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Flightpath.
[KENYA AIRWAYS / BORN FREE FOUNDATION]
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Kenya Airways has joined the war against wildlife poaching in a new partnership with the Born Free Foundation, an international charity. Under the deal, the two organisations will not only contribute towards anti-poaching campaigns and conservation of wildlife in Africa, but also partner to raise funds for such initiatives. Kenya Airways Group CEO, Titus Naikuni, said that the airline had entered the partnership to make a contribution towards conservation of African wildlife. “With the threat facing wildlife, which is our heritage in Africa, it is important for the private sector to get more involved in stopping the vice,” Naikuni added.
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KENYA AIRWAYS JOINS WAR AGAINST POACHING
The partnership comes in the wake of a surge in wildlife poaching across Africa with elephants and rhinos amongst the worst hit. Concern is growing amongst conservationists that the endangered African Elephant is currently grappling with what could be the worst crisis to ever hit them since 1989 when international commercial trade in ivory was prohibited. A report released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) indicated that elephant poaching levels were the worst in a decade and recorded ivory seizures are at their highest levels since 1989. In Kenya, which experts consider a key gateway for ivory smuggling rings leaving Africa, there have been
several incidents of ivory seizures and recovery of wildlife carcasses recently. Rhinos have also been hard hit by poaching and only five species remain, out of the original dozens. In South Africa, rhino poaching has been at an all-time high. In 2012, 668 rhinos were killed and a further 57 in January alone. The founder of the Born Free Foundation, Virginia McKenna, said that it requires joint efforts from different players to mount a successful war against wildlife poaching and other such vices. “The private sector in Africa should take a more critical role in preventing animal suffering and protecting the endangered species.” F.
South African Airways (SAA) and SA Express today announced a joint effort to train scores of young South Africans to become qualified commercial pilots. The two state-owned airlines will pool together their resources to create a jointly managed and resourced national pilot training programme, paying for the trainees’ classroom tuition, practical training, flying time, accommodation, travel and other related expenses. With a combined budget, SA Express and SAA want to ensure that trainees have access to highly qualified instructors, combining the very best of training methods, using purpose-built training facilities and state-of-the-art aircraft that boast some of the best technology available in present day aviation.
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS YOUTH TRAINING
SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe told attendants at this morning’s launch breakfast, “As the national carrier and good corporate citizen, SAA is aligned with South Africa’s employment equity objectives to accelerate skills development, extending these exciting programmes to our youth. This is an excellent opportunity for us to develop and empower our country’s youth.” SA Express CEO Inati Ntshanga added, “We spent time looking at how best we could contribute towards the task of training much needed pilots for South Africa, and for our continent. This programme is going to make a huge impact in addressing the serious shortage of skills that we are seeing in the South African aviation industry. “Today I commend the two state-owned airlines, SA Express
and SAA for demonstrating their catalytic ability in transforming an industry. It is of key importance that the aviation and aeronautical skills be encouraged as achievable career option to all sectors of our population. This should inspire and instil a sense of immense possibilities that a