Qatar Airways first to receive 777X in 2020 - al Baker ch-aviation PRO exclusive

Namibia's Minister of Public Enterprises, Leon Jooste, says government is preparing to act in the matter between Air Namibia (SW, Windhoek Int'l) and the Namibia Airports Company (NAC).

Last week, NAC informed Air Namibia that it will not renew the national carrier's groundhandling concession at Windhoek Int'l Hosea Kutako International Airport citing non-compliance with a number of clauses in their agreement.

In a letter dated May 22, 2019, and seen by New Era newspaper, NAC’s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Bisey Uirab, gave Air Namibia until the end of November to wrap its groundhandling operations at the airport."

"Noting that the agreement expired on October 31, 2018, NAC is issuing Air Namibia (Pty) Ltd with a six-month notice effective from June 1, 2019 up until November 30, 2019, which is reasonable enough to vacate and cease your operations as a ground handler at HKIA," he said.

According to the letter, the NAC cited the violation of clauses 4, 4.1, 5, and 10.2 of the agreement. Clause 4.1 specifically deals with payment of a...

Sichuan Airlines (3U, Chengdu) has secured ten more A321-200neo after signing longterm lease agreements with Air Lease Corporation.

According to a lessor statement issued during the 2019 Paris Air Show at Paris Le Bourget, the narrowbody jets are sourced from its Airbus order book and will deliver from 2021 through to 2022.

Sichuan Airlines currently employs eleven A321neo (of which one is leased from ALC) alongside forty-three A321ceo.

It also operates twenty A319-100s, fifty-three A320ceo, five A320neo, six A330-200s, seven A330-300s, and four A350-900s. According to CargoFacts, three ex-Qatar Airways A330-200(F)s are also expected to arrive in September.

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) is in talks to buy a 20% stake in Moscow Vnukovo, the Russian capital’s third-largest airport by passenger traffic, its Group Chief Executive Akbar al Baker has told Reuters.

The Qatari flag carrier is looking to close the deal “sometime before the end of the year,” he said.

“Moscow Sheremetyevo and Moscow Domodedovo are already congested, and the only airport that has an expansion opportunity is Vnukovo. We see huge potential to grow the airport to bring more traffic, to intensify traffic, to grow there, to increase the duty-free footprint.”

Qatar Airways initially revealed plans to acquire a stake in Vnukovo in March 2018, then set at 25%, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the issue the following month. However, a sale did not materialise.

The current owners of the airport are the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimuschestvo) and private investors, namely businessman Vitaly Vantsev and his partners. At the end of 2016, these parties signed a framework agreement for the...