By Garth Calitz Bombardier’s flagship Global 8000 has secured approval to operate into London City Airport, adding one of Europe’s most challenging business aviation destinations to the aircraft’s growing list of capabilities and giving operators direct access to the heart of London. Bombardier has announced that the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has approved its Global 8000 business jet for operations at London City Airport (LCY), with the designation taking

By Garth Calitz Mozambique’s national airline has decided that if you are going to reinvent yourself, you might as well start with the name. Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, better known to the aviation world simply as LAM, has begun a new chapter under the rather more internationally familiar name Air Mozambique, coinciding with the arrival of two Embraer E190s and an increasingly determined effort to drag the airline back towards operational stability. The timing is hardly acci

By Garth Calitz South Africa’s aerospace industry has been handed an important reprieve in the latest round of US trade measures, with civil aircraft and aircraft parts and components specifically excluded from the 12.5% tariff imposed on South African exports. For an industry that has spent years building a reputation for producing capable, internationally competitive aircraft, the exemption is more than a footnote in a lengthy tariff schedule. It could make the difference b

By Garth Calitz Cape Town's newest aviation project is promising an opening, a longer runway and a growing hangar complex. There is just one small problem: according to SACAA, the aerodrome doesn't have its licence yet — and its formal Part 139 approval process has not even fully commenced. Atlantic Aerodrome is getting bigger, more ambitious and, apparently, rather more complicated. The new aviation development has been promoting an increasingly impressive proposition for th

By Garth Calitz There are aircraft programmes that arrive with grand promises, enormous launch orders and enough PowerPoint slides to fill a hangar. Then there is the Embraer E-Jet, which quietly went about its business, convinced airlines that a 70- to 150-seat jet could actually be useful, and has now reached the rather significant milestone of 2,000 deliveries. Embraer celebrated the delivery of its 2,000th E-Jet on September 2, 2026, with the milestone aircraft, an E195-E

By Garth Calitz The ZS-CAR story has taken another significant turn, with Transport Minister Barbara Creecy asking Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi to initiate a judicial inquest into the January 2020 crash of South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) Cessna Citation S550 ZS-CAR near George. The move comes after more than six years of controversy surrounding the accident, during which the crash has been investigated, re-investigated, disputed and subjected to increasing

By Garth Calitz Mozambique has overhauled the regulatory framework governing private aviation, introducing a new licensing system that removes the requirement for an Air Operator Certificate for private operators while simultaneously imposing tighter controls over aircraft, pilots, passengers, records and the way privately registered aircraft may be used. The new Regulation on the Licensing of Private Air Operators came into force in July, replacing the system that had been i

By Garth Calitz Cape Winelands Airport is being designed to do something rather more ambitious than simply provide another runway and terminal for the Western Cape. Buried within the airport’s long-term development plans is an idea that could prove considerably more important to aviation than the passenger terminal itself: a dedicated “sky corridor” designed to accommodate drones, VTOL aircraft and other emerging forms of aviation. The concept is still in its initial phase an

By Rob Russell Every time you pick up a newspaper or travel magazine, you read about the increase in international travel to and from SA, with many overseas and foreign airlines increasing their flights into South Africa. Mainly tourists and great for the economy, but also many business people. Your President is always, when he is not passing another BBBEE law or running to the courts to stop his impeachment, encouraging foreign business to invest in SA. Whilst many of these

By Garth Calitz South Africa’s airline industry is taking precautionary measures to protect flight operations at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport following an unplanned shutdown at the Natref refinery, highlighting once again the vulnerability of the country’s aviation fuel supply chain. There have been no widespread flight cancellations and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) says there is currently sufficient fuel available to maintain operations. However, a