AN ‘UNEXPECTED GUEST’ MAKES WAVES AT AVIADEV’S WELCOME AND NETWORKING EVENING
(Posted 24th April 2019)
The ExecuJet hangar at the Cape Town International Airport was the venue for AviaDevAfrica2019’s welcome and network event this evening and on arrival could the cat finally be let out of the bag – Bombardier was showcasing one of the Uganda Airlines CRJ900’s as part of their African tour across the continent.
The aircraft had arrived late afternoon in Cape Town, coming from Johannesburg and delegates of the conference had the opportunity to see the interior of the new plane, try one of its 12 Business Class seats and see the improved overhead lockers for hand baggage, which are the largest of its class for this size aircraft. Though no one from Uganda Airlines appears to be at the conference was it, courtesy of Bombardier of course, nevertheless a marketing coup of sorts.
Bombardier took pride to showcase their upgraded cabin interior – Uganda Airlines is the global launch airline for this new feature – and those with a keener than usual interest were also able to check out the cockpit, featuring the latest technology available on the market.
(Jon Howell, Managing Director of AviationDevelop.com seen here with this correspondent)
The aircraft will move from Cape Town to West Africa where an appearance in Accra / Ghana has been arranged before traversing other parts of the continent, eventually returning to its base in Entebbe / Uganda.
Meanwhile was the evening networking function an overwhelming success with literally all delegates and company representatives on site, though all eyes were initially on the Bombardier jet rather than on drink and food.
It was the time to renew acquaintances from past AviaDev conferences, meet new faces and generally – after the excitement over the aircraft had cooled down a little – talk aviation all evening.
Updated reports, on social media and via ATCNews will be filed throughout the AviaDevAfrica2019 event.
