ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Added New Gateway And Increased Frequencies To The US

Ethiopia’s flag carrier Ethiopian might have thrown a killer punch to competitors Kenya Airways and Rwandair by shuffling its services to the United States.

The carrier has added a new gateway to the US, upped frequencies and made changes to other gateways starting with the 2019 summer season.

The airlines says it is optimising its US network to give its clients better connectivity between the US Africa through shorter routes.

Addis has not secured US FAA Category One Certification and as such all flights inbound to the US go through an intermediate airport that is certified.

As a result of the changes, three new flights will be added to the existing daily service to Washington to bring the weekly number of departures to ten.

But unlike the existing services which route through Rome, the additional three flights will go through Abidjan. The Addis Ababa-Abidjan-Washington flights will depart Addis in the morning and arrive in DC in the evening.

The service to Chicago will grow from the current three weekly flights to five; while four of the planned new daily service to New York will go via Lomé to Newark and three via Abidjan to John F. Kennedy.

Ethiopian is also closing the service Los Angeles and replacing with a new service to Houston, Texas that will also operate three times a week via West Africa.

It is believed Ethiopian is trying to tap into the significant African community in Houston as well as the oil gas companies that are likely to be attracted to the only air service between Texas and Africa.

The U.S. is among our most important markets owing to the presence of a large African community and growing business and tourism ties with Africa says Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam.

Our new route structure with additional frequencies to multiple gateways and the opening of new route to Houston are aimed at responding to the market demand and availing best possible connectivity to over 60 African destinations, said Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam.

The restructuring of the US service is also likely to complicate business for Kenya Airways which has a direct tri-weekly service to JFK and Rwandair which also plans to mount flights to New York this year.

With the widest route network in Africa and multiple entry points in the US, Ethiopian is diluting the hub effect of its African competitors.

Ethiopian is now the largest operator out of Africa with more than 119 destinations. Asmara, Manchester, Moscow and Mogadishu are some of its recent additions.


Tourism Observer

ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines Heads To Eritrea After Opening The Door Of Peace

Long-time foes Eritrea and Ethiopia opened the door of peace on Tuesday after the first high-level visit from Asmara to Addis Ababa in nearly two decades, raising hopes for an end to one of Africa’s most intractable military stand-offs.

In a highly symbolic move, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopian Airlines would restart flights to Eritrea for the first time since 1998 when conflict erupted between the two nations over their disputed border, with diplomatic relations broken off ever since.

Tuesday’s visit comes after Abiy said this month he would honour all the terms of a peace deal, suggesting he might be ready to settle the border dispute, a move welcomed by Eritrea.

Today is a day of joy because two identical peoples and two generations have been separated throughout that period. But through struggles, we have opened the door of peace, said Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh.

Abiy said he hoped the dispute would end with this generation and reiterated his willingness to accept the transfer of territory.

There will be lands swapped between the two countries but that will not matter, there will not be a border between us as our relationship will strengthen, he said at a state dinner with the Eritrean representatives.

For Ethiopians who have longed for heading to Massawa in Eritrea for a stroll, I call on you to be ready as Ethiopian Airlines will start services there soon, he said, without giving further details.

He also told artists to get ready to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year in Eritrea’s Asmara.

The Ethiopian calendar, sets September 11 as the 1st day of the New Year, and large celebratuions are usually held around the country to mark this day, which also signifies the approximate end of the rainy season.

Earlier Olympic athletes, singers, actors and religious leaders joined Abiy at Addis Abiba airport to welcome Saleh and other top officials, who were presented with garlands of flowers.

The flags of both countries fluttered from lampposts in Addis Ababa along with a banner reading Welcome!

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had welcomed Ethiopia’s positive messages and decided to send the delegation that included his adviser Yemane Gebreab and his envoy to the African Union.

The relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea is about more than the border. When we make peace, it will benefit all of east Africa, Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesman Meles Alem said at the airport.

The border war killed some 80,000 people and the sides remain at odds over the status of the frontier town of Badme. The border remains militarised.

Abiy was at a rally hit by a grenade that killed two people on Saturday an attack that government affiliated media blamed on opponents of reforms announced since he took office in April, including airline and telecoms privatisations and the rapprochement with Eritrea.

Eritrea and Ethiopia broke off diplomatic relations two decades ago, although Asmara has a permanent delegation in Addis Ababa representing it at the African Union, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital.

No Eritrean representatives have been part of an official visit for talks with the Ethiopian government since at least 1998.


Tourism Observer

ZANZIBAR: Turkish Airlines Launches Istanbul - Kilimanjaro - Zanzibar Route

Turkish Airlines has launched flights to Zanzibar in anticipation of a flood of visitors during the festive season to the spice island of zanzibar.

The new service will route from Istanbul via Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar and back from there to Istanbul and operate initially three times a week using a Boeing B737-900NG.

Zanzibar has subsequently become Turkish Airlines' 50th African destination making it the leading non African airline offering flights into the continent. Other destinations served in East Africa are Entebbe, Kigali, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam while in the wider region does Turkish fly to Mogadishu, Asmara, Djibouti and Addis Ababa.

Zanzibar has in recent years seen several new five star resorts launched while long time crowd favourites like Blue Bay Hotels have upgraded and modernized to stay in the top game of attracting tourists from around the world.

The Turkish Airlines service via Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar is clearly geared towards capturing the global tourism traffic which in this case can offer travelers the experience of both safaris and a sun and sand vacation all wrapped into one.

ERITREA: Qatar Airways Nolonger Flying To Asmara

Qatar Airways has suspended their flights from Doha to Asmara, the Eritrean capital city without citing specific reasons for the halt of services.

While leaving the option of a return open has a statement of the airline suggested the flight suspension was due to 'operational reasons' which of course leaves the real reasons open to speculation.

Qatar Airways is one of the few international airlines which flew to Asmara, leaving less than a handful of others like FlyDubai, Turkish and Egypt Air connecting the Eritrean capital to the rest of the world.

Eritrea, a country with a huge tourism potential of beaches and historical sites combined, has struggled however to attract any meaningful number of tourists as a result of the country's political course and growing isolation.

Qatar Airways' country office in Asmara will remain open, according to information received, for the time being to assist travelers with confirmed bookings to either get a refund or else are helped with alternative travel arrangements, difficult as that may be.

Qatar Airways launched their twice a week service to Asmara only two years ago in December 2014 and was promptly embraced as the most fancied airline to travel with by Eritreans from among the international carriers flying to Eritrea.

Plane Carrying 140 Skidds Off Runway

When the bi-annual Bahrain Air Show opens its doors on the 21st of January will Qatar Airways once again be present in a big way, showcasing three of their state of the art aircraft for display.

It was just about a year ago when the airline as global launch customer entered the Airbus A350XWB into service with scheduled flights from Doha to Frankfurt. Qatar Airways now has seven of these state of the art aircraft in service, deployed on the routes to Frankfurt, Munich, Singapore and more recently Philadelphia. The world’s aviation media were invited for the global launch event a year ago and many will no doubt look forward to the Bahrain show which runs from the 21st to the 23rd of January at the Sakhir Air Base just outside the capital Manama.

Also on show will be Qatar Airways Airbus A380, featuring the airline’s acclaimed First Class cabin besides their award winning Business and Economy class sections. The third aircraft on display will this year come from the Qatar Airways Executive flight division, showcasing a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet.

Said the airline group’s CEO Mr. Akbar Al Baker, who during the launch event last week in Los Angeles on occasion of Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight to the City of Angels once gain robustly rebutted allegations by the US legacy carriers about unfair competition: ‘We look forward to welcoming guests and visitors on board our very latest aircraft at the Bahrain International Airshow, and celebrating the one year anniversary of A350 operations as the global launch customer.

This aircraft is the very latest in design, technology and comfort, and will make its first appearance at the air show this year, which will delight aviation enthusiasts, families and other visitors to the Middle East’s first major aviation event of 2016’.

Qatar Airways serves East African destinations out of Doha with Airbus A320 aircraft, flying to Entebbe, Kigali, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar while in the wider region also operating flights to Djibouti, Asmara and Addis Ababa.

In a related development will visitors to the Bahrain Air Show also no doubt look forward to the expected announcement by host country national airline Gulf Air, which has indicated that they will make public their future fleet renewal plans at the air show.

UAE: flydubai Launches Dubai Al Maktoum Operations

Offering six new routes and 63 weekly frequencies, flydubai’s new base at Dubai Al Maktoum was opened for business on 25 October.

flydubai launched its first flights from Dubai Al Maktoum (DWC) on 25 October.

Speaking about flydubai’s new operations, Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, said: “It is the same spirit that allowed us to develop significant potential for growth in the many markets within our geographic focus and now enables us to take advantage of the huge opportunity presented by DWC. We recognise the benefits and convenience that DWC offers, while at the same time continuing our operations at the world renowned Dubai International.

We are a young, dynamic airline and keen to increase opportunities for travel for our passengers across Dubai; DWC gives us that.”

On the same day flydubai’s inaugural flight landed in the capital city of Eritrea, Asmara (ASM). The Eritrean capital becomes the airline’s 13th destination in East Africa and the 18th destination flydubai has launched this year.

KENYA: Lufthansa’s Return To Nairobi, Bad Start

Lufthansa, which forced partner Brussels Airlines off the Nairobi route in exchange for flights to Accra / Ghana, is coming under severe and sustained critique for their apparent U-turn to scale back the number of services operated from the envisaged four to just three, in addition to which a smaller aircraft is now scheduled to operate the Frankfurt to Nairobi flights from mid October.

The news a few months ago that Brussels Airlines, which operated an Airbus A330-200 from Brussels via either Bujumbura or Kigali to Nairobi before returning to Brussels nonstop, had been pushed to accept a deal reportedly forced upon them by senior partner Lufthansa, to yield the route to Kenya to them, had caused some serious consternation among travelers and travel agents alike.

At the end of the 1990’s did Lufthansa ditch the Nairobi route under the flimsy pretext of not having a suitable aircraft after the sale of their Airbus A310 fleet, though insiders at the time speculated that the Africa management forced the decision over revenues as flights to destinations like Asmara and Addis Ababa continued uninterrupted. ‘They could not stand the competitive heat over low fares, that is the truth about what happened back then’ volunteered a Nairobi based travel agent before adding ‘We were happy with Brussels Airlines. They were punctual, offered good fares and good service. Many of us are sad that they were pushed out of Nairobi and the latest news about Lufthansa now scaling back flights from four to three is just a reminder how they abandoned Nairobi 15 years ago. In fact, if the rumours are true that they intend to use a small single aisle aircraft they are very mistaken if they think they will make an impact in Kenya. Airlines like Qatar or Etihad use the Airbus A320 but that is only for a flight of about 5 hours. Frankfurt to Nairobi is eight plus hours and squeezing people into a small aircraft will be self-defeating. The Gulf airlines, BA, KLM, Turkish will all have a field day to demolish Lufthansa’s sales efforts’.

Another senior travel agent rubbished the Lufthansa return altogether when commenting on the emerging news that the airline planned to scrap the Sunday flight and change the aircraft from a wide body to a Boeing B737-700: ‘For one an airline like Lufthansa is expected to operate daily flights and absorb the startup cost until the route is profitable. Secondly, reducing the already ridiculous four flights to three is doing their reputation a lot of extra damage. People are asking why do you come back with a very limited service? Thirdly, the distance is just too long to use a single aisle aircraft for the route, a very bad way to relaunch and re-enter Kenya. Fourthly, even when they eventually bring a wide body it is an old Airbus A340, in other words they offload their rubbish equipment on the Kenyan market. Why, and I asked you that before, did they not just let things be as they were. They codeshared with Swiss and Brussels Airlines and it worked well. This is just an ego trip for them it seems and the way they are starting up makes them a laughing stock. You wait and see how the likes of Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, KLM and BA will take them apart. Foolish, very foolish’.

Wait and see it for sure is as all eyes are on the inaugural flight and what whoever comes to Nairobi to represent Lufthansa on the occasion will have to say in mitigation of such poorly planned changes sprung on the Kenyan market at the very last moment.

‘We had high hopes for a big global airline like Lufthansa to come back to Nairobi’ said a regular source close to the Kenya Tourism Board before adding ‘Now it seems for whatever commercial reasons they have they are not delivering what they promised. That is a big letdown because the net effect, after Brussels Airlines goes away, is a loss of available seats, not an increase as we were told. This is very disappointing from a company like Lufthansa, very disappointing’.

No doubt will the airline now use spin doctors and local PR links to mitigate this rather unmitigated re-entry disaster and everyone will watch their next moves and the reasons they will give to the public.