$4bn ‘mega airport’ is planned for Addis Ababa

$4bn ‘mega airport’ is planned for Addis Ababa

Ethiopia is planning a $4bn mega airport in Addis Ababa that is intended to serve as many as 120m passengers annually when it opens in more than a decade’s time. This will put it on par with the new Istanbul Airport that is now under construction and, if it comes off, will offer one of Africa’s biggest duty free and travel retail opportunities further down the line.

The new airport will have four runways, several passenger terminals and an airport city on the outskirts of the capital. “The project reflects the scale of Ethiopia’s economic ambitions and will form an important component in developing the country’s tourism and light manufacturing sectors,” says Charles Pembroke an analyst at UK-based risk intelligence house PGI.

The scheme is helped by strong growth (and profits, see below) by national carrier Ethiopian Airlines (+17% seat growth in the 12 months to September) which has been a ‘good news’ story for Africa amid a difficult period for the continent, hit by multiple terrorist attacks and health scares. The government wants to transform Addis Ababa into an aviation hub for the African region in the way that Dubai and Istanbul have done in their regions through national carriers Emirates and Turkish Airlines respectively.

SECURING FINANCE

However Pembroke warns: “The project is at risk of delays due to challenges securing finance, while the huge costs entailed threaten to exacerbate foreign exchange shortages in the coming years.”

The planned airport will be one of Ethiopia’s most ambitious projects, surpassed only by the $4.8bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and demonstrates a commitment to state-led investment in huge infrastructure projects.

However, such schemes are putting enormous pressure on Ethiopia’s public finances with the IMF reporting Ethiopia’s public debt-to-GDP ratio at a high 50%. Access to finance and liquidity could therefore curtail big projects.

The new hub plans are in addition to an ongoing $350m expansion of Addis Ababa’s existing Bole International Airport which now ranks fourth in Africa, having overtaken Cape Town. That expansion is set to increase capacity from 6m passengers annually to 22m by 2018.
The existing Bole airport has overtaken Cape Town to become Africa's fourth busiest airport by seat capacities

The existing Bole airport has overtaken Cape Town to become Africa’s fourth busiest airport by seat capacities in the 12 months to September

TOURISM TARGETS

The two developments combined should transform Addis Ababa into one of the largest aviation hubs in Africa and will help Ethiopia to develop its tourism and light manufacturing sectors. In August the culture and tourism ministry announced plans to triple Ethiopia’s annual foreign visitors to 2.5m by 2020.

Tourism currently generates $2.9 bn for the economy and several international hotel chains have set up operations in the country in recent years. PGI also notes that global brands such as Unilever, General Electric and GlaxoSmithKline are all planning investments that will supply international markets from Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA TO OVERTAKE NAIROBI?

At a time when major African airlines, including South Africa Airlines (SAA) and Kenya Airways, are scaling back operations or facing financial difficulties, Ethiopian Airlines reported record profits of $175m in 2014/15.

Of the four African airlines that carry more than 5m passengers annually, Ethiopian Airlines has doubled its traffic since 2009 and increased the number of aircraft in its fleet, while the other three – SAA, Kenya Airways and Royal Air Maroc – have seen virtually no growth, says PGI.

Pembroke says: “With the arrival of the new airport, Ethiopian Airlines will be well positioned to consolidate its market share, benefiting from increased passenger traffic and air freight. This is likely to see Addis Ababa emerge as the principle aviation hub in East Africa, overtaking Nairobi over the next decade.”

Meet the female pilots who are taking over Zimbabwe and Ethiopia’s skies

On Nov. 18, the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bangkok, Thailand had something different to it: it was completely operated by a female crew, from ground operations all the way to the sky. Captain Amsale Gualu was assisted by a female co-pilot, Selam Tesfaye, and by an all-female cabin crew and female ground staff. This was a first in the history of the airline—and likely in that of African aviation.

“Here in the continent of Africa, we are lagging behind in women empowerment,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam wrote in a statement. He also noted that “women are the continent greatest untapped resource,” and that the decision to have a fully female-operated flight was primarily “an opportunity to inspire young African female students to believe in their dreams”, with an eye to the skill gap for aviation professionals.

Ethiopian Airlines says 31% of his personnel is female—though women are mostly employed as cabin crews, and technical positions remain predominantly male.

THANKSGIVING ታላቅ ሽያጭ ጠቋሚ

Two South African thieves caught wearing meat as dress

Embarrassment to the whole African nation two south African women caught red handed wearing a meat as under garment. They covered their crime with their working  green overall.
Too shame! 

Suspected mastermind of Paris massacre killed in terror raid

The man widely known as the suspected mastermind of last Friday's Paris attacks that killed 129 people, who bragged that he could always stay one step ahead of Western intelligence, was killed in the police raid north of Paris Wednesday.
Officials also confirmed that his cousin was killed, when she apparently blew herself up.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, had been linked to as many as four thwarted attacks since this spring, including the plot to kill passengers on a Paris-bound high-speed train in August, a plot that three young Americans helped foil. He was identified from skin samples after the Saint-Denis apartment raid, the French prosecutor's office reported.
Later Thursday, police in the eastern French city of Charleville-Mezieres blew open a door to enter a house during a new raid.
French police are looking for anything that could be linked to jihadi networks or illegal weapons. Police spokeswoman Mathilde Coulon would not give further details about the Thursday evening raid.
Abaaoud had claimed he successfully moved back and forth from Europe to Syria coordinating terror attacks, and narrowly escaped a January police raid in the Belgian city of Verviers. “Allah blinded their vision and I was able to leave... despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies," he told the ISIS magazine Dabiq.
Two counterterrorism sources tell Fox News his death marks a major advance for the investigation, but add they are operating on the premise that more senior suspects connected to the plot are still out there.
They describe Abaaoud as the “Mohammed Atta” of the Paris attacks, the “tactical guy” who identified and pulled together the operatives, in the same way the lead hijacker kept the 9/11 teams on course.
They emphasize that based on his skill set and experience, Abaaoud was not the strategic planner, in the same way Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was for the 9/11 attacks. The Paris massacre involved a plot or plots with multiple layers and upwards of 20 players, according to the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Texas Republican Michael McCaul.
Police say they launched Wednesday's operation after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and tipoffs suggesting that Abaaoud was holed up in the apartment. Investigators said it was still unclear how he died. Eight other people were arrested.
French authorities did not know he was in Europe before the massacre, France's interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday. He demanded Europe do everything in its power to "vanquish terrorism."
During the raid, according to one police official, an officer approached Abaaoud's cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, and asked her, "Where is your boyfriend?" She responded angrily: "He's not my boyfriend!" Then there was an explosion.
The bodies recovered in the raid were badly mangled, with a part of the woman's spine landing on a police car, complicating formal identification. Her possible role in the Paris massacre was unclear.
Abaaoud's death may provide some relief not only for Europeans, but also for his own family. “We are praying that Abdelhamid really is dead,” his sister, Yasmina, said last year, The New York Times reported. At the time, there was word he died fighting for ISIS, but it eventually emerged that he escaped Syria for Europe.
His own father, Omar, said the jihadi "dishonored" his family, the Times added.

Ethiopian Airlines, the leading, fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa, is pleased to announce that it will operate an All-Women Functioned Flight on November 19, 2015 on the Addis Ababa- Bangkok Route. It is the first time Ethiopian has operated such a flight in the 70 years of its service.

Ethiopian Airlines starts all women operated flight

Come and Watch All-Women Functioned Flight at Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines is pleased to announce that it will operate an All-Women Functioned Flight on November 19, 2015 on the Addis Ababa - Bangkok route.
This historic flight is aimed at crystalizing Ethiopian corporate conviction of “Women Empowerment for a Sustainable Growth” and it is the first of its kind in Ethiopian 70 years of service.
This historical flight will be operated by an All - Female crew led by Female Flight deck crew members and senior female executives onboard that flight. On ground Flight preparations will also be conducted by females only such as Cabin Operations, Airport Operations, Flight Dispatcher, Load Controller, Ramp Operations, On-board logistics, Aviation Safety and Security, Ticket Offices, Catering, Air Traffic Controllers as well as Global Call Center.
Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, remarked, “It is a great honor for us to have competent Women Aviation Professionals at Ethiopian in every aspect of the aviation field, which portrays Ethiopian as gender responsive organization that strives to pursue its underlying stance of being an equal opportunity employer. We are very proud of their achievements and contributions and it is our sincere belief that this will continue with an enhanced magnitude and passion to sustain Ethiopian on its fast growth trajectory.

Above all, this is an ample opportunity to inspire young African female students to believe in their dreams and embark to fill the skill gap for Aviation professionals. Women are the continent’s greatest untapped resources, and hereby fully dedicated to ensure the increase number of women in decision making positions on top of key operational areas by consistently grooming and mentoring successor female employees for top managerial, technical and operational positions. We invite the whole world to watch our all-female operated long haul flight to and from Bangkok.”
It is to recall that Ethiopian Airlines has created a more conducive situation for new mothers, by launching a Nursing Room equipped with modern amenities; comfortable reclining chairs, and refrigerators for the storage of breast milk. New electronic breast pumps are also distributed to new mothers. The fact that female employees comprise 30% of the total Ethiopian employee population signifies Ethiopian core value of equal opportunity employer.

U.S. 'reasonably certain' drone strike killed ISIS mouthpiece 'Jihadi John'

(CNN)He hid his face, but "Jihadi John" was the English-speaking voice of ISIS. His twisted, videotaped taunts and acts of terrible cruelty -- beheading hostages who had gone to the Middle East to report stories and help others -- symbolized the Islamist militant group's depravity and ruthlessness.

Not anymore, it appears.

U.S. Army Col. Steven Warren said Friday that a drone strike the previous night killed everyone in the targeted vehicle, with Mohammed Emwazi -- a.k.a. "Jihadi John" -- likely among them.

"We are reasonably certain that we killed the target that we intended to kill, which is Jihadi John," the Army spokesman said. "...This guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place."

The United States had been tracking Emwazi closely since Wednesday, and he was seen leaving a building and getting into a car Thursday, U.S. officials said. Three drones went after that vehicle, which also had another person inside, and two Hellfire missiles were fired.

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a Syrian activist group, said a missile hit Emwazi's car directly at 11:51 p.m. (4:51 p.m. ET) in front of an ISIS court in Raqqa. Citing a source in ISIS' de facto capital, the same group said that ISIS militants then ringed that vehicle and two others that had been struck to prevent anyone from getting closer.

Speaking hours later Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron cast the airstrike as an act of self-defense that, if it is confirmed Emwazi is dead, "will strike at the heart of ISIS."
"We always said we will do whatever is necessary to track down Emwazi and stop him taking the lives of others," he said.

But there is no joy or sense of victory from Louise Woodward-Styles. Her friend, British aid worker David Haines, was among the hostages whose beheading videos featured Emwazi. Others included American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid worker David Haines and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

'Jihadi John' victims: Journalists, aid workers making a difference

"There's just sadness," Woodward-Styles said. "It reminds you of the loss of Alan and just hoping it's closure for the family. But also I hope it reminds people that the issue of Syria is still ongoing, and not to forget the reasons why Alan was there."

As to Emwazi himself, Woodward-Styles added, "I don't think he deserves the attention that his apparent death is causing. I think he was a coward."