Great news!

Glad to see progress being made. If the intentions are to fly regionally from launch, has there been any decision on which new aircraft type will be used (A318/19/20/21 like TJA)? How soon can we expect to see a new type? Is this going to be a hybrid model like starbow or low cost like fly540/fastjet with no food served on board.

congrats AWA! :D

http://www.braviacapital.com/wp-cont...-agreement.jpg
**found this a while ago**


Also,

Quick clarification... Does ''GCAA type rating approved course'' mean they only accept type ratings from specific courses/FTOs? Could this affect someone who already has an A320 rating endorsed on an FAA CPL? how does one find out if a course is approved or not?

Has recruitment picked up again and is there a bonding period after the type training is completed?

If you already have a type rating endorsed on a foreign license, the training organisation that conducted the type training would have been recognised by the authority that issued the license and GCAA's validation of that license would include the validation of the type rating.

However, if you want to get a new type rating endorsed on a GCAA license, you have to use a training organisation approved by GCAA. For the Embraer 145, this is only Baltic Aviation Academy from Vilnius right now to provide ground school, although we also have approvals for simulators at HNA SATC in Sanya and expect to get sim approval for Swiss Aviation Training in Zurich by next month as well.

Yes there will be a fixed contract period after training if Africa World Airlines funds the entire ERJ-145 rating course. It's not exactly a bond (because I am informed that calling it a "bond" is illegal under Ghana law), but rather a contract with a default penalty clause if the employee choses to leave before specified dates. The penalty amount reduces on an annual prorated basis (33% for First Officers, 50% for captains). If the pilot already has an ERJ-145 rating, then no such contract will apply.

FlyFirstNation, Lagos
 

Any information about this new airline in Nigeria ? A friend of mine got a call recently. Would highly appreciate some news about this . Thanks .

Off topic for this thread but :-

Do your research VERY carefully and DO NOT pay any fees.
Most new jobs in Nigeria are scams.

Google for "419 scam"

Have you guys Begun?
 

Have you guys started operations? and is there any hope for a Nigerian Pilot to get a job with your airline?

I should clarify that Africa World Airlines is not related in any way to "Trans Africa World Airways" of Nigeria.

Africa World Airlines is promoted by Togbe Afede XIV of SAS Financial Group and also includes shareholdings by HNA Group, China-Africa Development Fund and SSNIT. The airline holds an Air Carrier License issued by Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and will take delivery of its first aircraft later this month.

The Nigerian group is promoted by Princess Dr. Rachael Adefunke-Wellington and has no relation whatsoever to the Ghanaian group.

As a bit of information, the first ERJ-145 is now out of the paint shop in Xi'an (registered 9G-AET) and is due for delivery in the next 10 days.

the suspense is killing me.
 

I've been waiting years to see this. got any pics?

I imagine it will follow the typical HNA red and yellow livery but with some distinctly african/ghanaian colours thrown into the letters.

Hopefully the flight attendants have beautiful african attire as well... unlike the crazy bright orange that fastjet/fly540 is going to impose on us.:yuk:

how long before the next type of aircraft (A320?) join the line, considering the overcapacity which could possibly exist in a few years? first mover advantage is key. no?

Perhaps flyafricaworld can provide some answers to the questions below which are being asked by some of the staff.

Why is it that the senior management team from Ghana is being completely replaced by people from China?

Why have pilots and engineers contracts been unilaterally changed by the Chinese managers?

Why is the July salary for Ghanaian employees still not paid as of August 13th while the Chinese managers received their payments on July 28th?

Yes, but I'm not posting them here yet. :)

The colours (as you can probably guess from the new logo) are more African than Chinese.

That is rather an exaggeration I think. Every major shareholder wants to ensure that they have control over management of the company and consequently seek to install their own trusted people. Certainly, there are some managers (possibly including myself) that have been with the company from the business plan development days who may not find positions for themselves within the organisation once operations commence. That is hardly a case of "completely replaced" though. It's just business.

I am not going to comment about internal HR issues on a public forum. That means that I am neither confirming nor denying these statements. However, I will point out that there are presently no "Chinese managers" employed by Africa World Airlines. You can judge the accuracy of your statements from that fact alone.

The first Embraer 145 for Africa World Airlines is now ready for delivery and is expected to arrive in Ghana next week as 9G-AET.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...76159930_n.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...9&l=b2ca7fb858

Routing will be ZBTJ-ZGHA-ZPPP-VECC-VAAH-OMAD-HDAM-HUEN-FGFF-DGAA over the next few days. Keep an eye out for her en route and say hi to the crew!

Congrats..so real work can begin?

Is the long routing, 9 stopovers over 1 week to reach Ghana, in fact from Xi'an Xian part of regulatory compliance, test flighting or to complete all work related with customising the machine for AWA?

The route takes only 3 days from China to Ghana, but the remaining days were budgeted to complete the final export paperwork from China. The various inspections, tests, etc.. have already been conducted over the last month.

The aircraft flew from Tianjin to Changsha to Kunming today - its first flights on the Ghana register as AFW801. It leaves China tomorrow morning for Kolkata and Ahmedabad. It is due to arrive in Accra on Thursday 30th August afternoon.

Sister ship 9G-AEU will also be ready for delivery sometime next week and is expected in Accra shortly thereafter.

Nice!

Wishing you all the best and looking forward to AWA starting operations. Congrats on the milestone!! :D

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...87745307_n.jpg

Africa World Airlines has taken delivery of its first aircraft, an Embraer ERJ-145LR registered as 9G-AET, on 30th August 2012 at Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

The aircraft arrived in Accra at 1122am after a 4-day flight from Tianjin, China.

The delivery flight was under the command of Capt. Ivan NARTEY, who was assisted by Senior First Officer Kenneth BRUCE-TAGOE and Training Capt. Tommy FJELD.

Africa World Airlines intends to commence scheduled flight services on 21st September 2012 with flights from Accra to Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi.

https://www.facebook.com/v/407241562664362

Togbe Afede XIV, founder of Africa World Airlines, speaks to the media and the public at the ceremony to welcome the first Embraer ERJ-145 jet for the new airline.

Ghana News Agency - Speed, Acuracy and Objectivity - Latest News, Breaking News

The second ERJ-145 for Africa World Airlines will arrive in Accra on Saturday, September 8th.

Been following this thread on and off for what seems like ages. Very refreshing to see the dream actually take shape. I wish all concerned every success as even harder work starts now!

Africa World
 

Hey guys!
Been a while since I stopped by on the Forum. The aircraft looks great. Good Luck to operations which I suppose begin soon without a shift in goal post after coming this far.

Hope your Pilots are now being paid according to HNA standards as we much hear from various sources that there are usual delays in payments in their salary every month. Keep the standards higher and do re post a few more pictures of the aircraft's.

Good Luck

flyafricaworld, why the sudden silence? Uncomfortable truth doesn't go well with your P.R. pieces?

Why is Africa World Airlines trying to cover up the accident that occurred with 9G-AEU this morning at KIA? First airline to write off an aircraft before the AOC is even issued? You must be so proud. :D

What a joke of an "operation".

Welcome, AWA
 

Always great to see local initiative take shape. Here's wishing you gentlemen at AWA many years of successful operations. Akw 'a ba

All pilots have had a salary review recently due to exchange rate fluctuations.

As noted before, I am not going to comment on internal HR issues such as dates of salary payments, but I can assure you that while delays of a few days here and there are to be expected in this part of the world for various administrative reasons, every staff member receives their salary in full every month.

Plenty of aircraft pictures (and videos) on our Facebook and Youtube pages.

https://www.facebook.com/flyAfricaWorld

Africa World Airlines - YouTube

Our album of the arrival ceremony for 9G-AET has been getting lots of views and hits. Do check it out!

Kofib
 

check facts before opening mouth. :E
I was there, even filed an ASR on the circumstances that led to a minor kink in the apu exhaust after ANOTHER AIRCRAFT clipped it with a winglet.. your statement is laughable.

Consider yourself rightly flamed :E

a) There was no "accident", but rather as Teddy Robinson described above, a minor incident where the parked 9G-AEU was struck by the winglet of a taxiing ERJ-135.

b) This has not been "covered up". It has been reported to GCAA and GACL and insurers as required. It's actually a good test run for our SMS and reporting systems before operations begin.

c) I will presume that you are the person who called the radio stations yesterday trying to spread the news about the "Africa World Airlines plane crash" and question the safety record. Not cool at all.

d) Contrary to your assertions, 9G-AEU is not written off. It will be absolute fine once the panel is replaced.

You, Sir, are the joke! :D This industry doesn't need :mad: like you.

africa world
 

Reading all the previous posts very surprising an incident has occurred before start. What are HNA's plan's the Chinese should always be a step further than the world to resolve issues before launch in order not to spoil their name.

Lots of negativity surrounding. regarding salaries over heard staff get paid on the 15th of the month with horrifying excuses. These are negative points why Africa always lack in aviation and have a poor track record . The concerned Chinese need to be reading such posts and putting their entity in order to attract a long lived airline. Any picture on the websites, office buildings etc?

Fishy indeed!
 

Kofib1978 what an idiot! I know how nervous competitors get when a strong new airline enters the market but these type of blatant attempts to cause panic and misinform the general public are just shameful!

If you did indeed call radio stations over such an incident then it's clear what your motive is. Hopefully the 'panel' is completely fixed/replaced before operations begin on sept 21st.

Sabotage? Something smells fishy?! :=

Again, I am not going to comment specifically on internal HR issues such as staff salary payments other than to reiterate that every single staff member has been paid in full at the end of every month. Certainly, there have been administrative delays at times, but never to the extent that you allude to above. Let us not forget that this is still a start-up that has not yet flown and our "HR department" consists of one very hardworking and overworked person and two admin assistants.

Perhaps staff morale and enthusiasm may be lower than the shareholders would probably like to see at this stage. Some of the initial management team have sacrificed a lot to develop the business plan and build the airline from scratch, so may be disappointed that their services will be not be required once the airline launches. This group includes myself. However we are all professionals and we shall give it our best efforts as long as our services are required and then move on to whatever new opportunities present themselves. That is just the way business works.

The preliminary investigation clears Africa World Airlines of any responsibility for the incident. 9G-AEU was parked in its assigned space and was struck by the winglet of an M- reg Legacy that misjudged its clearance. It could have happened to anyone at any time and it was just unfortunate that we happened to be the ones parked there.

http://www.flyafricaworld.com/recruitment/CIMG4193.jpg

This is the extent of the damage to 9G-AEU. Hardly a write-off by anyone's standards.

Air Commodore (Rtd) Kwame Mamphey, Director General of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority presents Ghana Air Operator Certificate number 030 to Zhang Jiuhua, CEO of Africa World Airlines while Daniel Acquah, Director of Safety Regulations at GCAA looks on at a ceremony on 21st September 2012.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...48632519_n.jpg



Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli State and Founder of Africa World Airlines is flanked by His Excellency Gong Jianzhong, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China and The Honourable Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Ghana at the ceremonial Launch Event of the airline in Accra on 21st September 2012.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...44603305_n.jpg

Congratulations guys.

More questions for flyafricaworld, although I don't expect to see anything other than P.R. answers.

If the damage to 9G-AEU is so minor, why has it not moved since the incident? Is it true that insurance won't cover the repairs as the premiums were not paid?

How can you expect to make money when you fly your planes with less than 10 passengers on board? As for your sale fares, just look at the comments on your own Facebook page to see what your passengers think of that!

Why are all your flights cancelled until further notice? Is it because GCAA suspended your AOC when all your cabin crew failed their proficiency tests? Or because your Chinese pilots with their Alibaba.com licenses can't speak English?

Why is your Chief Operations Officer resigning from the company just one week after it launches? Perhaps it is because he isn't willing to work without pay while the local staff will?

Very slick P.R. I must admit, but the truth about your operations will eventually come out. I pray that it won't take a fatal crash for this to happen.

I have posted pictures of the damage to 9G-AEU. It requires a replacement APU exhaust. This is not minor damage, but it isn't a write-off either as you indicated in your first post on this issue.

Additionally, insurance has to be paid up as a requirement to register the aircraft (it has barely been on Ghana registry a month now). In any case it would not be our insurance that covers this but rather the liability insurance of the aircraft that struck us (M-DSCL).

Exactly one flight (on the second day of operation) has flown with less than 10 passengers on board. Most flights have something in the range of 30 passengers. Considering it has been only ONE WEEK since operations began, I don't think there is any reason to panic or worry quite yet.

There have been flight disruptions today due to the closure of Kumasi Airport due to resurfacing. These are unrelated to any alleged failure of proficiency tests by cabin crew or mythical Chinese pilots.

For the record, there is not a single Chinese pilot currently operating for Africa World Airlines. We have Ghanaians, Norwegians, Swedes, Indians and Americans - but no Chinese yet. So once again, I will ask you to kindly verify your facts.

I think you are referring to me here. I am not "resigning" from the company. I have made it very clear here for many months now that my contract with the company lasted until the AOC was issued and that the shareholders intended to bring in new management as the company moved into an operational phase. My contract has provision for a sizeable bonus due to me upon AOC acquisition. I expect to receive it next week and I have no reason to assume it won't be paid as contractually agreed. All staff have been paid their salaries in full (and it isn't even the end of the month yet). So once again, I will ask you to kindly verify your facts.

It disturbs me to see you mudslinging here for no apparent reason. You seem to have a grudge against AWA and are going out of your way to stir up trouble. I can't think of what a brand new airline may have done to upset you already, but I would ask you to please contact us via PM so we could try to resolve the underlying issues.

On a somewhat related note to the above, the upcoming Monday will be my last day with the company. I will be handing over control of this account to Capt. Kwasi Oteng who will also take over as Chief Operations Officer. He hopes to be able to engage with the community here in a similar manner that I have been doing over the last two years.

Part of me is disappointed to move on. Another part of me is excited by the new challenges that await me. But all parts of me will always wish AWA every success. AWA has a superb team of Ghanaian professionals (some of them pictured below with me - I'm the one kneeling in the suit and holding the AOC) that will carry the airline forward for years to come. One day, when Africa World Airlines is hailed as a continent-wide success story, I will be able to sit back and proudly say that I was employee number one.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...66256268_n.jpg

Congratulations for a job well done
 

Flyafricaworld,

Congratulations for reaching your final milestone with the airline! I wish it every success and best of luck to you in your future endaevours.

I've always enjoyed reading your posts here, always well structured and eloquent posts.

Cheers from Bahrain

Misinformation on Wikipedia
 

Look what somebody (*cough kofib1978) has put up on Wikipedia... Somebody needs to fix this.

Africa World Airlines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Competitors must really be desperate.


On a more positive note! Congrats for your accomplishments at AWA. I'm sure the airline will continue to be a success. Wish you all the best on your future endeavors. whats next for you?

This airline is operating only 2 aircrafts, first of all according to their "Timetable" only one destination is serviced Kumasi 115 nm away :confused:, about 18~20 mins flying time for the ERJ ??? it looks like there is a plethora of employees a lots of "talking" Tons of , Facebook Twitter postings :yuk: etc when their website is not even up and running properly (many dead links). For less than $1,000.00 US you can get a better portal in 2 days!. Why the use of Jet aircrafts ? when Turboprops are better suited and less expensive than ERJ's which are optimized for longer sectors. Ghana has a lots of Great talents and I'm sure that Ghana can set up a major airline without having to go to "foreign Investors" (The main goal of those FI is getting a footstep in Africa in order to obtain natural resources buying influence and under the cover of "cooperation" just BS. In its current form this Airline is not going to fly a long time.

The airline has not flown anywhere for a week. All flights have been cancelled but no refunds are being given to passengers. The Chief Operations Officer has resigned. Rumour is that the Chinese and Ghanaian shareholders have had a major falling out and that HNA Group are taking their aircraft back.

flyafricaworld, do you deny any of this? The fat lady has begun to sing. The facts speak for themselves.

I am posting now under a personal username since Kwasi Oteng has control of the official "flyafricaworld" username and I am no longer formally associated with the company. I still wanted to set some of the record straight.

kofib1978, you have the knack of taking half-bits of information and jumping to incorrect conclusions from there. I don't know if this is you being deliberately obtuse or just clueless.

Flights to Kumasi were cancelled not because of anything to do with the airline but rather due to the fact that Kumasi Airport was shut down due to runway maintenance. Flights to Tamale continue to operate. Flights to Takoradi are due to commence on 21st October.

Melax, I do not disagree with your comments regarding the website. It is a poorly constructed portal and should not have gone live until it was properly functional. Right now, it makes the airline look far less professional than it should.

With regards the choice of ERJ-145s, I addressed this some months ago on this thread. However, for a brief recap, I agree with you again that this is not the optimal aircraft choice for domestic operations. However, the strategy is to use the ERJ-145 to open up markets in West Africa that would otherwise be too small for larger types to operate with commercial viability (eg. CKY, PHC, etc..). Combined with the availability of airframes from HNA's portfolio, technical support from HNA and a range of other factors, this was the best aircraft for that mission profile. The business plan calls for a second aircraft type as well. If the airline does not introduce a second type to serve the "trunk" routes fed by the ERJ feeders, the business model will not work as the markets grow and the airline will not be successful. No airline can survive as a domestic-only carrier in a country as small as Ghana.

Finally, back to kofib1978's constant assertions that I "resigned" from the company, I once again state for the record that I did not "resign". My contract ended with the acquisition of the AOC and we have parted ways by mutual consent. This was not unexpected (I posted initially about this back in May) nor is it an indication of any recent issues that I had with the company.