Ethiopian Airlines to Launch Non Stop Flight to Dammam

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, announced plans to launch a new non stop flights from Addis Ababa to Dammam beginning on the 12th of February.

The flight to be launched to Dammam will allow business people to investigate the investment and recreational potential in the area according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines.

The flight to Dammam, the capital of the eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will be the 8th destination in the Middle East for Ethiopian Airlines and its 64th around the world.

Convention Center for Victoria Falls

In order to prepare for the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 2013, the Zimbabwe government plans to construct a Convention Centre in Victoria Falls town. The center will seat between 3,000-5,000 people, have committee rooms, a golf course, and two hotels. This was the story in one of the newspapers this week.

According to the article, the piece of land being proposed for the construction of the convention center covers an area of about 1,000 hectares. It is located six kilometers south of Victoria Falls town. It starts just after Musue River to the south of the town extending to about five kilometers southwards towards Victoria Falls airport, said the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality. This could put the site west of the Bulawayo road, just north of Stanley and Livingstone Lodge.

This story is interesting for several reasons. The first one is that the government of Zambia is also considering building a Conference Center in Livingstone for the UNWTO meeting. The other reason it is interesting, is because the private sector in Victoria Falls town stated that they were unwilling to invest in any such building development, as it was economically unviable at this present time. The private sector in Livingstone is also unwilling to go to any investment for the meeting for precisely the same reason. One can only guess that both convention centers would be built and funded by the Chinese.

All this points to the fact that there is not much discussion going on between the two governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The UNWTO only needs one conference facility and doubtfully will need more hotels. A walk around Victoria Falls town hotels will show the emptiness of many accommodation facilities. Only those hotels who work tirelessly on their marketing are managing to fill their rooms.

Discussing the building of a conference facility in Livingstone, I was told that Livingstone will need such a facility for the future as it intends to attract thousands of tourists. With the future uncertain since much of the world still in recession and predictions stating that it will go on for many years, this intention may be extremely hopeful.

Zimbabwe has a broken infrastructure throughout the country, with water and sewage systems not working, power stations collapsing, roads deteriorating, etc. Victoria Falls town is an island on the edge of Zimbabwe, which functions well, but the rest of the country is in a state of collapse. Surely if the government is to spend money, it should be spent on basic facilities for the people.

Emirates Airline to increase flights

THE Emirates Airline will increase flights to Harare in Zimbabwe and Lusaka, to six times a week by October this year from the current five.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based Airline launched its Lusaka and Harare route last week said the move will ease connectivity from the two countries to Dubai and other destinations world-wide.

Emirates Airline senior vice-president for commercial operations in Africa Jean-Luc Grillet said sound economic policies existing in Zambia had resulted in increased volumes of tourists, traders and investors travelling to and from Lusaka, hence the need for the airline to exploit such an opportunity.

Addressing journalists in Lusaka, Mr Grillet said the airline had a cargo capacity of 16,000 tonnes and this would enhance exports from Zambia to various destinations adding that the airline is committed to contributing to the country’s economic growth through the facilitation of efficient connectivity.

Air Zimbabwe's Recovery ruined as Emirates Airlines Opens Harare Route

Emirates Airlines made its maiden flight to Harare Wednesday amid pomp and fanfare with the airline set to connect Zimbabweans to more than 100 destinations around the world and boost the country’s recovering tourism industry.

Several cabinet ministers, civil aviation officials and representatives of the airline attended the ceremony which critics said may well spell doom to the financially crippled Air Zimbabwe, which recently suspended some of its regional and international flights in fear of having its planes impounded by creditors.

Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi told VOA's Gibbs Dube that Emirates Airlines will operate five Zimbabwe flights a week, linking Harare with Zambia, Dubai, Europe, Asia and other international destinations.

Mzembi said the airline is expected to promote tourism in Zimbabwe which is anticipated to generate US$5 billion for the country by 2015.

The minister said the Emirates arrival was a wake up call for the struggling Air Zimbabwe which used to compete with more than 45 airlines that operated in Harare in the 1990s.

Economic analyst Masimba Kuchera observed that Emirates Airlines will help promote economic growth in Zimbabwe.

Demand for flights in Brazil triples, airports strained before Olympics, World Cup

DEMAND for flights to Brazil has nearly tripled in the past decade, with a strained system that is under pressure to prepare for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Brazil's civil aviation agency said demand for air travel rose 194 percent in 10 years. Demand in 2011 alone increased 16 per cent over the previous year.

In 2002, airlines flew 34.3 million passengers on flights originating in Brazil. That rose to 107.8 million last year, the agency reported.

While airlines are enjoying the boom, air travelers are suffering from packed airports, jumps in ticket prices, and routine delays often caused by woeful airport infrastructure, from poor runways to problems with radar systems that air control operators rely upon.

At least seven airports in the nation require substantial work to make improvements Brazilian officials promised in winning the right to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. The work on the airports is expected to be the most expensive part of Brazil's preparations for the events.

Officials have said the total investment on airport upgrades has jumped from 5.5 billion reals (A$3.01 billion) at the beginning of 2011 to 6.4 billion reals ($3.7 billion) by the end of the year.

The government has said all airport upgrades will be finished in time for the World Cup, but none will be fully ready before the Confederations Cup to be held in 2013, the important warmup tournament for the World Cup.

Government officials previously said that five airports were expected to be ready by June 2013, when the Confederations Cup begins, but acknowledged recently that none will be completed by then. Among the key airports being upgraded are those in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Emirates expands capacity to Durban

Although most foreign airlines are so far declining to fly to Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, preferring to take Durban-bound passengers to Johannesburg from where they transfer to local flights, Emirates is boosting its capacity on the route “in response to strong demand”.

The Dubai-based airline announced yesterday that it would substitute a larger, 354-seat Boeing 777-Extended Range aircraft for the Airbus A330-200 it has been using on the route, increasing capacity by almost 30 percent.

So far the only other international airline flying to Durban is Air Mauritius, although British Airways (BA) has regularly investigated the market. BA/Comair suggested extending its BA franchise for southern Africa to serve the route last year, but was advised against it after BA carried out a feasibility study.

However, Jean-luc Grillet, Emirates senior vice-president for commercial operations in Africa, said yesterday that it had carried more than 165 000 passengers between Durban and its home airport of Dubai since October 2009, with average passenger loads of 83 percent. It has also carried more than 5 240 tons of high value export cargo on the route.

“We have experienced positive growth which we attribute to a growing recognition of this city as a popular tourist destination and one of the key trading hubs in South Africa,” Grillet said.

Emirates was the first airline from the Persian Gulf to fly into South Africa. After starting a daily service from Johannesburg in 1995, it expanded to Cape Town, from where it flies twice a day. It is also expanding throughout Africa, currently serving 20 passenger and cargo destinations on the continent.

Dubai has been developed as a hub airport serving destinations worldwide including Europe, North and South America and the Far East. It opened the first branch of Emirates Holidays outside Dubai in Johannesburg last year, enabling passengers and tour operators to book flights and accommodation to any of its destinations.

SAA views its expansion as a threat. SAA chief executive Siza Mzimela said in Parliament last year that the number of Emirates flights to South Africa meant that it was taking business from point-to-point airlines bringing passengers directly to this country.

Government committed to boosting Tourism Potential of Ghana

Ghana: Vice President John Dramani Mahama has directed the Minister of Tourism, Akua Sena Dansua, to conclude arrangements with the Cable News Network (CNN) for a documentary on the tourism potential of Ghana.

The Vice President in a meeting with the Minister and a team from CNN at the Castle, Osu in Accra, mentioned the potential of the tourism sector and said if properly harnessed could move up from its current position as the country’s 3rd largest contributor to the number one spot.

According to Vice President Mahama, Ghana is making strides in the new oil industry, which needs a credible media platform like the CNN to project its potential to attract businesses and investors across the globe.

The Vice President commended the Minister for initiating the project and assured her of government’s support to develop the tourism sector to its fullest potential.

He appealed to other corporate organisations and individuals to support the initiative of the Ministry of Tourism to market Ghana at the highest platform.

The Minister of Tourism, Akua Sena Dansua explained that at a World Tourism Organisation meeting held in Korea last year, it became imminent that Ghana’s tourism sector needed a boost and therefore the CNN became handy as a bigger platform to project its image.

She explained that at another meeting held in London in November last year, the details and modalities of the discussions were laid.

Madam Dansua said the CNN team then came down to Ghana to hold stakeholders meetings with all those who matter in the tourism business and it was very fruitful.

She noted that the decision is to re-promote and re-market Ghana as the Tourism destination in West Africa in particular and Africa in general in terms of both political and economic stabilities.

Madam Dansua mentioned that with the vast experience of Vice President Mahama as a media person and public relations acumen, the project is bound to market Ghana at the highest level.

She commended the Vice President for supporting the project and pledged to work with the CNN team to ensure its success.

The Tourism Minister also appealed to corporate organisations and individuals to support the project to make the tourism sector one of the best in Africa.

The CNN team explained that Ghana will be in charge of its own destiny as it tells its own story to the world.

The team assured the government that the documentary will open the country’s doors to potential investors.