Recently in Africa/Middle East Category

I know it's only July (although the weather in London makes it feel more like October), but I think I might have just enjoyed the best moment of my first year as Airline Business editor.

For on Sunday night, I hosted my first Airline Strategy Awards (that's me mid-flow, below) - in the magnificent Great Hall at Lincoln's Inn - in front of an audience of over 200 distinguished guests that included a raft of current and former airline CEOs.

To be honest, it was a relief when the big night finally arrived as it had been six months in planning by the Airline Business editorial and events teams, along with partners Spencer Stuart who did a great job facilitating the whole judging process. And the last few weeks have been particularly challenging, as we juggled completing the final arrangements along with our IATA AGM and Paris air show responsibilities, and the production of this month's huge Airline Business issue which contains the our annual airline financial rankings survey.

On the night (17 July), Emirates boss Tim Clark (pictured below) was our most prominent A-lister, receiving the Airline Business award from myself and former editors Kevin O'Toole and Mark Pilling. This was a special 10-year award recongising the leader of the airline that has made the biggest impact over the decade that our awards have run.

Few would disagree that Tim and Emirates have achieved that. I think Tim's influence on the industry is best summed up by paraphrasing what another airline boss told me recently: "Emirates is the airline that other CEOs lie awake at night worrying about."

So congratulations to Tim for that well-deserved award, and to all the other 2011 winners.

And now I've got that monkey off my back, I can't wait for the 2012 event! 

More pictures from the event here:

http://www.strategyawards.com/strategyawards2011/gallery-2011#

More details about all the winners here: The Airline Strategy Awards 2011

Emirates might already have 90 Airbus A380s on order but it built a 91^st - or at least gave a computer-enhanced impression that it had - on a film set in South Africa, to promote the economic benefits of the Dubai-based carrier's fleet programme.

In a 30-second advertisement actor Maxim Deluc, playing a flight attendant, is shown wheeling a drinks trolley down the aisle while the A380 is put together around him.

Shooting the commercial involved constructing a full-scale fuselage barrel of the A380, on which to film the basic nose-to-tail walk, while the engines, detailed internal fittings and background were filled in afterwards with computer-generated jiggery-pokery:

Emirates is using the advertisement to emphasise the "economic significance" of its commitment to the A380 which, it says, supports creation of 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. It adds that 72% of the jobs are in France, Germany, the UK and Spain - hence the European flavour of the advert, which shows the A380 being assembled to an accompanying refrain from Strauss' Blue Danube waltz.

This video shows how the advertisement was put together, which also features a few facts about the aircraft's manufacture you might not have previously appreciated: "Six continents contribute to a single A380," it says. "Everywhere but Antarctica. Sorry, penguins." 

In June airline industry leaders head to Singapore for this year's IATA annual general meeting. Airline Business will be there as usual, producing daily papers, video inteviews, blogs and tweets from the event - which comes at a fascinating time as volatile fuels costs, geopolitical unrest and natural events threaten to destabilise the airline sector's recovery.

This year's meeting is also significant for IATA, given it marks Giovanni Bisignani's last AGM as director general - former Cathay Pacific chief executive Tony Tyler takes the helm in July - after a decade in which he has transformed IATA and the industry has faced unheralded challenges.  For more on Bisignani's impact on IATA and the industry, read the recent Airline Business comment on Giovanni's Decade here.

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A quick footnote to our recent article on the challenges facing airlines in cross-border investments (Finding a new Frontier Airline Business May 2011) - here are some thoughts on the subject from Brian Havel - director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University Chicago - you can find this and other thoughts at the Aviation Law Prof Blog

David Knibb has an informative piece in the latest issue of Airline Business on the incremental movement toward crossborder investment in the airline industry and the formidable challenges which remain.  See Ownership: Finding a New Frontier, Airline Bus., Apr. 18, 2011.  As the article discusses, the tolerance for foreign ownership of airlines varies from region to region and, thus far, has often been allowed on an ad hoc basis.  So long as States retain the right under their respective air services agreements (ASA) to limit or revoke the traffic rights of airlines which are not owned and controlled by the citizens of their home countries, international air carries which ingest foreign capital or come under the control of a foreign entity risk losing valuable market access privileges.  For instance, once the merger between Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM is approved, the United States could, under the terms of its ASA with Brazil, lock-out TAM on the grounds that it is owned and controlled by Chileans.

In an effort to inject a high-level of stability into the international aviation investment regime, the United States has proposed a Multilateral Convention on Foreign Investment in Airlines.  See Facilitating Airline Access to International Capital Markets, ICAO Working Paper No. A37-WP/190 (Sept. 13, 2010).  Under the agreement, signatories would provide a list of partner States against which they will not enforce the nationality clauses in their ASAs.  This would have the benefit of providing greater legal certainity with respect to which air carriers could freely engaged in crossborder mergers and acquisitions without potentially forfeiting their traffic rights.  While a final draft of the Convention has yet to appear, the International Civil Aviation Organization is currently assessing its terms and whether or not to open the treaty up for formal ratification.

For more from Brian Havel, check out this piece he wrote as part of Airline Business' 25th anniversary issue on why open skies is a milestone and not the culmination of liberalisation

Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air is boosting capacity in its summer schedule through increased frequencies and new destinations, but will have to wait another month to hear whether its flagship Formula 1 Grand Prix will be reinstated this year.

The F1 race, which had been due to open the season in March, was postponed as the political unrest spread across the kingdom. The 1 May deadline given to Bahrain by Formula 1's governing body the FIA to devise a rescheduling plan has come and gone, and this has now been extended to 3 June amid the continued threat of more unrest.

The race, for which Gulf Air has been the title sponsor since it began in 2004, is a vital status symbol for both the airline and the country in what is a fiercely competitive region for civil aviation. It also provides a significant boost in traffic and profile for Gulf Air.

In a statement, the race organisers reiterated that they intend to re-instate the grand prix, but stopped short of a commitment to running a race in 2011: "Clearly our national priority is to find a resolution to the difficulties that the kingdom of Bahrain has experienced," said circuit chairman Zayed Rashid Alzayani: "The national situation has moved on in a positive manner, the situation is evolving all the time; our day-to-day life is gradually improving under the current State of National Safety."

Despite the ongoing uncertainty over the political situation, Gulf Air is adding over 1,700 seats per week to meet seasonal demand with the launch of its summer schedule. It has started services to three new destinations - Kabul, Copenhagen and Nairobi.

Capacity increases will result from increased frequencies and larger aircraft on some routes. The Istanbul service grows from four to five flights a week, with an A320 replacing the current Embraer 170 regional jet. Bangkok sees frequencies increase from seven to nine per week from 1 June and the introduction of a bigger aircraft - an A330. Milan flights are increasing from four to six per week with an A320 replacing a Boeing 737, offering 117% more seats each week.

If the unnamed carrier mentioned in a Flight International advertisement this week was hoping for anonymity then it probably should have checked the small print.

The advertisement covers the auction of five Boeing 777-200ERs, all with Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engines, and aged between 10 and 14 years.

It doesn't identify the seller, just describes it as a "reputable airline", and all inquiries for auction documents are being handled by its consultant, DVB Bank.

But there might be a clue in the last line, which lists a 16 May deadline for offers - at noon, er, "Cairo local time".

Middle East carrier Oman Air has been showing off its new Embraer 175 regional jet at a ceremony in Muscat today. The airline has just taken delivery of the first five of the type it placed firm orders for in November 2009, as part of efforts to develop domestic routes within Oman.

The carrier will operate the aircraft in a dual-class configuration, featuring 11 seats in business class and 60 in economy.

It further renews the Oman Air fleet, the carrier having taken delivery of six Airbus A330s since 2009. A further A330 follows later this year and the airline will also take delivery of its first Boeing 787s in 2014

I've been going to Qatar's capital city regularly for over a decade now, and it never ceases to amaze me how this "aerotropolis" changes each time I step off the plane.

During a lightning visit to Doha to interview Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al Baker, I managed to find an hour to finally pay a visit to the city's museum of Islamic art. As well as having a fantastic collection of exhibits, the museum is an impressive building architecturally, both inside and out - it was designed by renowned architect Leoh Ming Pei. The museum is an icon of the waterfront in Doha - although that did not stop my relatively inexperienced taxi driver from getting lost trying to find it!

The view from the museum lobby provides an impressive vista of the expanding Doha skyline across the bay. Nestled in the foreground is the pyramid-like Sheraton hotel. I stayed here on my first visit in 1999 and recall that at the time it enjoyed a somewhat lonely existence at the far end of the corniche.

During my stay I also had a tour of the new international airport - and was among the first visitors to arrive at the terminal via the newly completed approach road. The impressive development, which has been built on reclaimed land, looks structurally complete - some of the gates already have airbridges attached awaiting the arrival of their first passengers! It is due to be handed over next year, and my guess it will be operational by 2013. It will be able to handle 24 million passengers a year.

Since my last visit just over a year ago, there's been more development of the existing airport, despite the fact that it is due to close within around two years. The main terminal building now only handles departures, with an all-new arrivals terminal having been built on a plot previously used for the Asian Games event. Qatar Airways premium passengers, of course, have use of a dedicated terminal, complete with jacuzzis.

I'm not sure when I'll next be in Doha, but I don't expect much to have stayed the same when I am!

EgyptAir's wayward route map may have picked up some attention in the last few days but we came across it last August* when we pointed out other examples of questionable geography.

The Israeli press is bemoaning the airbrushing of Tel Aviv - not really a great surprise, although it's led to some eccentric interpretations.

It's the placing of Damascus a long way north of Beirut, when it's actually south, which is the real schoolboy howler. Must try harder.

* There was a tactful reason for not mentioning this before. Airline Business' cover interview in the same month was with, er, EgyptAir chairman Hussein Massoud.