Transport News

Air Seychelles, the national flag carrier of the archipelagic nation, has announced that it has become the first airline flying from and to the Indian Ocean to be allowed to overfly Saudi Arabia while operating its service to Israel. It was only last month that Saudi Arabia announced that it was opening its airspace to flights to and from Israel; previously, such flights had only been permitted in rare cases. The new Saudi policy is a reflection of the dramatic improvement in Arab-Israeli relations in recent years. “The granting of this airspace is very significant for the airline,” highlighted Air Seychelles acting CEO Sandy Benoiton. “The fact that the flight can now fly in a more direct manner and a higher altitude also means a reduction in fuel burn between 500 kg [and] 1 000 kg per flight. In addition to this important environmental benefit, it means the aircraft can now carry an additional 20 passengers per flight and eliminates the payload restriction previously employed.”

The global representative body of the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has reported that air cargo markets in June this year were “healthy and stable”. Although global air cargo demand in June was 6.4% down, in year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, this was an improvement on the 8.3% y-o-y fall recorded in May. (Regarding international air cargo operations, demand in June fell 6.6%, y-o-y.) For the first semester of this year, global air cargo demand was 4.3% less than during the same period last year. However, it was 2.2% higher than in the last equivalent period before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, which was the first half of 2019.

South African regional airline Airlink has announced that it will start direct flights between Cape Town in South Africa and Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, on August 31. This will be the first direct air service between the two cities. “Airlink is responding to the call of the travelling market [sic] for a direct service between the two coastal cities, which are also growing important centres of economic activity, including trade and tourism,” explained Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster. “By flying direct, instead of via Johannesburg, we will more than halve the door-to-door travelling time, putting more hours back in our customers’ hands to do business and to enjoy the variety of activities, attractions, food and culture that Maputo offers.”

Major US carrier United Airlines has been granted official US permission to operate three direct flights a week between the US capital, Washington DC, and Cape Town in South Africa. Provided that the South African government agrees, the new route will start operating on November 17 this year. “We are thrilled to further expand our Africa offering with this first-ever direct link between Washington DC and Cape Town,” affirmed United Airlines senior VP: Global Network Planning and Alliances Patrick Quayle. “These new flights build upon our existing year-round New York/Newark to Cape Town service – together they’ll provide a near-daily pattern from the US to Cape Town along with connectivity to broader region through our Airlink partnership.”