South Sudan aviation news updates – Juba Airport to close for Independence day

JUBA AIRPORT CLOSED FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

Information was finally confirmed that on Saturday 09^th of July NO flights will be allowed into the airport in Juba although it appears that no NOTAM has been formally issued, still in the domain of the ‘united’ Sudan civil aviation body in Khartoum until independence finally arrives in the South when their flag will be officially raised on Saturday. In fact some air operators have hinted that a second day of no flights was likely  but were unable to confirm even at this late stage if that second day would be tomorrow 08^th July or Sunday 10^th of July. Commercial passenger flights are hence not expected to resume normal levels before 11^th of July and even now all Juba flights are fully booked and the same can be expected on the outbound flights as of next week, when scheduled operations resume.

Sources in Juba did confirm that the lack of a formal NOTAM was making it difficult for airlines presently flying into the South Sudan from Nairobi, Addis and Entebbe but also confirmed that they had notified the local airline offices at the Juba airport to inform their head offices accordingly, verbally as Khartoum had not issued formal notices.

However that said, problems with flight clearances appear to have taken place already today when an Air Uganda flight had to delay due to lack of clearance by Juba airport but this was resolved swiftly it appears and the flight, fully booked, took off for the soon to be capital of the new Republic of South Sudan.

When that historic development has taken place a new civil aviation authority or department of civil aviation will then oversee the sector from Juba as all oversight functions from Khartoum will have ceased on Independence Day.

The new Republic of South Sudan will then also become an ICAO member directly, something which is also due to happen in the international telecommunications, postal, banking and other sectors which are governed by global bodies where only the Khartoum regime was represented in the past.

Watch this space as Independence Day comes closer and closer.

 

Mauritius aviation breaking news – Shanghai is the latest Air Mauritius destination

AIR MAURITIUS LAUNCHES CHINA FLIGHTS

Shanghai is the latest destination for Air Mauritius after the destination was launched earlier in the week. The inaugural flight, there is for the time being a once a week flight to Shanghai via Kuala Lumpur before going nonstop by early 2012, left SSR International Airport (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam) with over 200 passengers and an official delegation on board of an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which offers 275 seats in a two class configuration. It was reported that both the Mauritius president Sir Anerood Jugnauth as well as the Mauritius Tourism Minister Hon. Nando Bodha were on the flight on an official visit to China to discuss bilateral cooperation. They were accompanied by private sector stakeholders, in particular from the tourism industry, to also launch a tourism promotion to bring more Chinese visitors to the island in coming months. The head of the Air Mauritius delegation, Mr. Andre Viljoen, then officially opened the airline’s new offices in Shanghai, expressing hopes that the flight will grow in popularity and that the promotion of tourism and trade between the two countries would be to the mutual benefit of both nations. Happy Landings.

 

 

Kenya aviation news update – Gulf Air returns to Nairobi

GULF AIR RETURNS TO NAIROBI

After an absence of nearly 6 years has Gulf Air now returned to Nairobi, offering an initial 4 flights per week between Bahrain and Kenya. Industry observers attribute this decision to the generally promising market conditions in Kenya in particular, a sharp departure from the company’s assessment 6 years ago, when they left the route in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Emirates.

Gulf Air at one stage flew even to Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport but withdrew from there even earlier before pulling out from East Africa altogether.

The return of Gulf was generally welcomed by travel agents and the business community as the added competition would keep fares to final destinations in the Gulf network, when flying via Bahrain, at lower levels, but some sources were swift in pointing out that unless Gulf Air moves towards daily flights they might be restricted to absorbing ‘bargain seekers’ only, as much of their traffic is thought to fly beyond Bahrain.

But for now it is a hearty Karibu Sana to Gulf Air and happy landings in Kenya once again.

 

Uganda tourism news update – UWA doubles park entrance fees for Ugandans and East Africans

 

UGANDANS TO PAY DOUBLE FOR PARK ENTRIES

Effective 01^st of July did the Uganda Wildlife Authority raise entrance fees for Ugandan and East African citizens from previously 5.000 Uganda Shillings to now 10.000 Uganda Shillings, doubling the cost for wananchi to enter the 10 national parks. This puts a visit to the protected areas beyond the reach of many ordinary people who are already struggling with inflation and the fallout of wider economic woes, and might put a dent into the visitor number statistics when the full impact of this doubling of fees can be assessed in coming months.

UWA also raised park fees for foreign nonresident visitors and foreign resident visitors who pay in US Dollars, making safari holidays across the board more expensive too, with the cost of a safari in Uganda already comparing unfavourably with those in Kenya for instance.

Arrival data and projected income figures for the year 2010 and the first six months of 2011 are also slow in coming out, which has led to speculation that they are not being released because they are not yet ready, as was often the case in the past but because they may not be favourable in regard of medium term trends, with in particular the data for the months of political unrest now under intense scrutiny to see what damage the opposition’s shenanigans have caused to this important sector.

Watch this space. 

Uganda news update – Economy faces new problems over power outages, interest rate rise and fuel cost increase

UGANDANS WAKE UP TO MORE ECONOMIC BAD NEWS

The announcement yesterday about continuing power outages, following a payment dispute over unpaid subsidies by government to independent electricity generating companies, was followed by more bad news overnight. The Bank of Uganda, in order to bring inflation under control, has set the interbank lending rates to now 13 percent, triggering a raise in commercial lending cost across the economy. Meanwhile have fuel prices risen yet further, to new record levels for a litre of petrol of 3.700 Uganda Shillings and more while diesel prices are not pegged at or over 3.400 Uganda Shillings.

The business community is said to be deeply concerned over this triple whammy and city traders yesterday kept their shops closed as they were me by the recently appointed Minister for Trade and Industry Mrs. Amelia Kyambadde, who had to listen to a litany of issues brought to her attention of what government should do to reduce the cost of doing business in the country, in particular reducing license fees.

Current inflation still stands at 15.8 percent, although food prices have started to reduce on a wider scale following increased harvests after the seasonal rains started but across parts of Eastern Africa another drought has struck, leaving as many as 10 million people in the wider region in urgent need of emergency food supplies, in Somali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and parts of Northern Uganda too.

While much of the current situation is attributed to the sudden surge in the cost of crude oil, following the uprisings in the Arab world since late last year, underlying factors too are said to be responsible such as the imbalances of imports and exports, a combination of which recently saw the values of East African currencies fall to record lows before combined Central Bank intervention in the region led to some level of recovery after selling, what has been described in excess of 300 million US Dollars in the region within a few days, to sting currency speculators and calm the markets.

Here in Uganda though the effects of higher fuel prices, higher interest rates and power outages will pose new challenges for the new government to address the crucially important issues of how the majority of people will make ends meet as salary packages have not kept pace with these developments.

Watch this space.