Seychelles aviation update – Air Seychelles gets new Director Flight Ops

SEYCHELLES GETS NEW ‘DIRECTOR FLIGHT OPERATIONS’

Captain Ralph Saminaden, already a senior captain and Deputy Director Flight Operations on the airline’s B 767 fleet, has earlier in the week been appointed as the new ‘Director Flight Operations’, a major career advance for Capt. Ralph considering the at the position has long been held by an expatriate staff. He can look back at a long and distinguished career which started according to details available with the Seychelles defense force pilot before eventually joining the domestic services of Air Seychelles. After rising to Acting Chief Pilot Domestic Operations he then moved on to the airline’s jet aircraft, serving after successful type rating as First Officer before being promoted to Captain in 1996. He went on to become Chief Pilot International Services in 2002 before being appointed as General Manager Flight Operations. In 2008 the appointment as Deputy Director Flight Operations followed before rising to Director in his latest promotion.

The Seychelles national airline is presently undergoing restructuring and with the emphasis on training and then promoting citizens for crucial positions in the airline this policy has once again paid off very well.

Congratulations to Capt. Ralph who will now ensure that the ‘Creole Spirit’ continues to fly high and on time.

East Africa news update – New EAC Secretary General outlines his priorities

NEW EAC SECRETARY GENERAL OUTLINES PRIORITIES FOR HIS 5 YEAR TERM

Dr. Richard Sezibera, just installed as the new Secretary General of the East African Community and based in Arusha, is the first Rwandan national to hold this important post, which habitually rotates amongst the member states. In one of his first media appearances Dr. Sezibera outlined what he said would be crucially important 5 areas he would have to deal with over the next five years, naming the advance of a common East African currency amongst them. In addition he named the consolidation of the present Customs Union with especially the formation of a single customs territory, following which the internal boundaries and customs check points could eventually be removed with staff re-deployed to the ‘external’ entry points into the EAC like habours, airports and land border crossings from countries around the East African Community.

He also mentioned his desire to have Non Tarrif Barriers removed from all dealings of EAC member states, a message which will find particular favour with a number of aviation bodies in the region, which have especially loudly complained about the ‘shut door’ policy of some countries against the duly registered airlines of others, treating them often as outright foreign against both spirit and letter of existing protocols and agreements.

However it will be the march towards a single currency, which will eventually replace the national currencies of the East African Community member countries, which will capture the imagination of East African businesses and their trading partners, but also of the people of East Africa, as freedom of movement and residence, when fully implemented can only be enhanced by using the same currency across the entire region. New applications for EAC membership are expected to be discussed amongst heads of state present in Kampala this week for the inauguration of President Museveni, and bi- and multilateral talks in particular with President Kabila of the Congo Dr and President Salva Kiir of the Government of South Sudan and soon to be head of state of the new Republic of South Sudan are expected to outline the way forward. Congo DR and the new Republic of South Sudan are the likely next applicants to join the EAC and would have to undergo a process of harmonization first before graduating from ‘applicant member’ to ‘full member’ status. Ethiopia, represented in Kampala for the swearing in by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, is also a likely candidate to submit a membership application in Arusha, and joint massive infrastructure projects like the new planned railway lines between South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya and the new section from Isaka in Tanzania to Rwanda, Burundi into Eastern Congo lend all more importance to a stronger economic and subsequent political cooperation between the EAC and the neighbouring countries.

One of the key economic sectors across the entire EAC, and potentially also for ‘new’ members is tourism, which in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda is at the top of economic performance and in particular for job creation and foreign exchange earnings, and South Sudan and Eastern Congo – the latter when peace has been fully restored – have the potential to become a tourism force to be equally reckoned with, considering the vast parks and huge migrations in the South Sudan and the wilderness of the Virunga range in Eastern Congo. Even Ethiopia has a largely untapped tourism potential, for adventure activities like white water rafting on the Blue Nile, the Gambela National Park with its big migration of white eared kobs and the Nile Lechwe and the cultural and historical component available from its rich heritage.

Cooperation under the banner of the East African Community is bound to improve East Africa’s tourism foot print and exposure around the world and is likely to attract more visitors to the region, and not just one country at a time, offering the outlook for more investments and more jobs across the region.

Watch this space.

Tanzania news update – Karibu Tourism Fair in Arusha a ‘sell out’

KARIBU TOURISM FAIR ‘SOLD OUT’

The ‘safari capital of East Africa’ as Arusha is also known is bracing for the influx of as many as 8.000 more visitors in early June, when the Karibu Tourism show, the region’s one and only international tourism trade fair, is taking place between June 03 and 05.

As many as 300 exhibitors can now be accommodated, most of them coming from the wider East African region although the Seychelles too have for the second year running taken up space to promote twin centre holidays between the East African mainland and the paradise beaches of the archipelago.

Companies from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda will make up the bulk of exhibitors and visitors, including the all important ‘buyers’ are expected to come from many parts of the world to see the latest innovations and product improvements resorts, safari lodge and camp operators and safari companies offer to their clients.

Many coming to Arusha for Karibu also take advantage of the low season fam trips organized for travel agents and overseas tour operators, who now happily combine the attendance of the Arusha based Karibu fair with a fact finding mission to the ‘Northern Circuit’ national parks of Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.

Media houses attending the Karibu Fair are however also expected, besides reports from site and interviews with stakeholders, to focus on a range of environmental and conservation issues this year, ranging from the controversial Serengeti highway over the soda ash plant at Lake Natron to the dropped application to UNESCO for recognition of the Eastern Arc Mountains as a World Heritage Site. These controversies, which also include Stiegler’s Gorge at the Selous and the old ‘Stone Town’ in Zanzibar, have stirred global debate over the wisdom of the Tanzanian government to engage in such destructive projects and undoubtedly the conservation minded tourism industry in Tanzania will find allies with the international media in their struggle to preserve the very nature from which tourism not just benefits but entirely depends on.

Rwanda aviation news update – Kanombe International to undergo further upgrades

KANOMBE INTERNATIONAL UPGRADES TO CONTINUE

Although the planning for the new Bugesera International Airport is continuing on schedule the Rwandan government is nevertheless committed to upgrade and modernize the present Kanombe International Airport to keep it user friendly and able to cater for the sharply risen traffic experienced in recent years.

‘We are a landlocked country and depend on air traffic more than others, for our visitors to reach us, for urgent cargo to arrive by air’ said a senior aviation stakeholder when asked about the latest reports, that the number of check in desks at Kanombe was being doubled and the arrival capacity for baggage delivery too expanded by 100 percent. ‘We need to make Kanombe even more user friendly, this is the public face of Rwanda our visitors see when they arrive and when they depart. The country must give a positive impression to them on both occasions. It is not only the physical facilities which are face-lifted and improved. We now have the latest technology for check in and so forth in place, but lounges and shops also are on the agenda. More traffic often means that some flights come and go almost at the same time so we require faster handling which makes for shorter waiting and queues. There will be better and more parking also and the entire package of our international airport is upgraded and made attractive for business to come and invest in extra facilities to serve travelers and people working here but also Rwandans who want to come and see what our gateway looks like. But also very important is our staff here and we have invested in training them, giving refresher courses and bring the latest information on  aviation security, safety and customer relations to them. Mind you it is not the new check in desk which makes the difference we seek it is the people manning those desks and interacting with our passengers’.

Rwanda has in recent years made a huge and deliberate effort to upgrade and improve infrastructure across the entire country and roll out a human resource development programme which has paid off handsomely with investments pouring into the country on an unprecedented scale and visitors streaming to the ‘land of a thousand hills’ in ever greater numbers, enjoying the natural and cultural attractions Rwanda has to offer. As reported a few days ago, year on year results for the first quarter of tourism receipts shows an increase from 43 million US Dollars to 56 million US Dollars in direct earnings, an indicator just how successful the quest for quality has been in Rwanda.

Watch this space for regular updates from Rwanda and other countries in Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean region.