Business
Ethiopian Air Selects Congo as theFourth Hub to Tap into China Demand
Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise said it will place its fourth hub in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Africa’s No. 2 carrier seeks to tap into the Chinese economic links and fill long-haul flights to destinations such as Brazil. Currently, Ethiopian Airlines is negotiating with the Congolese government and could reach an agreement for start-up carrier based in Kinshasa later this year; Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO, said today in an interview in London.
The DRC’s population of more than 65 million people, coupled with a more benign political situation and natural resources, estimated to be worth $17 trillion, make the country the ideal location for a central African base, according to the CEO. In addition to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian has also built bases in Togo (in the west), and Malawi (in the south) as it vies with South African Airways and Kenya Airways Ltd. to build a pan-African network.
“The Congo is a large country with a large market and while peace has been a problem, there seems to be a better situation developing,” GebreMariam said. He went on to add, “We think it’s going to attract a lot of foreign direct investment, and it’s right in the middle of central Africa.”
While the CEO expects to face competition from African peers, as well as outside operators including Brussels Airlines, which has a subsidiary in the Congo, those carriers don’t have such good connectivity, he said.
Rio, Australia
Ethiopian Airlines offers 28 flights a week from China, serving Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, with its secondary-hub model providing dozens of additional links to African cities that carriers from the Asian nation have no plans to directly serve.
For long-haul flights the bases will also allow for “dual hubbing,” with services from Addis Ababa to New York via Togo, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro via Kinshasa and even Australia via Malawi, GebreMariam said. In addition, the Congo hub would also serve the mostly oil-rich nations of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community or Cemac — which inludes neighboring Republic of Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea — he said.
