Attributes Financing Glitch for Delay.
August 18, 2009
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Photo: Captain Sabri Shadi, CEO of LAA Holdings, during the delivery ceremony of the A330.
Tripoli- Aircraft Financing glitches caused Afriqiyah Airways delayed maiden flight to the Philippines which was announced to arrive in July 17, 2009, but was re-scheduled back to its original arrival date.
Captain Sabri Shadi, CEO of Libyan-African Aviation Holding, the Company that controls Afriqiyah Airways, said that they just received its first Airbus 330-200 on August 10 after funding assistance from government banks which agreed to finance three (3) out of the six (6) aircraft orders.
Shadi said that they encountered finding funding for its twenty three (23) aircraft orders which resulted to delivery deferrals. He said that at first, Libyan Banks were reluctant to finance their massive orders until they agreed to scale it down thereby reducing orders to only three 330's.
"This is the first kind of this aircraft to be delivered to Afriqiyah Airways. We ordered three of them and we will receive the second one sometime in September and the third one will be delivered at the end of October. We will also receive other three (3) A319, smaller than the A330 on the18th of August," said Eng. Rammah Ettir, Afriqiyah Airways' Chief Executive Officer.
Shadi said that they encountered finding funding for its twenty three (23) aircraft orders which resulted to delivery deferrals. He said that at first, Libyan Banks were reluctant to finance their massive orders until they agreed to scale it down thereby reducing orders to only three 330's.
"This is the first kind of this aircraft to be delivered to Afriqiyah Airways. We ordered three of them and we will receive the second one sometime in September and the third one will be delivered at the end of October. We will also receive other three (3) A319, smaller than the A330 on the18th of August," said Eng. Rammah Ettir, Afriqiyah Airways' Chief Executive Officer.
The new A330 will seat 230 passengers in a two-class cabin and will serve long-haul operations on routes from Tripoli to Africa and Europe and later on to the Far East of Asia.The first A330 will start serving London, Paris, Lagos and Accra within the next six week. It will then fly to Johannesburg and Cape Town on the 4th of Sept 2009 while its second A330 will fly on September 19 to Manila and the third A330 to Beijing on October 28.
"Afriqiyah Airways has achieved impressive growth since it first entered the market in 2001, and we are very proud to have been their partner during this time, " said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer.
"The A330 has unbeatable economic efficiency and will enable Afriqiyah’s continued expansion. We look forward to continuing our partnership.” said Mr. Leahy at the handing over ceremony of the aircraft at the premises of Maitiga Airport.
Afriqiyah Airways delivery of its first Airbus A330 is considered a milestone in the history of Libya's aviation since it is the first large aircraft of its kind to be delivered in Libya. It is also a major step forward of the company's long haul operations after its establishment in 2001.
This is cool! If given the chance, I'd fly Afriqiyah Airways. A treat for spotters! Bit confusing though. According to Wikipedia, it's the 11th of September 2009 when the first flight of Afriqiyah to MNL will take place...can you confirm, please? Ahh, you have a nice blog!
ReplyDeleteAccording to GDS its on the 11th via Dubai. The problem is they won't be receiving their second 330 before that date. I'm still figuring out how they will exactly do that?
ReplyDeleteWhat is Afriqiyah Airways' office address in Manila? I would like to visit the office in Manila in November.
ReplyDeleteAfriqiyah had Sept 7 as delivery date for their 2nd A330. Whether it arrived that day I don't know.
ReplyDeleteThe scheduled delivery date for the second A330 SN 1024 ex F-WWYS, with reg 5A-ONG is actually on September 8 from TLS. I also don't know if it actually left yesterday because according to CEO Shadi they intend to receive the second on the later part of September while the 3rd one on the last week of October.
ReplyDeleteAfriqiyah defers Manila launch again. The reason seems to be logistical problems. We will be updating this when all is well with the airline. No timetable is submitted so we will just wait for the official announcement.
ReplyDelete