydrometer data to build expected to take place over the coming The airline’s next route will connect destinations like Accra [in Ghana], like management have plagued the sector for

able to complete a multi-dimensional the bigger picture. months to ensure the drone is ready for Lagos with another point in the south of Libreville in Gabon, like Douala in Camer- years, Uriesi said he wants to show there is
scan of Typhoon Sinlaku. The Wing Loong-10 is built by Chinese real use and is likely to be sold to other the country, according to chief operat- oon,” Uriesi said, referring to outbound another way.
China has been planning to use its cus- company Chengdu Aircraft Industrial countries if everything goes well. ing officer George Uriesi. He declined to services from Lagos and Uyo. “We will do “We are determined to put corporate

tom-built Wing Loong-10 drone to detect (Group) Co Ltd and is under the state- It is reported that typhoons cause name the city but ruled out Port Harcourt that with the CRJs.” governance up-front,” he stressed. “Every-
and track typhoons around the country. owned Aviation Industry Corporation China (US) $4.22 billion in economic loss- due to the risk of cannibalizing demand Longer-term, management envisage Uyo thing is for the airline, and everything is

Reports have said the test marked a of China (AVIC). The drone is currently es every year, making the government in Uyo. becoming a “semi-hub” that provides one- done in the interests of the airline. We are

breakthrough in typhoon detection and in use by China, various countries in the invest even more than before to ensure Other likely candidates – not specified stop connections from coastal Central Af- appointing an international auditor to do

forecast systems. The drone was able to Middle East, and Nigeria. Wing Loong-10 they are able to predict typhoons accu- by Uriesi – include Onitsha, Benin, Enugu, rican states to Lagos, Abuja and the rest of our annual financial audits and we going to

prove its resilience to the wild weather has a flight time of 20 hours and a maxi- rately and in time to prepare, in theory, Ibadan and Ilorin. West Africa. Inbound flows would primarily be publishing our books in the newspaper,

while in the test making it even more mum flight altitude of 16,000 feet. It has to lower the amount of destruction. Q Ibom Air currently deploys a fleet of five come from countries with poor connec- so we're not hiding anything.

90-seat Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets. tivity, such as Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, “We want to prove that this thing can be
Plans to induct another two units have Cameroon and São Tomé and Príncipe. done properly and done well.” Q
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