Malawi Airlines (3W, Lilongwe International) has leased in an additional Dash 8-400 to cover its Blantyre-Johannesburg O.R. Tambo route while runway resurfacing works are carried out at Blantyre Chileka International Airport.
Malawi's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said earlier this month that Chileka's main runway, the 2,325x30 metre 10/28, would be closed to all traffic from April 24 to July 23 owing to maintenance and rehabilitation works.
While 10/28 is out of service, the shorter runway 15/33 will be used. However, given its reduced length - 1,372 x 30 metres - Malawian Airlines will only be able to deploy its Q400s to Blantyre.
"For passengers originating from Lilongwe International, our B737-700 aircraft will, from April 24, 2019, start operating daily direct flights to Johannesburg," airline CEO Hailemelekot Mamo said in a statement. "Further, we are announcing the introduction of two more flights between Lilongwe and Blantyre bringing to four the number of flights between the two cities. The additional domestic flights will connect passengers arriving through Lilongwe but destined for Blantyre and vice versa."
Malawian Airlines leases its sole Q400 - ET-AQB (msn 4419) - from Ethiopian Airlines, which owns a 49% stake in the carrier. Mamo has confirmed to ch-aviation that the second aircraft has also come from Ethiopian in the form of the two-class ET-ARN (msn 4475).
As it stands, other operators that are also affected by 10/28's closure include Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, and South African Airways.
In January, Malawi's Ministry of Transport and Public Works Principal Secretary Francis Chinsinga said government would spend over MWK4 billion kwacha (USD5.48 million) to rehabilitate Chileka International Airport.
At the time, SAA suspended its flights to the city after the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) downgraded Chileka owing to deficient infrastructure namely inadequate firefighting equipment and a perimeter fence.
