A new global air hub is developing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Over the past decade, Ethiopian Airlines has become Africa’s largest carrier and bought stakes in continental rivals while quadrupling its passenger count to nearly 10m. It has built one of the world’s youngest fleets, including dozens of Airbus and Boeing planes. For the first time, an African airline is challenging European and Middle Eastern airlines’ commercial dominance of the continent’s skies. And now, Ethiopian Airlines is also pushing into North America, adding a fifth destination—Chicago—this year. Ethiopia is one of just 7 African countries cleared for direct flights to the US. And with the exception of a handful of Delta Air Lines routes to West and Southern Africa, American carriers are nowhere to be seen on the continent. <br/>
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India will invite initial bids for a stake sale in Air India in the next couple of weeks, Civil Aviation secretary Rajiv Choubey said Thursday. Prime minister Narendra Modi's cabinet gave the go-ahead last year to sell the carrier, after successive govts spent billions of dollars in recent years to keep it solvent. However, the govt has yet to decide on what to do with the carrier's debt burden of US$8.5b. Companies including IndiGo, Tata Group and Turkey's Celebi Aviation Holdings, have expressed an interest in buying some of Air India's businesses. A committee of ministers is in charge of the divestment process and has hired Rothschild and Ernst & Young as consultants. The govt is considering splitting up Air India's various businesses before offering it for sale to make it attractive to potential buyers. <br/>
South African Airways may not be able to continue to operate as a going concern, while the struggling airline has failed to properly record financial information and the value of assets, according to the Auditor General. SAA made a net loss of about ZAR5.6b (US$471m) in the year through March 2017. Liabilities exceeded assets by about ZAR17.8b. “Six consecutive years of operating losses have further eroded the capital base and this continues to impact on the entity’s ability to operate in a highly demanding and competitive environment,” the AG said in the report, which was released Thursday. A turnaround of SAA is among the most pressing items in the in-tray of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, who has pledged to revive state companies after years of mismanagement and corruption allegations. <br/>
THAI has temporarily substituted 2 of its Airbus A380 aircraft for Boeing 777-300ERs for 2 daily routes, acting president Usanee Sangsingkeo says. She said Tuesday flights TG910 and TG911 on the Bangkok-London return route, and TG676 and TG677, on the Bangkok-Tokyo return route via Narita Airport, will use the 777-300ERs instead of the regular A380s. THAI currently owns 6 A380 airliners, each of which can offer a maximum passenger capacity of 507 seats. The comparatively smaller 777-300ER models offer 348 seats at most. Usanee said the two A380s in question are currently in need of replacement Rolls-Royce Trent 900 turbofan engines, but the supplier has not delivered them in time. "Maintenance for the first plane will be complete by Saturday," she said. "The remaining plane is due for completion in mid-March." <br/>
Airbus has eliminated the A350-800 order backlog after the final customer, Asiana Airlines, migrated its agreement for 8 of the twinjets. Asiana has converted the aircraft to 8 of the larger A350-900. It has also opted to switch 1 of its 10 A350-1000s to a -900. The change leaves Asiana with orders for 21 A350-900s – 4 of which have been delivered – plus 9 -1000s. Airbus has revealed the conversions in its latest backlog data, covering the period to the end of February. The airframer had also been forced to remove the last remaining orders for its A330-800 during the same month, after sole customer Hawaiian Airlines axed its deal for 6. Airbus had offered the A350-800 as the smallest member of the 3-aircraft A350 XWB family. <br/>
United Continental said Thursday that Michele Hooper had been elected to its board of directors, as the group aims to beef up its financial expertise and add diversity to its ranks. Hooper, whose 25 years of corporate board experience includes more than 20 years on the audit committees of several public companies, joins as the 16th board member of United Continental. Hooper "is a highly regarded business leader with expertise in areas that are important to our success, including operations strategy and finance," United CE Oscar Munoz said. Hooper's addition to the boardroom comes as the carrier seeks to improve its lagging operational and financial performance. Hooper is CE of The Directors' Council consultation group, which specialises in corporate governance issues. <br/>