Kinshasa picked by Ethiopian to host its regional hub

[kilobravo243]

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise said it will locate its fourth hub in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Africa’s No. 2 carrier seeks to tap Chinese economic links and fill long-haul flights to destinations such as Brazil.

Ethiopian Airlines is negotiating with the Congolese government and could agree terms for a startup carrier based in Kinshasa later this year, Chief Executive Officer Tewolde GebreMariam said today in an interview in London.

The DRC’s population of more than 65 million people, coupled with a more benign political situation and natural resources estimated to be worth $17 trillion make the country the ideal location for a central African base, according to the CEO. In addition to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian has also built bases in Togo in the west and Malawi in the south as it vies with South African Airways and Kenya Airways Ltd. to build a pan-African network.

Full story here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-0 ... emand.html

[Flanker2]

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry...

One thing is certain: we have this name pop-up again in an Africa subject: China.
China China China. I hope that if I repeat it enough, it starts to make sense...

I wil add Japan Japan Japan. Japanese will not fly an African carrier unless it's the last flight out of Da Nang.

[RoMax]

I also put the link in the SN topic (as one of the discussions was regarding Africa-Asia traffic), but it was not picked up in the discussion.

I also read today an article about Ethiopian Airlines and why they think the African LCC adventure of the easyJet founder Stelios will not work in Africa (I know it's another subject, but not worth a seperate topic, so I place it here).
http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/ ... dream.html

[Inquirer]

I must admit I've never ever read about their 2 other bases (Togo and Malawi), so I wonder just what they do from there? Many great plans in Africa, but so few if them ever materialise: will this one be any different?

[RoMax]

I must admit I've never ever read about their 2 other bases (Togo and Malawi), so I wonder just what they do from there? Many great plans in Africa, but so few if them ever materialise: will this one be any different?

In Togo they have ASKY Airlines (they own a 40% share) operating a fleet of 3 B737-700's and 4 Q400's (leased from ET) on a relative extensive regional network of over 20 routes. Ethiopian Airlines itself operates to/from Lomé except for ADD also Dakar, Rio and Sao Paulo. Rio will end so that will become a ADD-Lomé-Sao Paulo-Lomé-ADD route instead.

Regarding Malawi, they own a 49% share in the new start-up Malawi Airlines (the government owns 20% and the rest owned by other Malawian investors). They operate a 737-800 and a Q400 on routes to for example Angola, South Africa, Tanzania,...

These regional networks feed the ET flights towards ADD from which ET serves quite a big range of intercontinental flights. Mainly the flights to Asia (China) highly benefit from these regional hubs in Africa. But transfer traffic of course is not the only reason for these local start ups like Malawi Airlines (replacing Air Malawi) and Asky Airlines, but it is one of the main reasons why ET invests in them.