Kenya

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.

Kenya Airways profit down, but moving ahead with plan to serve six new Chinese destinations

Kenya Airways remained profitable for the six months ended Sep-2011, despite high oil prices and the European economic climate, due to strong passenger demand and its continuing route expansion. The East African carrier plans to continue with its aggressive expansion plans, aiming to begin additional services to major trading partners China and India in the near future. Kenya Airways’ board of directors approved the carrier’s planned rights issue in the period, which will fund the planned route and fleet expansion. The board also approved the doubling of the carrier’s share capital to KES300 billion (USD3.0 billion) ahead of the cash call.

Kenya Airways has remained tight-lipped about its LCC subsidiary Jambo Jet’s progress, only revealing it will operate all, and possibly more, of its parent’s East African routes. If this is the case, Kenya and East Africa’s domestic and regional capacity share will be given a major shake-up as a LCC will become one of the region’s largest carriers.

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.

Europe-Africa routes heavily concentrated across a few points

Africa, once carved up by European powers, retains air links reminiscent of those historic ties. Even so, in too much of the continent, service remains spotty. The CAPA routes tool breaks African searches into four categories: North, South, East and West/Central. But in terms of seat offers available, the real division is between North Africa, those countries bordering the Mediterranean – and everything else. This examination will utilise this format, beginning with everything else.

Kenya Airways traffic up as route expansion takes shape

Kenya Airways has yet again proven itself as a leading African carrier with a nearly 30% traffic increase in the three months ended 30-Jun-2011 (1QFY2012). The carrier credits the boost in numbers to its aggressive expansion plans, which have been rolling out successfully across Africa and on intercontinental routes. On the back of this success, Kenya Airways is expanding its cargo operations and will take delivery of a new B747-400F in Oct-2011.