Recently in Africa/Middle East Category

...really ought to be the name of Jordan's new year-round unified time zone after the country's government, in a fantastic demonstration of impulsive decision-making, gave everyone two days' notice that it's cancelling winter, at least chronologically.

Jordanian standard time is two hours ahead of UTC but, instead of reverting back to this time zone on 26 October, the government has decreed that the country will remain on summer time, pushing its clocks 60min further east.

None of which is likely to endear the cabinet to travellers on Royal Jordanian Airlines whose passengers are being advised that, as a result of the government's plan to extend summer to include, er, winter, they'll need to mentally add an hour to the times on their tickets.

"[Royal Jordanian's] instructions are meant to save passengers' time and not disrupt [its] international flight schedule," insists the airline.

Since the government hasn't really explained its reasons, it's hard to say what it's trying to achieve, so make up your own minds whether this is about brighter evenings round the Dead Sea or refusing to share the same breakfast time as neighbouring Syria.

The Airline Business team have been exceedingly busy this week breaking exclusive news and producing some fantastic daily magazines from the 18th World Route Development Forum in Abu Dhabi.

But what is it about this event that makes it so vital to airlines and airports? Graham Dunn investigates this and how the Gulf region is so vital for route growth and expansion. On the way Graham also reveals some of the more interesting sights from the show, including meeting cricket legend Brian Lara.

Whatever price Middle East Airlines negotiated for those newly-ordered Airbus A320neos, it probably didn't involve part-payment in fruit.

Which wasn't the case in 1966 when BAC was desperately trying to flog a batch of Super VC10s to MEA in a bid to attract sales from other overseas customers - even Czechoslovakia.

"If...we lose the Middle East Airlines contract, it seems very likely that we shall have to abandon any hope of selling the Super VC10 in world markets," was the UK minister of aviation's pessimistic prognosis, contained in a memorandum buried in the National Archives.

MEA insisted on a £2.67 million price-tag for each jet, the lowest figure to which BAC would agree, plus generous payment terms including a 10-year interest-free loan.

Not content with paying peanuts for the VC10s it also demanded arrangements for the sale of Lebanese apples in the UK amounting to "at least 20% of the value of the aircraft".

While the government wouldn't agree to a special apple quota, the document reveals that BAC found an importer which would use part of the global quota to bring in Lebanese apples.

"We may well have protests from traditional suppliers and attempts to raise the global quota," the memorandum warns. "We should try to avoid doing this, because it would create difficulties with our home apple growers, but we might in the end be forced to."

This month's cover interview for Airline Business was Titus Naikuni - Kenya Airways' long-serving chief executive. Now nine years into the job, this marks the second time he's been on the cover of Airline Business (you can read our cover interview with him from December 2005 here).

In a wide-ranging interview at the carrier's Nairobi headquarters, Naikuni talked about the growth opportunities for the airline - notably within Africa and longer-haul towards Asia. It comes as the airline is embarking on a major expansion - this could see Kenya Airways nearly double passenger numbers to 6 million over the next five years and take delivery of its first (and much awaited) Boeing 787 at the turn of 2013/14.

Read more on this, plus Naikuni's take on the challenge of Africa's stalled aviation liberalistion and the carrier's plan to develop its cargo and regional businesses in the FULL INTERVIEW HERE, together with photos and data about the airline.

It was a bit a cloudy day when we were in Nairobi, but the sun finally appeared in time for the photoshoot and the great pictures from our friends at Billypix gave us something of a nice headache for which picture to use on the cover. We love the striking image we ultimately went for, but it was a close run thing between that and this equally good shot below (only finally decided a couple of hours before we went to print!!!)

I know it's only July (although the weather in London makes it feel more like October), but I think I might have just enjoyed the best moment of my first year as Airline Business editor.

For on Sunday night, I hosted my first Airline Strategy Awards (that's me mid-flow, below) - in the magnificent Great Hall at Lincoln's Inn - in front of an audience of over 200 distinguished guests that included a raft of current and former airline CEOs.

To be honest, it was a relief when the big night finally arrived as it had been six months in planning by the Airline Business editorial and events teams, along with partners Spencer Stuart who did a great job facilitating the whole judging process. And the last few weeks have been particularly challenging, as we juggled completing the final arrangements along with our IATA AGM and Paris air show responsibilities, and the production of this month's huge Airline Business issue which contains the our annual airline financial rankings survey.

 

On the night (17 July), Emirates boss Tim Clark (pictured below) was our most prominent A-lister, receiving the Airline Business award from myself and former editors Kevin O'Toole and Mark Pilling. This was a special 10-year award recongising the leader of the airline that has made the biggest impact over the decade that our awards have run.

Few would disagree that Tim and Emirates have achieved that. I think Tim's influence on the industry is best summed up by paraphrasing what another airline boss told me recently: "Emirates is the airline that other CEOs lie awake at night worrying about."

So congratulations to Tim for that well-deserved award, and to all the other 2011 winners.

 

And now I've got that monkey off my back, I can't wait for the 2012 event! 

More pictures from the event here:

http://www.strategyawards.com/strategyawards2011/gallery-2011#

More details about all the winners here: The Airline Strategy Awards 2011

 

Emirates might already have 90 Airbus A380s on order but it built a 91^st - or at least gave a computer-enhanced impression that it had - on a film set in South Africa, to promote the economic benefits of the Dubai-based carrier's fleet programme.

In a 30-second advertisement actor Maxim Deluc, playing a flight attendant, is shown wheeling a drinks trolley down the aisle while the A380 is put together around him.

Shooting the commercial involved constructing a full-scale fuselage barrel of the A380, on which to film the basic nose-to-tail walk, while the engines, detailed internal fittings and background were filled in afterwards with computer-generated jiggery-pokery:

Emirates is using the advertisement to emphasise the "economic significance" of its commitment to the A380 which, it says, supports creation of 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. It adds that 72% of the jobs are in France, Germany, the UK and Spain - hence the European flavour of the advert, which shows the A380 being assembled to an accompanying refrain from Strauss' Blue Danube waltz.

This video shows how the advertisement was put together, which also features a few facts about the aircraft's manufacture you might not have previously appreciated: "Six continents contribute to a single A380," it says. "Everywhere but Antarctica. Sorry, penguins." 

In June airline industry leaders head to Singapore for this year's IATA annual general meeting. Airline Business will be there as usual, producing daily papers, video inteviews, blogs and tweets from the event - which comes at a fascinating time as volatile fuels costs, geopolitical unrest and natural events threaten to destabilise the airline sector's recovery.

This year's meeting is also significant for IATA, given it marks Giovanni Bisignani's last AGM as director general - former Cathay Pacific chief executive Tony Tyler takes the helm in July - after a decade in which he has transformed IATA and the industry has faced unheralded challenges.  For more on Bisignani's impact on IATA and the industry, read the recent Airline Business comment on Giovanni's Decade here.

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A quick footnote to our recent article on the challenges facing airlines in cross-border investments (Finding a new Frontier Airline Business May 2011) - here are some thoughts on the subject from Brian Havel - director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University Chicago - you can find this and other thoughts at the Aviation Law Prof Blog

David Knibb has an informative piece in the latest issue of Airline Business on the incremental movement toward crossborder investment in the airline industry and the formidable challenges which remain.  See Ownership: Finding a New Frontier, Airline Bus., Apr. 18, 2011.  As the article discusses, the tolerance for foreign ownership of airlines varies from region to region and, thus far, has often been allowed on an ad hoc basis.  So long as States retain the right under their respective air services agreements (ASA) to limit or revoke the traffic rights of airlines which are not owned and controlled by the citizens of their home countries, international air carries which ingest foreign capital or come under the control of a foreign entity risk losing valuable market access privileges.  For instance, once the merger between Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM is approved, the United States could, under the terms of its ASA with Brazil, lock-out TAM on the grounds that it is owned and controlled by Chileans.

In an effort to inject a high-level of stability into the international aviation investment regime, the United States has proposed a Multilateral Convention on Foreign Investment in Airlines.  See Facilitating Airline Access to International Capital Markets, ICAO Working Paper No. A37-WP/190 (Sept. 13, 2010).  Under the agreement, signatories would provide a list of partner States against which they will not enforce the nationality clauses in their ASAs.  This would have the benefit of providing greater legal certainity with respect to which air carriers could freely engaged in crossborder mergers and acquisitions without potentially forfeiting their traffic rights.  While a final draft of the Convention has yet to appear, the International Civil Aviation Organization is currently assessing its terms and whether or not to open the treaty up for formal ratification.

For more from Brian Havel, check out this piece he wrote as part of Airline Business' 25th anniversary issue on why open skies is a milestone and not the culmination of liberalisation

Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air is boosting capacity in its summer schedule through increased frequencies and new destinations, but will have to wait another month to hear whether its flagship Formula 1 Grand Prix will be reinstated this year.

 

 

The F1 race, which had been due to open the season in March, was postponed as the political unrest spread across the kingdom. The 1 May deadline given to Bahrain by Formula 1's governing body the FIA to devise a rescheduling plan has come and gone, and this has now been extended to 3 June amid the continued threat of more unrest.

 

The race, for which Gulf Air has been the title sponsor since it began in 2004, is a vital status symbol for both the airline and the country in what is a fiercely competitive region for civil aviation. It also provides a significant boost in traffic and profile for Gulf Air.

 

In a statement, the race organisers reiterated that they intend to re-instate the grand prix, but stopped short of a commitment to running a race in 2011: "Clearly our national priority is to find a resolution to the difficulties that the kingdom of Bahrain has experienced," said circuit chairman Zayed Rashid Alzayani: "The national situation has moved on in a positive manner, the situation is evolving all the time; our day-to-day life is gradually improving under the current State of National Safety."

 

Despite the ongoing uncertainty over the political situation, Gulf Air is adding over 1,700 seats per week to meet seasonal demand with the launch of its summer schedule. It has started services to three new destinations - Kabul, Copenhagen and Nairobi.

 

Capacity increases will result from increased frequencies and larger aircraft on some routes. The Istanbul service grows from four to five flights a week, with an A320 replacing the current Embraer 170 regional jet. Bangkok sees frequencies increase from seven to nine per week from 1 June and the introduction of a bigger aircraft - an A330. Milan flights are increasing from four to six per week with an A320 replacing a Boeing 737, offering 117% more seats each week.