Ethiopian commands African skies

Ethiopian Airlines is on a rapid growth trajectory with a very clear vision towards 2025 — to add 120 international and 26 domestic destinations with a revenue of over $10 billion. Ali Mohammed, Area Manager – Gulf, Ethiopian Airlines, speaks to TravTalk.

TT Bureau

Q Give us an overview of the Ethiopian Airlines operation in the region and the world.

Ethiopian commands the lion’s share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 90 international destinations across five continents. Ethiopian operates ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft like Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Boeing 777-300ER with an average fleet age of five years. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft.

Q Will you be looking at any new route enhancements? What are the projections for 2017?

We are introducing seven new destinations in five months of the current fiscal year. February-June, Ethiopian will be connecting Conakry, Victoria Falls, Antananarivo, Oslo, Chengdu, Singapore and Jakarta.  While our travellers are enjoying our services to and from Conakry, the rest are in the pipeline per the plan. There are also code-share agreements with 25 airlines and more agreements in the pipeline.

Q What is the strategy for the GCC and especially the UAE to?

This region is very important to Ethiopian Airlines due to the trade ties between a rising Africa and the Middle East. In addition to business travellers, we are also expecting a huge leisure travel from/to the Middle East and Africa. Ethiopian Airlines currently flies to 10 destinations in the Middle East and connecting to more than 50 destinations in Africa. Specially Dubai since has emerged as a Global City and business hub of the Middle East and a major transport hub for passengers and cargo, with EXPO 2020 expected to bring a lot of opportunities for Ethiopian Airlines, currently from Dubai operating three daily passenger services using the ultra-modern Dreamliner and Airbus 350 and four cargo services a week. In order to strengthen Ethiopian’s market in these regions, we are working to boost in areas such as additional capacity, more frequencies and planning to expand to all Middle East cities.

Q Could you share about the latest training facilities offered by Ethiopian Airlines?

Ethiopian Aviation Academy (EEA) is the largest and the oldest in the continent established in 1956. The Academy has been revamped with $100 million and inaugurated last year. And it is heavily quipped itself with modern training aircraft, computer-based trainings, full flight simulators, and other ultra-modern facilities.

Q Do you have any targets for adding more guests from Ethiopia and other African cities?

Ethiopia is a land of diversity, rich with history and home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the uncommon combination of history, culture, nature and adventure makes Ethiopia a unique, must- visit destination for all travellers. Our effort is focused to increase tourist inflow to Ethiopia from every corner of the globe including the UAE. Thanks to our daily three flights from Dubai together with 19 domestic flights to the tourist attractions the number of tourist from the UAE is growing significantly. On the other hand, we have developed attractive packages and started selling from Ethiopia and all Africa points towards the UAE especially for those targeting business with leisure.

Q What are the main projects undertaken by Ethiopian Airlines for medical tourism?

In order to serve the growing medical travel market and to medically connect Africa to the rest of the world, Ethiopian Airlines has collaborated with hospitals to introduce a medical travel package to popular medical destination worldwide including the UAE. The package includes medical service, air travel and other ground handling services.