...Ethiopian Airlines said that Lome-based ASKY Airlines, in which it now holds a 40% stake (ATW Daily News, Jan. 11, 2010), is preparing to start long-haul operations.
"This is the next step, routes to Europe and to Johannesburg," Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told ATW on the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Singapore last week. "Maybe [ASKY] will get a 767 for these new operations … We are very close to" formally announcing the launch of long-haul ASKY services. ASKY operates three 737-700s and one Bombardier Q400...
I guess once the long awaited 787s start joining the mainline ET fleet that will free up some 767 capacity for their partner.
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usflyer msp From United States of America, joined May 2000, 1785 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 1337 times:
Does anyone know if Asky is going to be a Star Alliance member along with ET?
I suspect that Asky won't be a member in their own right, but ET codeshares on most of their flights, so when the amended fare rules come out when ET joins it will be interesting to see whether those flight numbers will be in the "excluded" range or not. ( In similar vein I believe that most LH flights operated by Luxair are permitted on *A itineraries even though Luxair are not in *A). I guess we will find out in a few months.
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usflyer msp From United States of America, joined May 2000, 1785 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1178 times:
Quoting kiwiandrew (Reply 4): I suspect that Asky won't be a member in their own right, but ET codeshares on most of their flights, so when the amended fare rules come out when ET joins it will be interesting to see whether those flight numbers will be in the "excluded" range or not. ( In similar vein I believe that most LH flights operated by Luxair are permitted on *A itineraries even though Luxair are not in *A). I guess we will find out in a few months.
I guess we will. I think of Asky as sort of Ethiopian "franchise" kind of like the express carriers in the US or BA in South Africa. All of their flights operate as ET flights...you literally cannot buy a KP-coded ticket. So I don't know if that complicates things or makes things simpler.
kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 15 Reply 6, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1077 times:
Quoting usflyer msp (Reply 5): I guess we will. I think of Asky as sort of Ethiopian "franchise" kind of like the express carriers in the US or BA in South Africa. All of their flights operate as ET flights...you literally cannot buy a KP-coded ticket.
I kind of get it, but they have a completely different livery where franchise carriers usually are under the same livery as the "parent" or at least a closely related variation on it. I have to admit I did not realise that you can only purchase the flights under the codeshare and not under the operating number.
Let's start speculating about routes , I would have thought CDG is a given, I wonder if they might enter into some sort of co-operation agreement with SN for BRU flight. Do people think the long hauls would be from Lomé only?
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usflyer msp From United States of America, joined May 2000, 1785 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1013 times:
Quoting kiwiandrew (Reply 6): Let's start speculating about routes , I would have thought CDG is a given, I wonder if they might enter into some sort of co-operation agreement with SN for BRU flight. Do people think the long hauls would be from Lomé only?
If I had to guess, GVA for UN/NGO traffic, CDG or ORY (for some reason alot of west africans prefer ORY to CDG) and FCO since there are alot of West Africans in Italy and FCO is ET's largest European station. It they time it correctly they may be able to sell online connections to ARN and IAD via FCO.
ETinCaribe From Ethiopia, joined Dec 2009, 619 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 994 times:
Looks like ASKY is doing fine, if indeed they are very close to starting long haul.
Quoting kiwiandrew (Reply 6): Let's start speculating about routes , I would have thought CDG is a given, I wonder if they might enter into some sort of co-operation agreement with SN for BRU flight.
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Perhaps a codeshare with BMI mostly for regional traffic to Nigeria and Ghana.
What I would love to see, though may not happen in a short run, a ADD-LFW-GIG and a ADD-LFW-LAX (may require the 777L) - both of these routes would fit the not "overcrowded" routes that ET's CEO was referring to in the ATW piece.
LAX b/c any US West Coast to African West Coast requires a stop on the East Coast or Europe.
Quoting kiwiandrew (Reply 6): Do people think the long hauls would be from Lomé only?
That's a very interesting point. I doubt many countries will open up to ET's Trojan horse (the way they see it) with open arms. Some routes that could work:
DLA-CDG
ABJ-CDG
ACC-LHR
ETinCaribe From Ethiopia, joined Dec 2009, 619 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 991 times:
BTW, since ET will need all of its 763s for at least another 6+ months, ASKY may have to get a 767 in the open market. Are there that many that are idle? I would think they will also go with the 763ER.
kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 15 Reply 10, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 869 times:
Quoting ETinCaribe (Reply 9): BTW, since ET will need all of its 763s for at least another 6+ months
I am not sure that is necessarily a problem, the source says that they very close to formally announcing the launch of longhaul services, there is usually a significant lead time between the announcement and the commencement of a service even for established operators, for a carrier taking its first steps into the longhaul market I would not be surprised to see at least a 6-9 month lead in time.
Quoting dkny (Reply 1): When did ET's share go up from 25 to 40%?
By the looks of things it must have been in January last year
Quoting kiwiandrew (Thread starter): ...Ethiopian Airlines said that Lome-based ASKY Airlines, in which it now holds a 40% stake (ATW Daily News, Jan. 11, 2010)
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