Ethiopian buying stakes in African airlines

Being among the fastest growing airlines, Ethiopian Airlines has become one of the continent’s leading carriers. As a result, it has in the past few years bought stakes in various African airlines. Speaking to The Ethiopian Herald about the strategic reason behind this move, Henok Tafesse, Deputy CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group says the move aims at increasing Africa’s air-connectivity option, and intensifying Inter-Africa trade, investment and tourism whilst giving a competitive edge to the Ethiopian. In terms of air-connectivity, Henok says, the demand for it in the continent is huge given its vast landmass. He also talks about having a national carrier that facilitates effective air connectivity within Africa, which is important to the company, considering that today it has close to 60 African destinations. In addition to the flight destinations, the Airline has commercial cooperation and strategic partnership with many African carriers such as Togo (8 years now), and Malawian Airlines. “These are the African airlines that Ethiopian manages and that has share in.” The other element mentioned by Henok is Africa's aviation market, which is currently skewed in favor to non-African airlines, given that various African carriers are struggling with bankruptcy while some of them are even being liquidated. Read More...