Addis Ababa Bole Airport

Etihad and Ethiopian plan services to Sao Paulo as Latin America-Asia market prepares to grow

Etihad Airways and Ethiopian Airlines intend to launch services to Sao Paulo, the economic heart of the rapidly growing Latin American market. While Sao Paulo is seeing increased capacity from a number of carriers, services from Etihad and Ethiopian are notable for the considerable transfer traffic they will have, including from Asia. Linking the high-growth economies of Asia with their Latin American counterparts has been alluring for many carriers, but distances and aircraft range limitations necessitate all services be one-stop.

Asia-Latin America's traditional, if small time, transfer hubs in North America and Europe have increasingly seen competition from the Middle East. That will be complemented in the next few years with hubs from Africa, first from East Africa and potentially later from West Africa.

Ethiopian selects initial 787 routes; confirms Guangzhou as first long-haul 787 destination

Ethiopian Airlines has decided on its first set of routes for its new Boeing 787 fleet, which will be placed into service in June. The carrier will initially deploy its first 787 on short/medium-haul flights to Dubai and Johannesburg from June before using the type on its first long-haul route, to Guangzhou, from August. Ethiopian, which will be the first airline to operate 787s in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, also plans to use its first batch of four 787s to serve Harare in Zimbabwe and Lusaka in Zambia.

CAPA initially reported in June that Ethiopian intended to make Guangzhou one of its first 787 destinations. In December, CAPA reported that Guangzhou remained high on its list of potential 787 routes but Ethiopian was also considering using 787s to serve Hong Kong and to open potential new destinations in Asia including Chongqing in China, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Emerging Africa-Asia market continues to grow with Korean Air service to Nairobi from Seoul

Connections between Africa and Asia will grow from 21-Jun-2012 with Korean Air's seasonal three-times weekly service between Seoul and Nairobi, Kenya. The hub-to-hub flight will link Korean Air's Asian-focused hub to the extensive and growing African hub of fellow SkyTeam carrier Kenya Airways, which plans to serve every African capital city within five years.

The Africa-Asia market will boom this decade, according to Airbus projections that see Africa having the highest percentage growth of traffic to or from Asia. Korean Air's route follows charter services to Nairobi as well as the signing in Dec-2011 of a trade agreement between South Korea and Kenya.

Korean Air will be the only Asian airline to serve East Africa, which geographically and combined with a partner's hub allows for greater traffic feed across Africa. Asian airlines have predominantly focused on serving South Africa while African carriers serve multiple Asian points.

Ethiopian Airlines aims to become the largest carrier in Africa by 2025

Ethiopian Airlines is one of the largest and most profitable carriers in Africa. It has 34 aircraft on order, including 10 B787-8s with a network of 56 international destinations and 17 codeshare partners.

It plans to join Star Alliance and in 2010 had an operating profit of ETB1.6 billion (USD92 million). Ethiopian has forged a successful path for its expansion plans and has come a long way since its beginnings as a joint venture between the Ethiopian Government and Trans World Airlines.

The carrier has set an ambitious, but realistic, 15-year strategic plan that includes becoming the single largest airline in Africa. It intends to generate revenues of ETB171 billion (USD10 billion) per year, acquire a fleet of 70 aircraft and improve its Skytrax customer service ranking from three to four stars.

If successful, the plan would make Ethiopian Airlines the largest and most profitable carrier in Africa.