Member Info for phonewind

With Zimbabwe in meltdown for now, stiff competition in Mozambique and nothing yet happening in SA, I’d say things don’t look too good. A friend who works for Precision is worried and moving to ATCL, though he says they’re short and possibly looking at recruiting from the Tanzanian military!
I did take a flight Dar to Kigoma a few days ago and it was pretty good and just over $200 return, but it’s quite a long way in a Q400

https://www.fastjet.com/upload/Documents/Fastjet%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Accounts%202017%20(H).pdf

Nico’s Salary is listed here as $410,000 for FY 2017. Additionally, he was awarded a $400,000 signing on bonus in August 2016, payable this year. An astronomical salary for an individual presiding over a continuing financial loss. They’d have done about as well by hiring a circus clown and just leaving him in the local pub!

https://aviationanalyst.co.uk/2018/09/23/south-african-airways-is-now-bankrupt/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Not at all. My friends were given immédiats notice letters and had their medical insurance cards withdrawn

Cabin

3 of my friends were laid off yesterday. They’re already talking to Air Tanzania

Fastjet in Tanzania has issued a notice to staff of retrenchments by the end of September and is asking for those willing to accept voluntary redundancy to come forward in the next 3 days! According to the letter from the General Manager, staff from all departments will be affected.

Remember that ATCL still has 2 Airbus A220s (formerly Bombardier CS300) due for delivery soon

Also Read: Low cost airline Fastjet enters Mozambican market

Five Mozambican companies were also authorised: namely Mozambique Airlines (LAM); its subsidiary Mocambique Expresso (MEX); the air transport division of Mozambique Railways, CFM Transportes Aereo; the long-established light aircraft company TTA; and Solenta Aviation Mozambique.

LAM has come under severe criticism for its poor service with issues such as overbooking, delayed flights and even cancellations. It will now face strong competition from the low-priced Fastjet and the highly regarded Ethiopian Airlines.

Source: AIM

From AIM Reporf - Club of Mozambique, September 2017

I guess it may come down to post-Mugabe politics. Mugabe has met Farai Mutamangira to discuss the leadership of the NPF and to possibly mount a challenge to Mnangagwa. I think Mutamangura is still a local director of FJ Zimbabwe (but stand to be corrected by anyone with more detailed local knowledge)

It is not uncommon for aviation companies to advertise for crews so they can have qualified people available on their books in the event of expected or anticipated expansion for whatever reason. That doesn�t always happen (though the fact that some quite considerable sum of money has been spent on respraying the ATRs does give grounds for rather more hope). One other little problem on FJ�s horizon is going to be getting enough qualified cabin crew. Many of those who worked for them before are going to ATCL. FJ is a better payer but ATCL is seen as a safer option.

ivate Baldrick: I have a plan, sir. Captain Blackadder: Really Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one? Private Baldrick: Yes, sir. Captain Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University? Private Baldrick: Yes, sir. [another call: "On the signal, Company will advance"] Captain Blackadder: Well, I'm afraid it's too late. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of here by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman round here? [a whistle blows he looks at Baldrick]

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/58758-tanzanian-govt-seeks-release-of-seized-q400 Canadian construction company Stirling Civil Engineering is proving that it is possible to get heavy penalties for breach of contract, even when governments are the ones breaking the law

It's interesting. I have lived and worked in 16 African countries, all in aviation employment. My wife is a millennial, black African, but a UK university graduate (both BSc and MSc but accounting and finance - nothing to do with my line of work) and has only lived in 2 African countries. We both think that within Europe, EasyJet is a good business model for an LCC and from my professional side I rate them and KLM as having some of the highest safety standards worldwide. However, when it comes to African LCCs it's a different story and within Tanzania, FastJet has plenty of (non LCC) competition which I would rate as being equal or better for internal flights, based purely on my own experiences for flights between Dar and Zanzibar, Arusha and Mwanza. These include Coastal, ATCL and Precision. For internatioinal local flights between Dar and NBO, despite their somewhat spotty record, FJ could never compete with KQ. Casting my 'safety' eye over them, FJ is up there with the best (though I personally have never audited any of them and think I am probably rather relieved (but also slightly concerned) that this is so. The trouble with surveys like this is that they rely on the consumer experience only. For me, I am concerned about 3 things only - standards of the people in the pointy bit in fron of the self-loading freight (you and I), standards of the engineers who make sure all the rotating and vibrating bits are safe, and if the the quality and safety safety standards are fit for purpose.

It's interesting that the Defence Web article has a photo of an Air Nigeria aircraft. After starting operations 12 years ago as Virgin Nigeria, it ceased operating nearly 5 years ago! Another of the links talks about Arik Air setting up a low cost carrier offshoot. Arik has long had a troubled history with many allegations of it being founded with stolen money. It is currently under the control of Assett Management Corporation of Nigeria. There have been recent rumours of it being forcibly merged with Aero Contractors, but the latest rumours is that it is in talks with an Emirati airline which may pay off its debts to AMCON and other creditors

https://wolfganghthome.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/fastjet-losses-double-as-ceo-blames-former-management/ It's interesting that Wolfgang mentions the top-heavy management salaries in the new line-up. Let's hope they do something to justify them.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/56305-air-tanzania-leasing-a-south-african-crj100 Air Tanzania is now wet leasing a CRJ100 from South Africa's CemAir in Johannesburg

Acacia was formerly Barrick Gold, the large Canadian mining conglomerate with a checkered history of ethics and environmental violations in many countries. This is not the first time the company has had problems of a similar nature and now that Magafuli is at the helm, there seems to be more determination to properly determine what they are actually extracting and exporting. Having said that, it's certainly the case that life is being made much more difficult for most foreign companies now. Whether this is deliberate discrimination or just Magafuli trying to stamp out corruption is difficult to know really. But Tanzanian bureaucracy is stiflingly slow and inefficient so that also doesn't help. Whatever the truth, there's no doubt that many foreign business people are leaving or contemplating doing so. Two of my acquaintances have already transferred their core operations to Kenya

I've been involved in aviation in Africa for the last 39 years, 35 of which were in West Africa and seen the collapse of a myriad of carriers. I once worked for the most successful local airline in Nigeria, Aero Contractors, but that is almost defunct and its management has been taken over by AMCON. Most of the failures have been down to state protectionism, corruption and incompetent management (usually all 3). Unfortunately I don't see any great prospects of that changing in the next 10 years or more