SAA Increases Frequencies

South African Airways has announced a number of additional flights, as well as additional capacity on popular summer holidays routes. Effective 3 October, SAA will offer non-stop daily flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai.
The route is serviced with an A330-200 Airbus, with 36 Business and 186 Economy Class seats. Effective 13 September, SAA will add three flights to its daily schedule which increases the service between Johannesburg and Nairobi from seven to 10 flights per week.
 To meet demand, SAA will be adding capacity to its popular summer holidays routes. First in line will be Brazil with the current 10 flights weekly between Sao Paulo and Johannesburg increasing to 11.
 This additional capacity will be added between 6 October and 13 March 2013, using a combination of the Airbus A323 and A343. Further, during the summer holidays, a wide-body aircraft will be deployed to meet demand on the Johannesburg to Mauritius route.
]Between mid-December and mid-January, the same will happen on the Johannesburg to Cape Town route when a bigger aircraft will be deployed to cater for an increase in demand by holiday travelers.

Birchwood Launches New Convention Centre

Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre is launching its new multi-purpose convention venue, turning the hotel into a one-stop conferencing centre, offering a host of conferencing, exhibition, banqueting and eventing options.
It has a capacity of 3000 and is fully-equipped with quality conferencing equipment, back-up generators and an in-house décor team. It’s designed to cater for any event. The Convention Venue is backed up by an array of already existing conference facilities, which range from the more intimate four-seater boardrooms, to the ‘OR Tambo Centre’, which can seat up to 1,500 delegates, and the 164-seater auditorium.
 Situated just 10 minutes away from O.R Tambo International Airport and easily accessible from three major highways, Birchwood is a great venue in which to bring together delegates from around South Africa and Africa as a whole.
The hotel was established in 1998 with just one conference venue and 80 accommodation rooms, but today boasts 665 accommodation rooms and over 60 conference rooms. There is also a complimentary scheduled shuttle service to and from the airport, as well as the nearby East Rand Mall shopping centre. Further to that, Birchwood also offers comprehensive services, including on-site car hire and an in-house tour operator, in the form of Top Shot Tours, which covers all transport requirements, from airport transfers to organised day trips.

SAA Sells Heathrow Slot

According to South African media, the country’s national airline has sold one of its three exclusive daily landing-time slots at London’s Heathrow Airport. It is reported that the time slot sold is the one used for the regular Cape Town-London flight, which will be discontinued on 15 August.
 SAA commercial general manager Theunis Potgieter reportedly confirmed the deal, but would not name the buyer or the price paid for the slot. Landing-time slots for Heathrow are so difficult to acquire that SAA will probably never be able to get this one back, the report said.

Airlink Commences Maun Flight

 Airlink has commenced its daily scheduled Johannesburg – Maun flights and will initially operate the service using one of its 10 Embraer ERJ 135 37-seat regional jets. It does however plan to increase capacity in line with market demand. Airlink will also increase the frequency of its daily service between Johannesburg and Pemba, Northern Mozambique. From 27 August, Airlink will add a Monday and Friday flight to its weekly schedule.

Recognition for Sun International Properties

Travel + Leisure magazine has released its 2012 list of their 500 best hotels in the world. The rankings are determined by the magazine's reader’s votes.
Sun International’s Royal Livingstone Hotel in Zambia has once again made the grade and The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town has made the newcomers list. The number of high-scoring hotels in Africa also increased this year, with nine hotels in the top 25 and 45 properties overall.
The 5-star Royal Livingstone has dramatic views of the Zambezi River, which can be enjoyed from the public rooms, guest rooms and riverside deck.
The Table Bay Hotel rises eight stories above ships and fisheries at the V&A Waterfront, and has direct access to waterfront shops and restaurants. Occupying a modern gabled building, the hotel’s public rooms have a maritime theme, and the most inviting is the lounge, with its high open-trussed ceiling and expansive atrium window, beautifully framing a view of Table Mountain.

54 on Bath Open for Business

Tsogo Sun’s latest edition, the 54 on Bath hotel, in Rosebank, Johannesburg is open for business. This new boutique hotel boasts 60 deluxe rooms and 12 executive rooms.
 In October 2011, Tsogo Sun acquired the Grace Hotel property and office buildings. The group adopted the address of the property as the name of the new hotel.
 In keeping with this trend, the well-known restaurant on the fourth floor is now known as Level Four, which is an uncomplicated yet elegant space that allows for intimate and comfortable dining and opens up to the renowned fourth floor roof terrace and garden. 
Guests and local residents can choose to either relax in the intimate champagne bar on the fourth floor or enjoy a special cocktail at the boutique coffee bar in the lobby lounge. The hotel is perfectly situated for the leisure and business traveller with easy access to designer shops, boutiques and entertainment facilities at the Rosebank Mall, through the hotel’s link from the second floor.

Malawi’s Swift Air Ceases Operations

According to Malawi's Zodiak Online, Swift Air has ceased operations after sheriffs impounded the company’s property in Lilongwe for unpaid debt.
 The Lilongwe-based airline is alleged to owe millions of kwacha to its landlord, Airport Development Limited, Air Malawi and independent travel agents.
Swift Air launched services from Lilongwe to Karonga in April last year and launched flights to Johannesburg in February. The airline also flies to Blantyre and Mzuzu.

Mango Makes Bloem Changes

South African low-cost airline, Mango, has announced that it is making changes to its Bloemfontein services.The airline will stop operating between Johannesburg and Bloemfontein effective 19 July, as a result of the route being “over-traded”. 
It has also unveiled plans to grow its Cape Town-Bloemfontein service over the next 18 months as a result of growing demand, increasing flights from five to six a week.
 “The success of Bloemfontein-Cape Town highlights the incredible opportunity that low-cost carriers offer to under-serviced routes,” said CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout. The airline also plans to turn the route into its second dedicated G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi sector by September, when the majority of its fleet will be online.

Lufthansa Move to Munich

Lufthansa passengers will for the first time be able to reach Cape Town non-stop from Munich, when the upcoming 2012/2013 winter flight schedule comes into effect. 
Contrary to the existing winter schedule, the Lufthansa connection to the Cape Town will not be operated from Frankfurt, but instead will depart from the Bavarian capital city effective 28 October 2012.
 As the night flight ban in Frankfurt has been restrictively implemented, in the current summer flight schedule Lufthansa has already reduced departures from Frankfurt during evening hours or advanced them to earlier hours.
 The evening flight to Cape Town will now be moved from Frankfurt to Munich in the interests of increased flight operation reliability and stability. In the upcoming winter flight schedule, Cape Town will be served from Munich five times a week with an Airbus A340-300.
 Passengers who are already booked on the Frankfurt – Cape Town connection will be rebooked at no charge and informed accordingly. The departure times from Munich will change only slightly compared with those of Frankfurt.

Airline Mini Fair

The South African office of AVIAREPS is staging another Airline Mini Fair – this time in Cape Town on the 18th of July. This event, which is open to the travel industry and media only, provides a forum for airlines to exhibit to the travel industry.
The CEO of the Board of Airline Representatives South Africa (BARSA), Allen Moore, will address the Consumer Protection Act, and other discussion points include taxes, surcharges and news from the airlines.
There will be 21 participating airlines including SAA, Air France/KLM, Air Botswana, Arik Air, Emirates, Qatar, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, amongst others. This event is sponsored by Business Traveller Africa Magazine, GSA Marketing Publishers and Southern Sun Cape Sun, which is the venue for the event. For more information, contact Michell Fourie on +27 11 783 1181, or mfourie@aviareps.com. Alternatively, visit the AVIAREPS website - www.avaireps.com.

Airlink Conclude BEE Deal

The Sishen Iron Ore Community Development Trust, through its investment arm Sishen Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust Investment Holdings, has acquired a 32.51% stake in Airlink, in a landmark Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment transaction in the aviation industry.
 Airlink is the biggest privately-owned regional airline, serving over 29 destinations within the Southern African Development Community.
The Chief Executive Officer of Airlink, Rodger Foster, believes the transaction has forged a relationship that will benefit all parties concerned, saying: “With the conclusion of this transaction, Airlink is firmly positioned at the forefront of transformation in the aviation industry. We are favourably positioned to lead the way in terms of this quantum shift in ownership. Airlink’s shareholding now exceeds the criteria committed to in the Air Transport Sector BBBEE charter and qualifies Airlink to secure additional Intra Africa Regional routes as designated by the International Air Services Licensing Council.”

AFBAA Formed

The business aircraft community in Africa has launched the African Business Aviation Association (AFBAA), to raise safety and operational standards and to create a single voice to lobby the continent's regulators. Chairman Tarek Ragheb said the goal is to make AFBAA an asset that is recognised, valued and supported by governments, their respective civil aviation authorities, and enterprises throughout Africa.
 The new association is applying to become a member of business aviation group umbrella organisation, the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). Until now, Africa has not been served by any single group, but through two regional associations.
Jack Olcott, the former president of the US National Business Aviation Association, is acting as an adviser to AFBAA, which already has 13 of a 15-member board in place, with members hailing from across the continent and representing manufacturers, operators and suppliers.
 “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know there are challenges to business aviation in Africa,” said Ragheb.
 “There are over-flight issues, lack of infrastructure, high fees and a lack of consistency in regulations. The first step in having the association’s voice heard is creating a ‘white paper’ on the state of African business aviation and a “road map’ for its future”.

More Flights For Precision Air

Tanzania’s private-owned airline has launched three weekly flights connecting Dar es Salaam and the Zambian capital of Lusaka.
With the introduction of this new route, it now takes just two hours to fly from Dar es Salaam to Lusaka, cutting flying hours from nine when connecting through Johannesburg.
 The Dar es Salaam to Lusaka route is the sixth international route for Precision. Other routes are Johannesburg, Hahaya, Nairobi, Entebbe, and Mombasa. Domestically, Precision Air covers the bigger towns in Tanzania.

New SA Grading Council Named

South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, has announced the appointment of the new Awards Committee of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA). 
The committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation and management of the TGCSA’s grading system, South Africa’s only officially recognised system for the star grading of accommodation establishments.
The new committee is chaired by Graham Wood, managing director of gaming, hotel and entertainment group, Tsogo Sun.
Wood is joined on the new committee by Yusuf Patel, Amor Malan, Nina Freysen–Pretorius, Julie Joe Madala, Caroline Ungesbock, Alan Romburgh, Jegie Padmanathan, Tony Hazel, Nonhlanhla Tshabalala, Mark Goveia and Nyeleti Mushwana.

EAN Launches Wings In-Flight

 Lagos-based Evergreen Apple Nigeria, EAN, has launched the first and only dedicated executive in-flight catering service at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. EAN Catering Limited, a subsidiary of EAN, already manages Wings restaurant on the penthouse floor of its FBO at Lagos.
 The new product will be operated under the same brand and called Wings In-Flight. The service has been developed in response to the increased business jet activity at the airport and the growing demand from the private jet community for good quality in-flight catering.
 In just two months the business has already developed a growing international customer base, with 14 different private jets already ordering regularly, and others beginning to make requests. Clients include leading aviation names such as Vistajet, Avjet Corporation, Hangar 8 and Elit’Avia. Until the launch, the majority of private jet catering had to be sourced from local business hotels.

ITMSA Forum

The Institute of Travel and Meetings Southern Africa is staging another of its forums – this time in association with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. It will take place on the 19th of July at the Protea Hotel O.R Tambo.
At the event, ITMSA will address key issues affecting the procurement and supply chain relationship within the business travel environment, including: • Managing supplier relationship within the corporate travel industry • How to enable better outcomes from your current travel contracts with suppliers • Purchasing heads will have to be even more creative in finding way to cut costs The speakers will be Andre Coetzee: Managing Director – CIPS Africa (‘Managing supplier relationships within the corporate travel industry’) and Dr Phillip Dhawa: Head of Regional Development and Integration – CIPS (‘Purchasing heads will have to be even more creative in finding ways to cut costs’).
 Registration, breakfast and networking will take place between 07h30 and 08h00, with the presentations getting under way thereafter. The rates are as follows: • ITMSA Buyer Member: Free • ITMSA Supplier Member: R350 • ITMSA Connect Member: R450 • Non-Member: R550 There is a Gautrain station approximately five minutes away from the Protea Hotel O.R Tambo and a shuttle service will be provided from the Rhodesfield station. For more information contact: nicky.duplessis@itmsa.org.

New Routes for SAA

South African Airways is set to add two new destinations to its Africa route network. The two new destinations, Abidjan and Brazzaville, will bring the total number of destinations that SAA serves throughout Africa to 28.
 As of 17 August, SAA will introduce twice-weekly services to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. These flights will be added as an extension to SAA’s Accra (Ghana) flights on Tuesdays and Fridays. In addition, SAA has also secured traffic rights between Accra and Abidjan, which enables the carrier to serve customers flying between these two cities in either direction.
 As of 13 September, SAA will introduce a twice-weekly service to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. The Brazzaville route will be served using an Airbus A319-200 aircraft, while the Abidjan service will be operated on the same Airbus A330 – 200 widebody aircraft that serves Accra.