Good day all

After a wonderful excursion across the border the airshow circus makes it way to Newcastle in KZN this weekend.

The Total Air Newcastle Airshow will take place on the 2nd of June 2018. The Airshow is the only Airshow in KZN.

The South African Airforce will be at the Total Air Newcastle Airshow in full force. The following commitments from SAAF are:

A109, Gripen, Silver Falcons, Oryx, Cassa

Golden Eagles parrachute jumpers.

The Gripen will be one of the higlights of the day.

Other acrobatic teams and individual performances will also be on display.

Just Amusements Merry Go Round will also be at the Total Airshow to entertain young and old.

The visitors can look forward to great exhibitors, foodstalls and a beer garden.

Schools are also invited to send a email if they would like their school te send 100 grade 11 maths and science learners to the Aviation Career morning. Send your schools name and contract details to info@champ.co.za

The organisers made a decsion to keep the ticket price for adults and high schools learners the same R50 and R30, primary & pre primary school learners pay only R10

Kroon Airfield will be hosting a Breakfast Fly-in on Saturday 2 June this will be their 9 annual Fly-in and the famous “Boerie Breakfasts” are bordering on legendary status.

The South African Airforce Museum will be very active on Saturday, they will be hosting yet another monthly Flying Training Day. The Windsock and many other food stalls will be open for business.

R2.4 billion SA Express fuel tender handed off to music promoter

A virtually unknown music promoter was given a three-year tender to supply SA Express with fuel worth R2.4 billion – but failed to deliver a single drop.

This is despite a deal already being in place to receive fuel from South African Airways, reports the Sunday Times.

The deal was said to be orchestrated by two SA Express executives without following any tender process or the knowledge of the airline’s board and management.

SA Express confirmed that its current fuel supply deal with SAA came at an average cost of R45 million a month, thus the dodgy EML Energy deal meant the already troubled airline paid roughly R800 million more than SAA over the three years.

The contract is now the subject of an investigation.

On Thursday (24 May), Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announced that South African Airways (SAA), SA Express and Mango are to be merged.

Speaking on the restructuring, he said that all three airlines currently fly to the same destinations, and that bringing the airlines together and rationalising their routes and important.

However, SA Express also received some particularly troubling news from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on the same day, when it announced that it had suspended SA Express’ Air Operator’s Certificate (AoC) as well as the airline’s Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) approvals.

In addition, the SACAA has also suspended the Certificates of Airworthiness of nine of the 21 aircraft being operated by the airline.

“This effectively means that SA Express can no longer continue to operate as an airline,” the SACAA said in a statement.

To be able to operate, SA Express will have to reapply and be issued with relevant approvals, an air operating certificate, and an approval for the aircraft maintenance organisation, and certificates of airworthiness for the grounded aircraft.

The decision to revoke the airline’s permits comes after the SACAA conducted an audit at the airline and its maintenance organisation in the past several days, which uncovered severe cases of non-compliance that pose serious safety risks.

Serge Dassault has died at his office in Paris aged 93.

Mr Dassault — who had headed a sprawling business empire that included a controlling stake in Dassault Aviation, maker of the Mirage, Rafale fighter jet — suffered a heart attack at the group’s Paris headquarters on Monday.

“The Dassault family is saddened to announce the death of Mr Serge Dassault, today, May 28, 2018, in the afternoon, at his office at the Champs-Élysées Roundabout Marcel-Dassault, following a heart attack at the age of 93,” said his family in a statement published on the website of French conservative newspaper Le Figaro, which is owned by the group.

French president Emmanuel Macron said after the news: “In Serge Dassault, France lost a man who devoted his life to developing a flagship of French industry.”

Mr Dassault was a conservative politician, former French senator and head of one of France’s great industrial families.

He was chief executive of the family holding company Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, which has a 62 per cent stake in Dassault Aviation and through that a 25 per cent stake in French defence electronics group Thales. The company also owns a winery, Château Dassault, and Artcurial, the auction house.

According to Le Figaro, leading up to his death “Serge Dassault had never thought of retiring and came to the office every day. In recent months, he had — a little — lightened his schedule.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, said: “With the disappearance of Serge Dassault, France loses a great industrialist, the world of aviation a pioneer, public opinion a great boss of the press, and I, more simply, a friend.”

Although undeniably successful in his own right, Mr Dassault was often compared to his powerful father, with whom he had a difficult relationship.

He was the son of the industrialist Marcel Bloch, who survived the Nazi concentration camps and changed his name to Dassault after the war. His father founded the aircraft company Dassault and helped it flourish thanks to his connections with the French state.

Dassault was the alias of Marcel’s brother when he was part of the French resistance.

Serge Dassault, as group patriarch, had courted controversy even as his expansion of his family’s business empire since taking the helm gave him influence in politics and the defence sector.

Last year, Mr Dassault was found guilty of fraud by a Paris court after failing to fully disclose his wealth to the tax authorities. He was fined €2m and handed a five-year ban from public office. He had been appealing against the decision.

He had previously been stripped of the mayorship of Corbeil-Essonne in 2009 after France’s highest administrative court found he had provided gifts to voters that could have affected the outcome of his election.

Mr Dassault had admitted using his immense fortune — he was the fifth richest man in France with a fortune of more than €20bn according to Challenges magazine — to help people and organisations in Corbeil-Essonne. However, he always denied that any of that help was given in return for electoral support.