Pie-eyed in the sky

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It's one of the best adverts for abstinence you'll ever come across. On a brisk autumn morning in Manchester, an easyJet flight from Malta touches down, taxis across the apron, and comes to a halt. Passengers begin to disembark. One catches your eye. About 50 years of age and stocky in nature, he is disrobing. Quite why is not yet clear; perhaps the lack of clothing will assist him in his forthcoming duel with the pilot—a battle which, based on repeated asseverations, seems to be assured. Alas, the pilot never shows. The naked man instead staggers away, urinates against a terminal building, and is eventually downed by a policeman's Taser...

Strength in numbers

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The steady influx of foreign airlines to Somali skies is proof positive of rising optimism about the country’s prospects, but while Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and flydubai have only recently seen opportunity in Somalia, its home-grown carriers have been keeping vital air corridors open for decades.

Three local operators – African Express Airways, Daallo Airlines and Jubba Airways – still account for about three-quarters of all scheduled flights in the country, and with competition heating up the latter two have now joined forces to create the Africa Aero Alliance (AAA).

“Competitive pressure is there, but also more than that it’s a matter of maturity,” explains Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin (Olad), the Chief Executive and co-founder of Daallo, which also serves as the official flag-carrier of Djibouti...

Somalia's friend in the sky

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The visit to Mogadishu by Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in January heralded welcome news for Somalia’s battered but resilient aviation sector.

After landing in the capital to inaugurate the newly-constructed terminal at Aden Adde International Airport, President Erdogan announced that Turkish Airlines will boost its Istanbul-Djibouti-Mogadishu service from four-times weekly to daily. That crucial route serves as a lifeline for members of the diaspora, enabling connecting flights to their adoptive countries in Europe and North America.

But while Turkey’s engagement with Somalia has to date focussed on humanitarian assistance – President Erdogan first visited Mogadishu in August 2011, at the height of the East Africa drought – the decision to lift flight frequencies was in no way a charitable gesture...

Last chance saloon for SAA

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Since the turn of the century, beleaguered South African Airways (SAA) has embarked on no fewer than eight failed turnaround strategies. Having now completed an emergency “90-day action plan” to restore near-term solvency, it is resuming the ninth such attempt.

The heavily loss-making airline has in many ways come to embody everything that is wrong with state-owned flag-carriers: commercially profligate, lumbering companies whose cost structures hark back to a bygone era of luxury flying. While its European and North America competitors were long ago jolted into reality by a wave of deregulation and privatisation, SAA continues to live in its government’s pocket, hiding behind a wall of protectionism that props up the parastatal while holding down the private sector...

Interview: Tabassum Qadir & Javed Malik, Skywise Co-Chairpersons

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When Pak Africa Aviation emerged in 2013 as a potential white knight for 1time Airline, the failed South African carrier, almost nothing was known about the private-equity group fronted by Tabassum Qadir and Javed Malik.

Aside from confirming that investors in Pakistan and Dubai were funding Pak Africa, Qadir and Malik kept a tight lid on the organisational structure of the group – which had ambitious plans not only to resurrect 1time, but to franchise its brand across Africa through a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

Even Erik Venter, the combative chief executive of Comair, South Africa’s largest private carrier, was in the dark about the company...

Interview: Mohammed Yassin, Daallo Airlines CEO

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When Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, the chief executive of Daallo Airlines, describes his company as providing a “lifeline” to Somalis, he is not exaggerating.

“There was a time when there were no money transfers, no telephones, no postal system – we were everything for the country,” the airline boss recalled. “We were the link to the outside world. We transported not only people, but goods, money, medicine. It was quite a history. And still we are playing that role.”

Established in 1991, the same year that Soviet-backed dictator Siad Barre lost his grip on power, Daallo found opportunity in the declaration of independence by the north-western province of Somaliland...

Oman Air playing the long-game

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As a mid-sized airline in the ultra-competitive Gulf aviation market, you might expect Oman Air to welcome any hurdles thrown in the way of its larger competitors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Efforts by the US airline industry to clip the wings of the 'big three' Gulf carriers – Dubai’s Emirates Airline, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – should in theory give Oman's flag-carrier breathing space to catch up with its rivals.

The Muscat-based airline was not mentioned in the now-infamous 55-page dossier released by US lobbyists in March, which urged Washington to block further expansion by the 'big three'...

Interview: David Maimon, El Al CEO

El Al nearing widebody fleet renewal: CEO

Israeli flag carrier El Al is evaluating the Boeing 787-9 and the Airbus A350-900 for its upcoming widebody renewal, chief executive David Maimon tells Flightglobal.

The all-Boeing operator issued an RFP in April and has now “started the negotiations” with both manufacturers. It expects to place firm orders for at least 13 units, replacing all of the ageing 747-400s and 767-300ERs.

“We are talking about the 787-9 or 350-900,” Maimon confirms. “The first step will be only to replace the 747s. The next step will be to replace the 767s … four or five years after.”

He does not rule out breaking Boeing’s longstanding monopoly, insisting “both of them are good aircraft” and “anything is possible”.

Interview: Arthur White, VLM CEO

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Arthur White knew he had his work cut out in July 2012 when he became managing director of VLM Airlines, the Antwerp-based charter and ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) operator.

Parent company Air France had already subsumed the VLM brand under CityJet, its exclusive ACMI customer, and was supposedly pursuing a full merger. Yet the flag-carrier’s new restructuring programme made no mention of either subsidiary, and within weeks of White’s appointment it was clear that a sell-off was the only option being considered in Paris.

German turnaround specialist Intro Aviation would soon emerge as a white knight for the sister carriers, offering to buy them in December 2013. But it was not long before VLM faced yet more headwinds...

Ryanair's transatlantic trip-up

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Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, has always been economical with the truth when it comes to headline-grabbing antics.

Though by no means shy about dishing out facts and figures on the airline’s phenomenal success, O’Leary’s best performances have tended to encroach on the realm of fiction. His purported product innovations are the stuff of legend: a fat-tax for plump passengers; a standing-only section for cheap ones; even a toilet charge for those caught short. Something as inconvenient as the truth, he discovered long ago, will rarely stop journalists from writing up a good story...