Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

With further details, Emirates-Qantas partnership will have global reach; Qantas adjusts partners

While the seismic Emirates-Qantas partnership was announced as covering northern Africa, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and Southeast Asia – by all means a large portion of the world – Emirates and Qantas are laying the seeds for the partnership to possibly cover the entire world. In the short term, Emirates could finally tap into leisure demand from the Pacific Islands, largely out of reach from Dubai, via Jetstar and Qantas services. In the medium term, Qantas could partner on Emirates' services to South Africa if Australian regulators prohibit Qantas and South African Airways from working together.

Back in the short term, Qantas has further detailed the alliance's impact on its current grouping of partners. Emirates and Qantas, as Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia did in their alliance, have pledged to maintain current trans-Tasman capacity levels and say they are considering launching new routes to Auckland from Adelaide and Perth. Further network changes could be in the pipeline for the carriers as they seek interim authorisation of their partnership in order to effectively participate at the upcoming IATA slots conference.

Opportunities and challenges as Fly540, first pan-African airline, adopts Stelios' FastJet brand

While Stelios Haji-Ioannou may help give Africa its first low-cost carrier franchise in the form of FastJet, growth should not be expected to occur at the same pace as Stelios' easyJet operation, even if FastJet targets an eventual goal of 12 million passengers annually, which could require upwards of 30 to 40 aircraft. Infrastructure and regulatory challenges in Africa are notable and the general lack of liberalisation across the continent means FastJet will be tied to the antiquated system of bilateral agreements that protect national interests, which remain high at the dawn of a revitalised era in African aviation, spawned by increasing GDP growth and investment.

It is not difficult to see the long-term potential, but in the short-term FastJet will start conservatively. FastJet is due to launch later this year by taking over the operations of Fly540, a pan-African full-service carrier with operations in Angola, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. The re-branding will coincide with the adoption of a LCC model and shedding Fly540's primarily regional aircraft for Embraer E-jets or Airbus A319s, smaller than the typical LCC use of A320s and Boeing 737s.

Emerging Africa-Asia market continues to grow with Korean Air service to Nairobi from Seoul

Connections between Africa and Asia will grow from 21-Jun-2012 with Korean Air's seasonal three-times weekly service between Seoul and Nairobi, Kenya. The hub-to-hub flight will link Korean Air's Asian-focused hub to the extensive and growing African hub of fellow SkyTeam carrier Kenya Airways, which plans to serve every African capital city within five years.

The Africa-Asia market will boom this decade, according to Airbus projections that see Africa having the highest percentage growth of traffic to or from Asia. Korean Air's route follows charter services to Nairobi as well as the signing in Dec-2011 of a trade agreement between South Korea and Kenya.

Korean Air will be the only Asian airline to serve East Africa, which geographically and combined with a partner's hub allows for greater traffic feed across Africa. Asian airlines have predominantly focused on serving South Africa while African carriers serve multiple Asian points.

Kenya Airways traffic up as route expansion takes shape

Kenya Airways has yet again proven itself as a leading African carrier with a nearly 30% traffic increase in the three months ended 30-Jun-2011 (1QFY2012). The carrier credits the boost in numbers to its aggressive expansion plans, which have been rolling out successfully across Africa and on intercontinental routes. On the back of this success, Kenya Airways is expanding its cargo operations and will take delivery of a new B747-400F in Oct-2011.