DEPENDING ON THEIR MISSION. SATELLITES HAVE DIFFERENT ORBITS. Weather and communication satellites are placed in Geostationary Orbits (GEO) at an altitude of 36,000 km above the equator, from which they have a constant gaze on the same region of the Earth. Other satellites are placed in Low Earth Orbits (LEO)Read More →
As an educational tool or refresher course to our readers, we run an occasional series of briefing articles to explain key aspects of the airline industry that often cause confusion. Here we provide an overview of the range of airline alliances, codeshares, partnerships and joint ventures. THE GROWTH OF THERead More →
Disappearing big planes are rare events as is the case with a Boeing 727-200 that departed from Luanda’s Quatro de Fevereiro Airport 18 years ago and was never seen again. This is no ordinary disappearance. There are layers of complexity here. The Boeing 727-200 (registration N844AA) was leased to TAAGRead More →
Ethiopian Airlines is by far Africa’s leading airline and is twice the size of number-two. It has grown faster than the rest of Africa’s top-10 put together. With a wildly mixed fleet, what has driven its success? Ethiopian Airlines grew extremely quickly between 2011 and 2019, with the full-service carrierRead More →
Denel, the state-owned defence company, is in a spiral of terminal decline. Yet there is no urgency or apparent strategy from the government to deal with the situation. The delay and indecision from Denel’s sole shareholder has made its predicament all the worse. Denel has cutting-edge technology in drones, fifthRead More →
Boeing’s four-engine 707 was the US manufacturer’s first-ever jetliner, entering service with Pan Am in October 1958. In the more than 62 years that have followed this introduction, Boeing has become a key player in commercial aviation. Today, Boeing represents one half of the industry. One of its more high-profileRead More →
Morne Booij-Liewes – The launch of a new low cost carrier (LCC) in South Africa – by someone who has a track record of success in LLC is a big story. And notably, the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic would seem to be the worst time to launch a new airline. The pandemic has decimated the airlineRead More →
Darren Olivier – Africa is characterised by asymmetric warfare which requires the larger, more technologically advanced combatant to be able to exercise dominance over small, convoluted and inaccessible places. These places may be dense urban environments such as cities or shack settlements, or remote jungles. This requires small, agile helicopters that can provide fast point to point intervention. The most successful of theseRead More →
(Des Barker) The question often on many a fighter pilot’s minds is, “have we seen the last fighter ace?” Why is this even an issue? Well, becoming a fighter ace is one of the aspirations of a fighter pilot – why else would you bother? Air forces worldwide are finding themselves with aRead More →
