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Aviation News

Acsa reacts to downgrade, assures on financing

By: Rebecca Campbell 29th June 2020 State-owned Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has stated that it “notes” the recent decision by ratings agency Moody’s Investor Service to down grade Acsa’s ratings and to change its outlook for the airports operator from “under review” to negative. Acsa, however, has also reported success in... →

Angolan national airline takes delivery of new Canadian regional airliner

By: Rebecca Campbell 29th June 2020 Angolan State-owned national flag carrier TAAG Angola Airlines (TAAG) has taken delivery of the first of six De Havilland Canada (DHC) Dash 8-400 twin turboprop airliners. The aircraft were ordered in June 2019 during the Paris Air Show. “We selected the Dash 8-400 aircraft to support our... →

Photo by De Havilland Canada
TAAG’s first DHC Dash 8-400 airliner

Unions welcome adjournment of SAA business rescue vote

By: Rebecca Campbell 26th June 2020 In a joint statement on Friday (June 26) the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) have expressed their relief that 69% of the creditors of South African Airways (SAA) voted to adjourn (to July 14) the vote on the proposed... →

South African Airways restructuring vote delayed until next month

By: Reuters 26th June 2020 A vote on a restructuring plan for loss-making South African Airways (SAA) was delayed until next month on Thursday, after some creditors and trade unions secured an adjournment after months of wrangling over the airline's future. The administrators, who took over SAA in December after almost a... →

Airbus expects slow air travel recovery but remains optimistic for the longer term

By: Rebecca Campbell 25th June 2020 Europe-based global major aerospace group Airbus believes that it will take some years for air travel to return to the levels seen last year, following the lockdowns and air travel bans imposed around the world to try and counter the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. “We forecast that the 2019 traffic... →

Photo by Airbus
Mikail Houari, Airbus President: Africa and the Middle East

Airlink will vote against business rescue plan for SAA

By: Rebecca Campbell 25th June 2020 South African private-sector airline company Airlink has stated that it respects, but is disappointed by, the decision of the South Gauteng High Court not to interdict the Thursday meeting of creditors of State-owned South African Airways (SAA), which is currently under business rescue. The... →

Public Enterprises announces SAA severance packages, urges approval of rescue plan

By: Rebecca Campbell 25th June 2020 The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) announced on Thursday that, should the creditors of State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA), which is currently under business rescue, vote in favour of the business rescue plan for the airline, voluntary severance packages (VSPs)... →

International airline body urges alternatives to quarantine for anti-Covid-19 safety

By: Rebecca Campbell 24th June 2020 The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which is the representative body of the global airline industry, has called on governments, as they start re-opening their economies, to avoid imposing quarantine on arriving air passengers. Instead, Iata was advocating a layered approach to... →

South African government urges creditors to support SAA rescue plan

By: Reuters 24th June 2020 South Africa's public enterprises ministry on Wednesday urged creditors to vote in support of a rescue plan for cash-strapped South African Airways. Creditors are due to vote on the plan, which was published by the state-owned airline's administrators last week, on Thursday. →

Public Enterprises reports that there is interest in SAA

By: Rebecca Campbell 23rd June 2020 The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has reported that there is indeed investor interest in the State-owned national airline, South African Airways (SAA), which is currently under business rescue. The DPE stated that the government had received unsolicited proposals from private equity... →

Comair BRPs report funder interest, request extension in publication of rescue plan

By: Rebecca Campbell 23rd June 2020 The Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) for South African private-sector airline group Comair have asked the group’s creditors to grant them a second extension for the publication of the business rescue plan for the airline. Under the Companies Act, a business rescue plan must be published... →

SAA business rescue plan would see severe cut in airline’s fleet

By: Rebecca Campbell 22nd June 2020 In their business rescue plan for State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA), published on June 16, business rescue practitioners (BRPs) Siviwe Dongwana and Leslie Matuson proposed a massive downsizing in the airline’s fleet, followed by a slow expansion after it resumed... →

Public Enterprises to seek to oppose court applications against SAA business rescue

By: Rebecca Campbell 22nd June 2020 The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has announced that it will approach the courts for permission to intervene in a court application against State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) lodged by local private-sector airline SA Airlink (Airlink). The latter is applying to... →

Major Brazilian aerospace group secures export financing to strengthen its cash position

By: Rebecca Campbell 19th June 2020 Brazil-based global major aerospace group Embraer has reported that it has secured export financing of up to $600-million for the next four years. The company is the world’s number one manufacturer of commercial airliners with 150 seats or less. It stated that the loans had been obtained at... →

Photo by Rebecca Campbell
An Embraer E190-E2 airliner

International air transport body launches security risk portal for airlines

By: Rebecca Campbell 19th June 2020 The representative body for the global airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), has launched an online tool to assist airlines to manage and mitigate security risks. It is called the Security Risk Intelligence Portal. This has been developed for the association by its... →

SA unions threaten legal action against business rescue plan for SAA

By: African News Agency 19th June 2020 The National Union of Metalworkers of South African and the South African Cabin Crew Association said they had lost faith in the department of public enterprises, accusing it of sanctioning a business rescue plan for troubled national carrier South African Airways which would lead to 3 700 job... →

Intelligent transport system community severely impacted on by Covid-19

By: Irma Venter 19th June 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the local intelligent transport system (ITS) community, says Intelligent Transport Society South Africa (ITSSA) CEO Dr Paul Vorster. The ITTSA conducted a survey among its members on the new normal brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. →

Air transport bodies call on African countries to apply ICAO guidance to restart air travel

By: Rebecca Campbell 18th June 2020 Three international air transport sector organisations have urged African governments to harmonise the safe restart of their air services, by swiftly implementing the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO’s) global guidelines for the restoration of safe air transport, entitled... →

SAA business rescue plan might not be adequate, govt says

By: African News Agency 17th June 2020 South Africa's government said it was concerned that a business rescue plan for troubled national carrier South African Airways published late on Tuesday might not be adequate. The government placed financially strapped South African Airways under business rescue last December, but efforts to... →

To deal with aviation crisis, Aerosud restructures, diversifies and will launch new product

By: Rebecca Campbell 15th June 2020 South African private sector aerostructures company Aerosud remains optimistic about its future, despite suffering significant short-term hits from both the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX airliner early last year and the current Covid-19 pandemic. Aerosud is a supplier of airframe components to... →

Photo by Bloomberg
The protracted grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft has negatively impacted on Aersosud.

Boeing investigating new approaches to ensuring airliner crew and passenger health

By: Rebecca Campbell 11th June 2020 US-based global aerospace group Boeing has launched a programme to ensure the health and safety of airline passengers and crews, as air travel resumes with the gradual lifting of national lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed around the world to counter the Covid-19 pandemic. Boeing calls... →

Iata reports air cargo revenues up because of demand exceeding available capacity

By: Rebecca Campbell 10th June 2020 The International Air Transport Association (Iata), the representative body for the global air transport industry, has reported that, while revenues from air passenger operations have plummeted this year in comparison to last year, those from air cargo have gone up. Air passenger operations... →

Global air transport body predicts 2020 will be worst ever year for commercial aviation

By: Rebecca Campbell 10th June 2020 The International Air Transport Association (Iata), the representative body for the global air transport industry, has released its latest financial forecast for the sector. It expected the world’s airlines to sustain total losses of $84.3-billion this year. This would give a net profit margin of... →

Photo by Iata
Alexandre de Juniac

Iata forecasts reduced losses for global airline industry next year

By: Rebecca Campbell 10th June 2020 The representative body of the global airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), expects the sector to continue to make losses next year, in the aftermath of this year’s global and severe disruption of air transport – the consequence of attempts to contain the Covid-19... →

Unions say they have found possible investor for embattled airline SA Express

By: Rebecca Campbell 9th June 2020 Two trade unions, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) have jointly “noted” that the High Court has extended the provisional liquidation order for State-owned regional airline SA Express. The provisional liquidation order... →

SA Express escapes liquidation for now

By: Reuters 9th June 2020 South African state airline SA Express escaped liquidation on Tuesday, after a judge granted a three-month delay in liquidation proceedings, giving the government more time to clarify its plans for the domestic and regional carrier. SA Express, a different business to national flag carrier South... →

SAA creditors vote to extend business rescue plan publication yet again

By: Rebecca Campbell 9th June 2020 The majority of South African Airways’ (SAA’s) creditors voted on June 8 to postpone the publication of the business rescue plan for the State-owned airline until June 15. Their vote was requested by the business rescue practitioners for SAA. The BRPs called the vote in response to a request from... →

SAA creditors to vote today on extending business rescue plan publication yet again

By: Rebecca Campbell 8th June 2020 The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for embattled State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) have asked the airline’s creditors to vote for or against yet another extension to the publication of the business rescue plan for the company. The creditors have until close of... →

Solidarity Fund flies in essential PPE for frontline healthcare workers

By: Donna Slater 8th June 2020 The Solidarity Fund has taken delivery of a consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) as part of its health and humanitarian intervention to provide much-needed PPE for frontline healthworkers. The consignment, received on June 6, includes gowns and N95 respirator masks, and takes the... →

Two unions support demands by SA Express staff to be paid their salaries

By: Rebecca Campbell 5th June 2020 Two trade unions, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca), have jointly expressed support for the workers of financially embattled State-owned regional airline SA Express. The workers organised a protest march, without any... →

Brazilian aerospace group Embraer reports net loss for the first quarter of the year

By: Rebecca Campbell 4th June 2020 Brazilian major aerospace group Embraer, the world’s number one manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats, and the world’s number three commercial jet manufacturer, after Airbus and Boeing (in alphabetical order), has reported a net loss attributable to its shareholders of $292-million... →

Photo by St Helena Tourism Authority
An Embraer E190 airliner of South African operator Airlink

April saw almost total collapse in air travel demand, but early signs of recovery appearing

By: Rebecca Campbell 4th June 2020 The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has reported that it has detected signs of a recovery in air passenger demand, following a gigantic collapse in April. Air passenger demand during April was 94.3% lower than in April 2019, a fall never before seen in this statistical series since... →

Government, labour working together on new airline plan

By: Bloomberg 4th June 2020 The Department of Public Enterprises and labour unions are working together on a business model for a new national carrier that will replace the embattled South African Airways. The new airline will be funded through a variety of options such as strategic equity partners, funders and the sale of... →

Iata reports severe air cargo demand and capacity contraction in April

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd June 2020 The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which is the representative body for the global airline industry, has reported that global air cargo demand in April suffered the greatest year-on-year fall ever recorded. Measured in cargo-metric ton-kilometres (CTKs), demand in April was 27.7%... →

S African airlines look to restart operations, see slow recovery

By: Reuters 3rd June 2020 Two of South Africa's biggest private airlines will start flying between local airports this month after the government eased lockdown restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus, but they said a recovery could take at least three years. Airlink has started taking bookings on its website for... →

Transport Minister reaffirms rules imposed for resumption of local air travel

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd June 2020 People wishing to make use of the limited domestic air services being reintroduced under the new, less-restrictive, Level 3 category of the current anti-Covid-19 national lockdown, must have a business travel permission letter. It was the responsibility of passengers to make certain that they had... →

Comair can’t fly again before November, needs substantial recapitalisation

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd June 2020 South African private-sector airline group Comair, currently in business rescue, will be unable to resume operations before November this year. This was because the airline needed a “substantial cash injection”, its Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) have reported. (The government’s latest... →

A Comair Boeing 737-400 in the livery of British Airways

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