Ethiopian Airlines flies directly to Chicago, Washington, New York, and Los Angeles and Toronto. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Ethiopian Airlines last week announced that it has started
flying five times a week to Buenos Aires, Argentina as African air
passenger growth rose by 7.5 per cent in 2017 leading to airlines
competing in offering consumers convenient flights to their
destinations.
According to data released last month by
The International Air Transport Association, African air travel
capacity rose at less than half the rate of demand (3.6 per cent), and
load factor increased 2.5 per cent to 70.3 per cent compared to 2017.
In this, Ethiopian Airlines is at the moment executing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025.
Therefore, it is positioning itself as the carrier of choice for passengers plying the Americas.
“We are glad to add Buenos Aires, our sixth gateway to the
Americas, to our extensive global network. Our new flight to Buenos
Aires will provide efficient connections to our network in Asia, the
Middle East, and Africa, including Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo,
Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Beirut, Nairobi, and Cairo,” said Mr Tewolde
GebreMariam, Group CEO in a statement on its website.
It
intends to have seven business centres which will include regional
services, an aviation academy, in-flight catering, ground,
international, and maintenance as well as cargo services to cater to the
needs of their clients.
Currently, it flies directly to Chicago, Washington, New York, and Los Angeles in the United States and Toronto, Canada.
For
airlines, launching direct flights saves them on fuel costs which in
turn they are able to either reduce their ticket prices or price them
competitively in order to attract customers.
Fuel
accounts for about 36 per cent of an airline’s operational costs, thus
airlines place an extra charge in their tickets in a bid to reimburse
for the fuel prices putting off customers, according to research
conducted by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) on the taxes and
charges in African aviation.
“Airlines will frequently
put fuel surcharge on tickets to compensate for increasing fuel prices.
It is estimated that most airlines would recover about 40 per cent to 70
per cent of their additional fuel costs through surcharges.
This, unfortunately, puts ticket prices way beyond the means of the majority of passengers.
“Additionally,
fuel prices at some stations in Africa are over twice the world average
and have a very adverse impact on the competitiveness of African
airlines,” reported AFRAA.
In the case of Kenya Airways, for instance, it is set to launch direct flights to New York, US in October this year.
Travelling
from Nairobi to the US is 6,381 nautical miles on a direct flight while
on a connecting flight, at the moment connect via Europe, (Nairobi to
Europe is 3,693 nautical miles) and Europe to the US is 3,443 nautical
miles, therefore, the distance adds up to 7,136 nautical miles.
This will reduce the miles travelled to the US, therefore saving on and reducing air tickets.
“For
KQ, its fares will be cheaper because they do not have to deal with the
heavy navigational charges of the European Union. On an impact basis,
this will open up the freight market between Africa and the USA, which
is far cheaper than Europe. It will also bring tourism to this side of
Africa. Although the main impact will be in terms of freight since the
far west will give Europe a run for their money,” said Francis Muyodi,
airline cargo consultant.
Indeed, connecting via the UK for instance, freight is charged per kilogramme at a tax rate of £0.01.
Transfer
of freight from one aircraft to another is also charged, therefore, the
impact could be significant on total trade flows, with one cargo
aircraft from Kenya to the US capable of transporting 90,000 to 100,000
tonnes daily.
- African Laughter
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