Gabonese gov't pushes ahead with new national carrier plans ch-aviation PRO exclusive

Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) took delivery of its first A330-900neo on April 18. The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-72 powered aircraft is equipped with 260 seats in Economy and 28 seats in Business Class. It is the first of two units the Mauritian national carrier will lease from Air Lease Corporation.

Following TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) and Air Sénégal (HC, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l) (whose A330neo is operated by Hi Fly Malta (HFM, Malta Int'l)), Air Mauritius is the third operator of the type worldwide.

Initially, it plans to use the aircraft on its routes from Mauritius to Antananarivo, Bangalore Int'l, Chennai, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, Kuala Lumpur Int'l, London Heathrow, Mumbai Int'l, Singapore Changi, and St. Denis de la Réunion.

According to a news report by L'Express, the six-month delay in delivery of the two aircraft has forced the carrier to extend the leases on two A340-300s that were supposed to be retired in November and December...

Gabon Airlines (GY, Libreville) is officially in liquidation after a Libreville court issued a directive to dispose of the defunct carrier's assets, the Gabonese Review has reported. As the official successor to Air Gabon (GN, Libreville) and its still-borne Royal Air Maroc-aligned successor, Air Gabon International (Libreville), Gabon Airlines was founded in 2007 by private investors, banks and insurers with its CEO Christian Bongo Ondimba, a son of former Gabonese strongman Omar Bongo. Initial operations between Libreville and Paris CDG took place on 11 April 2007 using a B767-200(ER) and an A340-300, CS-TQM (c/n 117) on lease from Hi Fly (5K, Lisbon). However, difficulties were soon encountered with the airline posting significant losses over the following four years. Flights ceased in 2011 while in 2012, the carrier lost its Air Operators Certificate. Among the assets that have since been disposed of include the 767-200(ER), TR-LHP (msn 21877), which had been grounded in Addis Ababa since 2007 over an unpaid debt to Ethiopian Airlines (ET,...