Tanzania's foreign ministry has disclosed that Air Tanzania's latest De Havilland Dash 8-400 has been seized in Canada before its delivery flight to the carrier's base. The aircraft has been impounded "just days" before it was due to be flown to Tanzania, says the office of foreign affairs minister Palamagamba John Kabudi. It marks the latest development in a bizarre legal battle, centred on a compensation issue, with an individual identified as Hermanus Steyn who was behind the detention of an Airbus A220 in August. Previous interventions have also attempted to impound Boeing 787s. Kabudi's office says he has expressed "regret" over the latest seizure which follows a lawsuit filed against the country in a Canadian court. He has summoned the Canadian ambassador, the office adds, to explain why the Canadian government is "allowing" such judicial actions to take place. Air Tanzania has five Dash 8-400s on order, through the Tanzanian government, of which three have already been delivered. Two A220-300s are in service with the carrier but the airline is to take another pair under an order with Airbus placed in October.

Source: FlightGlobal

A Dornier 228 has crashed in the Congolese city of Goma, with media reports indicating that 19 passengers and crew were killed, as well as 8-10 people on the ground. Images on social media show people scrambling around the smoldering wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed on Sunday (24 November) one minute into a service on the Goma-Beni route. Reports indicate that the aircraft was operated by Busy Bee Congo, a regional operator promoting itself as the “the specialists of Deep Congo.” Cirium Fleets data shows that prior to the Goma crash Busy Bee operated three Do 228s with an average age of 34.5 years. It is not clear which aircraft was involved in the accident. This is the carrier’s second hull loss in a four-year span. On 21 June 2016 another Busy Bee Do 228 (MSN 8069) made an emergency landing in Goma with the left main undercarriage retracted, resulting in the aircraft being written off. None of the 13 passengers or two crew aboard that aircraft were injured or killed.

Source: FlightGlobal

South African Airways is suspending its Hong Kong service for three weeks owing to losses it is incurring on the route, which have deepened as a result of the political unrest in the territory. The Star Alliance airline, which is already coping with network disruption from industrial action, says it will halt the Johannesburg-Hong Kong flights from 23 November.
This suspension will remain in effect until 14 December. The airline uses Airbus A340-300s for the four-times-weekly Hong Kong service. SAA says the losses on the route are "significant" and have been "exacerbated" by the months of political tension driven by protests against the government. “The decision to suspend services to Hong Kong is regrettable, but necessitated by the current downturn in business due to the developing challenges in the region," says chief commercial officer Philip Saunders. "By suspending these flights, we can concentrate on resuming more regional services at the earliest opportunity and make better use of all our resources.” Monthly passenger numbers at Hong Kong airport had shown increases from January to July, but suddenly fell by more than 12% in August to fewer than 6 million. This situation has deteriorated since, with a 13% fall in October. SAA points out that it one of several operators which have reduced capacity to Hong Kong.

Source: FlightGlobal