Thankfully not China. I go there quite enough for work - this was a personal trip over the long weekend!
Without going into specifics, we do have a plan to overcome the various delays that we are working with and while it isn't moving as fast as we would have liked it is making progress. So while the delays are frustrating, there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.
We have recruited and trained local personnel to meet our initial start-up needs and we have a sizeable (and growing) pool of both local and expat applicants to draw from for future needs. We also expect to receive support from our partners in China with engineers and pilots on secondment for the short term. I also expect there to be some new senior management appointments announced within the next 6-8 weeks.
Yes, we have plans to fly regional routes but nothing beyond the continent of Africa in the medium term. This is for a variety of reasons but primarily the additional fleet types required, the current overcapacity in the market to Europe that is driving down yields significantly and finally potential issues with the EU/US over our multi-national ownership structure. Beyond 3-5 years however, we would expect to increase the local ownership component and that could potentially open up opportunities for long-haul routes. In the meanwhile though, we are exploring joint venture opportunities with our Chinese strategic partners to connect Asia and West Africa.