Ethiopian Airlines’ $800million mark, poised for cargo freight

07 April, 2008

KAMPALA, UGANDA – With increased revenue coming out of the East and central Africa region traffic route, Ethiopian Airlines is now targeting to expand its cargo capacity and business.

Three years ago, the airline spelt out a five year strategic expansion plan and just mid way in the execution of the plan, Ethiopian Airlines has grown double its size with annual passenger figures growing from 1.1 million to 2.1 million and annual revenue rising from $350 million to $800 million.

Officials say the airline has had high demand for flights coming out of the Addis Ababa hub, demand which has been stifled by the capacity shortage and non-availability of seats to major destinations outside Addis Ababa.

“Hence our market share is on the low side and this situation will for sure improve with the arrival of the new 787B aircraft early next year,” said Ms Regassa Ermejachew, Ethiopian Airlines area manager-Uganda.

The airline will early next year add the monstrous Boeing 787 Dreamliner to their fleet, becoming the first airline in Africa and only the second in the world to order for the Dreamliner after Nippon Airways from Japan. The arrival of the Dreamliner has been delayed by the manufacturers who have repeatedly been postponing its arrival.

Two years ago, Ethiopian commissioned a state of the art terminal with a 250,000 tons cargo capacity per annum following increased demand for cargo carriers especially for flower exporters in the region.

Ethiopian’s recent overall performance in the East African region is an impressive 37% increase in revenue and a 31% increase in traffic uplift. Regassa however declined to disclose the monetary equivalent of the airlines rise.

The airline, one of the oldest in Africa also recently ventured into the lucrative Southern Sudan region but through its Addis hub a route which management say has steadily grown.

One of the challenges the airline faced a few years ago was the “political play” by other players in the market that reportedly blocked the entrance of the Ethiopian into some very juicy routes. This denied Ethiopian chance to venture into the lucrative Nairobi-Entebbe route and the Entebbe-Juba route that have been a dominance of Kenya airways and some local Ugandan small carriers respectively.