Airline News - Africa / Middle East.

Oct 4, 2009

Air Mali

Air Mali has joined ARC as a participating carrier. In operation since 2005, Air Mali is part of the Celestair Group of airlines. With headquarters in Bamako, Republic of Mali, Air Mali operates domestic scheduled flights from its hub at Senou International Airport (BKO) in Bamako to Kayes, Mopti and Timbuktu. West African destinations include Abidjan, Dakar, Conakry, Cotonou, Lome, Ouagadougou and Douala; Central African destinations include Naimey, Brazzaville, Accra and Libreville. Air Mali also operates four weekly flights from Bamako to Paris, France (ORY). Air Mali operates MD-87 and Saab 340A aircraft, and is displayed in Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre. Air Mali is offering a 5 percent sales commission on published fares to ARC-accredited agents. Air Mali has elected the General Concurrence method of agent appointment whereby all ARC agents are automatically appointed as agents of Air Mali unless specifically advised to the contrary by the carrier. At this time, Air Mali accepts cash as the only valid form of payment through ARC. For more information, call 201-526-7807. For more information on ARC, visit www.arccorp.com. Sep 30, 2009

Emirates Airlines, Airbus

Emirates is due to receive its first higher-density configured Airbus A380 in November. The aircraft will fly on shorter routes from Dubai to destinations such as London. Meanwhile, earlier plans for a version equipped with more than 600 seats may be revived. Emirates, which has five A380s in service and will introduce 10 more through to the summer of next year, is still suffering "niggling delays from Toulouse", says the airline's president Tim Clark. "Our next A380, which arrives in November, will be MSN007, one of the flight-test aircraft," he says. "This will be the first equipped with 517 seats." Oct 1, 2009

Gulf Air

Gulf Air is to fly from London to two more Iraqi cities. From next month, the Middle East carrier will operate a daily service to Najaf and a three times a week service to Erbil via its Bahrain hub. The new services are launched after Gulf began a service to Baghdad in September. Samer Majal, Gulf's ceo, said: "On the back of the successful launch of our services to Baghdad I am delighted that Najaf and Erbil will be following close behind. "This is a great achievement for Gulf Air as we look to the future and start to target niche routes. "Like Baghdad, we expect significant demand to these Iraqi cities. The type of traffic travelling on these two routes will be quite different."

www.gulfair.com Sep 28, 2009

Jat Airways, Boeing

Investigations have begun after a Jat Airways Boeing 737-300 came off the runway at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. The aircraft, registered YU-ANV, is a 21-year old jet which Flight's database ACAS lists as being owned by the carrier. Images from the scene show that the twin-jet came to a halt on a grassy incline with its right-hand engine close to the ground, although the undercarriage appears to be deployed and intact. It is unclear whether the aircraft has sustained damage, but all those on board - said to total 125 passengers and six crew - were reportedly uninjured. The aircraft is reported to be 50m off runway 06/24. Weather details at the time of the incident have yet to be confirmed. Jat Airways has just resumed operations following a technicians' strike last week which grounded the carrier. Oct 2, 2009

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines began operating 777-300ERs on its daily Istanbul Ataturk-New York JFK service Monday, replacing a mix of A330s/A340s previously used on the route. It said the switch will enable it to carry at least 40 additional passengers per flight and boost cargo capacity up to 18 tons per flight. Sep 29, 2009

ZZ AirGuide 091005

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