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By Groum Abate - Capital
23 January 2007
Ethiopian Airlines is going to sign a partnership agreement with Lufthansa next week. The long awaited partnership on code sharing procedures has been negotiated by the two parties for a long time.
If the negotiations bear fruit, the two airlines would co-operate in many
areas of the airline business, which they expect will make them more competitive.
As part of a bilateral cooperation, Lufthansa and Ethiopian Airlines will
operate code share flights on several routes and also recognize the respective
partner's frequent flyer programme.
According to their agreement the two airlines would exchange passengers on
off routes.
Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise Chief Executive Officer Girma Wake, recently said that the airline would be privatized at some point and this partnership according to observers is a step forward.
Emirates and Gulf Air are becoming rivals for Ethiopian Airlines, sharing its West African business more, a route that used to be an Ethiopian Airlines monopoly.
Emirates and Gulf Air have an advantage over Ethiopian with their easy access
to cheap fuel. Ethiopian however, buys fuel with hard earned foreign currency
and could not compete with the two airlines.
Emirates and Gulf Air are also hiring Ethiopian Airlines staff for much better
salaries.
Lufthansa had a gross revenue of 18 billion Euros in the year 2005, and transported
51.3 million passengers. It earned an operating profit of 577 million euros
in the year 2005.
Lufthansa is bilaterally co-operating with a range of quality airlines. According
to the official website of Lufthansa, the cooperation enables the airline
to offer their customers a maximum number and range of flights within the
Lufthansa airline system.
Ethiopian Airlines has also appointed in May 2006, AVIAREPS to represent it in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile and Peru. The enterprise already relies on the airline representation specialist to serve the Belgian and Austrian market.
According to the financial report of Ethiopian Airlines, the airline secured net profit of 277 million birr in the year 2003, from a net profit of 79 million birr in the year 2002. For the period June to December 2005, Ethiopian recorded a 208 million birr profit before tax, registering a 19.9% increase in revenue at a time when many airlines around the world were filing for bankruptcy. The operating cost of the airline for the same period has shown an increase of 21.9% or 2.4 billion birr.
Ethiopian Airlines has become Africa’s biggest airline 60 years after its foundation and it is still expanding. With the construction of a new Cargo Terminal and the sales contract for ten Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, which will be delivered from 2008 on, the carrier is getting prepared for a splendid future in air transport services both for passengers and for cargo. The African airline is the national flag carrier of Ethiopia and offers flights to Europe, America, Middle East and Asia.
Ethiopian Airlines operates a modern fleet of six Boeing 767-300 for long-haul flights, nine Boeing 737’s for medium-range flights and several Fokkers for the domestic routes. With the order for the ultramodern Boeing 787 jetliner the airline will become first operator in Africa of the new jet.