Welcome to the East Africa Aviation thread - 2023 edition.

Please continue to post your news and discussions below.

Link to the locked 2022 edition:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1468583

Replies to :

Eastafspot

Oups in deed Kenya Airways still serving Lusaka

B747-437B

About Blantrye NBO operated by KQ,i though that route was cut before the covid

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Openings of Agler-Addis Ababa, Algiers-Libreville and Algiers-Johannesburg routes from March 26 / 29, 2023. https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230102-ahns23

ADD-ALG with an A330-200. They are super ambitious, it's not going to be easy to compete with Ethiopian from Europe. Ethiopian serving almost all countries in Europe served by Air Algérie (except Spain and Portugal are not served by ET).

Air Algérie does not serve the USA, a big market for Ethiopia. Only Canada, but this is Montreal

Posted on 5 Dec 2022 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1468583&p=23566059&hilit=air+algerie#p23566059

Air Algérie will open routes to Ethiopia and South Africa to increase its presence in sub-Saharan Africa. AH has been planning to open new routes in Africa for several years

https://djalia--dz-com.translate.goog/f ... r_pto=wapp

Before covid, AH was planning flights to Douala and Libreville (I don't know if they were operated) https://www-agenceecofin-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp

Noted that with the closure of flights between Algeria and Morocco since 2021, a lot of pax go through Paris to flu between Casablanca & Algiers for example:( https://www-france24-com.translate.goog ... r_pto=wapp None of the West African airlines serve both Morocco and Algeria. I m takling about Air Cote d'Ivoire, Air Senegal or Mauritania Airlines. Remains Tunisair and Egyptair for Africa

It would indeed be a good thing for AH to add more routes in Africa. What Royal Air Maroc and Egyptair are doing well in Africa shows that it is possible to have a competitive network when you biggest competitors are majors such as Air France, KLM, Turkish Airlines Emirates or Qatar Airways.

Air Algérie has a very good network. Many secondary cities served in France, Spain or Italy. A good network in the Middle East and service to China and Canada. The USA is in project: https://observalgerie-com.translate.goo ... r_pto=wapp

The Algeria airport which has been modernized with the addition of a new terminal can absorb this traffic. Now, unlike RAM or Egyptair, which have strong point-to-point competition, which forced them to develop an Africa-rest of the world hub. Air Algérie is not in this case. Even if more and more companies are landing in Algeria, there are still many restrictions. Air Algérie is sheltered.

AH should have to improve his product. The Algerians call it Air Couscous or so when an AH plane arrives at an airport. They say the couscous steamer has just arrived. not a nice nickname

The Algerian influence in Africa is weak and very far from that of Morocco or Egypt. Tunisair and Tunisia are in the same situation as Algeria and AH. Even if Tunisair will serve Douala in 2023/2024 https://ecomatin-net.translate.goog/tra ... r_pto=wapp

Below the airport of Algiers and the Air Algérie network

@B747-437B

Kenya Airways will launch Mombasa-Dubai direct flights from 15DEC22.

Any idea how the route is performing so far?

eastafspot wrote:

@B747-437B

Kenya Airways will launch Mombasa-Dubai direct flights from 15DEC22.

Any idea how the route is performing so far?

I haven't spoken to the KQ guys since the route launched, sorry. Pre-sales were fairly positive though.

Kenya Airways is returning to daily night flght this summer. Depart Nairobi at 12:05 a.m., arrival at Kigali at 12:50 a.m. Departure from Kigali at 03:40 and arrival at Nairobi at 06:10. Strange hours? No way.

The NBO KGL flight matches perfectly with the arrivals of Air France flights from CDG, KLM from Amsterdam and British Airways from London Hetahrow. Air France, KLM and British Airways operate the NBO-KGL line in code share with Kenya Airways. And for the return arrival at NBO at 06:10 enables connections to London Heathrow and Amsterdam with Kenya Airways. In addition, there are also possible connections to West and Southern Africa.

The other flight of the day is, depending on the day of the week, operated in the morning, day or evening, in particular to pick up or transfer passengers on the New York-Nairobi-New York flight or on the NBO-CDG (AF and KQ) , NBO-AMS (KLM), NBO-Mumbai, NBO-Bangkok and NBO-LHR (British Airways)

So there will be 2 flights a day with KQ next summer. Same capacity as before Covid for KQ knowing that Jambojet (the LCC of Kenya Airways) operated a daily flight in the middle of the day.

5 flights per day between NBO and KGL if we add RwandAir


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Major developments that shaped Rwanda’s aviation industry https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/3979 ... n-industry

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A new year for RwandAir. A complicated end of 2022 with a Dash (running off the runway at Kamembe) and two inactive CRJs, which created a mess in planning with flight cancellations at the worst time. The 2 Dash are now active and the CRJ stored in Zimbabwe is flying again.

The airlines now seems to be able to operate all its flgihts, but it is understaffed like most airlines. Like many African companies, local labor cannot fill the gap. It therefore hires non-African pilots, often Europeans, Americans or Indians who are necessarily more demanding in terms of salaries. Before the covid, RwandAir could offer "attractive salaries", but now the airline is less attractive. RwandAir had to proceed with an austerity cure.

Doha (3 to 6 flights per week) and Dubai (7 to 11 flights per week) will not see the flight increase. Paris-Kigali is on standby and RwandAir charter flights scheduled for December 2022 and January 2023 between Tel Aviv and Kigali have been cancelled**. Johannesburg, Lusaka, Harare and Cape Town will again be increased after seen their flight numbers reduced in December 2022.

It is probly for this reason that the A330 which was supposed to join RwandAir at the end of 2022 is still in Châteauroux. It even lost his Rwandan registration 9XR-WX, replacing by an Irish registration EI-HJJ. No possible since 2 weeks to find information on this reg. I am waiting to see the last update of the Irish Aircraft registration database which should take place this week.

https://www.iaa.ie/commercial-aviation/ ... -changes-1

I promised the photographer not to post the photo on the forum, so I put the link

Airbus A332 - Rwandair "EI-HJJ" / 0398

https://www.flickr.com/photos/330_340/5 ... 5S-2nDQHHF


** An Israeli tourist on board a RwandAir 737 on one of the charter flights operated on behalf of Israeli Tour Operators:

"Rwanda Lines planes in the sky over Tel Aviv on the way to a safari through the national parks of Tanzania 4-16-2022 3-14-06 PM"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127437007 ... 302556323/

RwandAir's A330-300 in Tel Aviv in September 2022: https://scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=63B988F8

Uganda told by UK CAA it can fly to London but not nonstop from EBB until the airport passes an audit

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... k-services

B747-437B wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

@B747-437B

Kenya Airways will launch Mombasa-Dubai direct flights from 15DEC22.

Any idea how the route is performing so far?

I haven't spoken to the KQ guys since the route launched, sorry. Pre-sales were fairly positive though.

Thanks, festive season may play a role.

rukundo wrote:

The airlines now seems to be able to operate all its flgihts, but it is understaffed like most airlines. Like many African companies, local labor cannot fill the gap. It therefore hires non-African pilots, often Europeans, Americans or Indians who are necessarily more demanding in terms of salaries. Before the covid, RwandAir could offer "attractive salaries", but now the airline is less attractive. RwandAir had to proceed with an austerity cure.

A friend of mine just accepted an offer from Rwandair. He was an FO with another (African) airline on the Dash8 with 4000+ hours on type and Rwandair offered him a left seat position which was obviously quite attractive to him.

Denver Airport is in talks with 2 African companies for the launch of a line between Colorado and Africa. The 2 companies are Egyptair and Ethiopian Airlines. No surprise that it is 2 Star Alliance companies, Denver being a United Airlines hub.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news...light.html

Of course there is the question about the demand and the profitability of routes between Africa and South America. Some American states host a large African diaspora, but it is very dispersed and not necessarily found in large cities. This is the case in California and Texas. 2 states that were served by Ethiopian, but the company has closed its routes to Los Angeles and Houston.


Some American states host a large African diaspora, but it is very dispersed and not necessarily found in large cities. This is the case in California and Texas. 2 states that were served by Ethiopian, but the company has closed its lines to Los Angeles and Houston.

The situation is not the same on the East Coast

Washington (Royal Air Maroc, United Airlines to Accra, Ethiopian Airlines and Egytpair)
New York (Royal Air Maroc, Delta Airlines on Accra Dakar and Lagos, Air Senegal, Ethiopian Airlines, United Airlines to Johannesburg and Cape Town Kenya Airways and Egytpair are very well served. These are the 2 American cities with the largest African diaspora.


There is also a large presence of the African diaspora in the Midwest or in Georgia, but only Chicago is served by Ethiopian and at ATL Delta flies to South Africa and Nigeria. And I don't think Kenya Airways will take the risk of going to Detroit, Atlanta or Minneapolis (SKyTeam hubs). Royal Air Maroc serves Miami & Montreal, while Ethiopian serves Toronto.

However Denver is not very bad situated if you fly between the West Coast (California hosts the larges African diaspora in USA after Texas) & or Central America & Africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_i ... ted_States

Article from Jeune Afrique in 2017, talking about the Africa-North America market (therefore including Central America and Canada).

3,712,343 passengers flew between Africa and North America in 2017

Transits on Paris Cdg represent approximately 11% of traffic with 431,971 passengers (note that AF serves Denver in summer now). If anyone has the figures for Istanbul, Amsterdam, and Brussels that would be interesting.

Cairo-New York (148,097 passengers)
Casablanca-Montreal (136,394 passengers)
Addis Ababa-Washington (112,053 passengers).
Casablanca-New York (106,254 passengers)

Article reserved for subscribers, but free reader https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp

Here is the problem that we talked. Someone has opened a thread about the start of the Ethiopian Airlines service to Atlanta without to know that we have a dedicated sub forum for East African Avition

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1480565&p=23622447&hilit=east+african#p23622447

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The A330 9XR-WX planned for RwandAir is now owned by Rise Aviation (EI-HJJ).

EI-HJJ AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-243 LAND AEROPLANE 2022-12-21 233000 2011 1224 ROLLS-ROYCE PLC RB211 TRENT 772B-60 2 RISE AVIATION 3 (IRELAND) LIMITED UNIT J, BLOCK 1, SHANNON BUSINESS PARK, SHANNON, CO. CLARE,

https://www.iaa.ie/commercial-aviation/ ... page/docs/ default-source/publications/aircraft-registration/31-december-2022


However according to ATDB, the aircraft could be delivered next month.

rukundo wrote:

Here is the problem that we talked. Someone has opened a thread about the start of the Ethiopian Airlines service to Atlanta without to know that we have a dedicated sub forum for East African Avition

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1480565&p=23622447&hilit=east+african#p23622447

The next destination for Ethiopian in USA will be Altanta from May 2023 which is SkyTeam hub. The airline plans to add code share with Delta. Tewolde Gebremariam the former Ethiopian Airlines CEO is now Senior Strategic Advisor at Delta Airlines

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tewolde-geb ... me-profile

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... codeshare/

Atlanta's top 15 African markets

Booking data shows Atlanta's 15 most popular East, Central, and Southern African markets in 2019, as summarized below. Most that Ethiopian will target are small:

Lagos: 30,000 (helped by Delta's non-stop)
Johannesburg: 28,000 (helped by Delta)
Nairobi: 21,000
Addis Ababa: 15,000
Cape Town 9,000 (Delta launched Cape Town in 2022)
Accra: 11,000
Cape Town: 10,000
Abuja: 7,000
Entebbe: 6,000
Dar es Salaam: 3,000
Kinshasa: 2,000
Douala: 2,000
Blantyre: 2,000
Kilimanjaro: 2,000

https://simpleflying.com/ethiopian-airl ... s-atlanta/

Update 23h48: the aircraft has just landed safely at Heathrow. However it'seems that a fire truck has followed the aircraft.

The probable cause if the return to LHR

Flight Emergency
@FlightEmergency
RwandAir flight WB711 is currently holding after stopping it’s climb out of Heathrow due to an engine indicator light triggering on take off, aircraft will head back to Heathrow when under max landing weight
11:29 PM · Jan 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/FlightEmergency/sta ... 8440492040



For some unknown reason, the A330 of RwandAir which operates the London Heathrow Kigali link has been doing cricles over London since 1h30

The flight is currently the most followed on FR24

https://www.flightradar24.com/RWD711/2edfbd20

This screen capture was made over 30 min ago.

Saudia will serve Dar Es Salaam from Jeddah from March 26, 2023, 4 times a week by A320. https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230124-svdar

It will be interesting if the company will stop. The line to Entebbe was operated by A330 and departing from Riyadh with no possibility of connecting to SV's long haul. That said, with better schedules, a more suitable aircraft and flights from JED instead of RUH, flights to EBB could be still there. Maybe the airline will make a return via Dar Es Salaam or Kigali

I say this because Saudia Airlines has finally activated its code share a few weeks ago on Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Kigali (Rwanda) and Bujumbura (Burundi) departing flights from Nairobi operated by Kenya Airways. In addition FlyNas has its code share on Addis Ababa Entebbe and RwandAir has code share on Saudi Arabia departing from Doha on all daily flights to Damman and Ryadh.

The traffic between Saudi Arabia and these countries is mainly workers living in Saudi Arabia (not necessarily in good conditions but this is not the place to talk about it). The Saudis are also starting to be active in this region, but the country wants to be a hub that will overtake Doha or Dubai. SV having a good network in Europe, North America and India. The big markets of East African countries.

The proximity of Jeddah to big cities in East Africa is also an advantage (a little less than 3130 km for the furthest = DAR)

From a post in August 2022 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1468583&p=23431077&hilit=saudia+entebbe#p23431077

Almost full flight for the 1st flight on an A330-300. SV announce the first flight via a Facebook post less than 2 weeks ago


Saudi Airlines launches direct flights to Uganda

Saudi Arabian carrier, Saudi Airlines, on Wednesday commenced direct flights from Riyadh to Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport.

The inaugural flight arrived in Entebbe at 7am with about 300 passengers aboard an Airbus 330-300, according to the airline, and was welcomed with a traditional gun salute.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... da-3703070

The Middle East-East Africa capacities must surely be one of the largest in the world (classifying by region). I don't know if Saudi and Air Arabia have plans to serve Tanzania and Rwanda. But it's quite impressive. There is a lot of point-to-point but also a lot of connecting either intra airlibes or via code shares or interlines.

I wonder if we are not almost at the same level as Europe-East Africa flights (and there are still a lot of Russian, Ukrainian, Polish charters on Kenya and Tanzania) and surely above the above the East African -Rest of Africa capacaties (and they are Ethiopian, Kenya Airways and RwandAir).

The reservations are already closed. The last flight seems to have operated on August 01, 2022. (https://www.airportia.com/flights/sv490/kampala/riyadh/) . Flights were not great for connections to Europe, India, and the USA. With an arrival at RUH at 12:45 p.m., which means long layover, same thing if you fly to EBB, long layover at RUH, while the biggest base of SV is in Jeddah.

SV wanted probably to tap into the point-to-point estimated at 23,000 passengers. But it is a traffic mainly from Ugandans working in Saudi Arabia. There are not too many Saudi tourists in Uganda, unlike in Mauritius.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... rica-link/

Quit sad, maybe with A320 / A321 with a tag on Dar Es Salaam or Kigali with better timetables, the route could be work well. Emirates / FlyDubai and Qatar Airways (with a little help from RwandAir to pick up pax via DOH) do not have too much to worry. For the past 10 years, Gulf Air and Etihad have tried to tickle them on Entebbe (EY, GF), Dar Es Salaam (EY), Addis Ababa (GF, EY) and Nairobi (GF, EY). Results: routes closed.

Air Arabia UAE and Oman Air are still there, but with a "small" networl, in the region.

The much awaited expansion of Ethiopian's third bank in Addis to West Africa will proceed this summer (as originally planned for 2020).

Accra will get a second flight 4x weekly on 737Max

ET927 dep ADD 0140 arr ACC 0440 (Mo/Th)
ET926 dep ACC 0520 arr ADD 1415

ET929 dep ADD 1700 arr ACC 2000 (Tu/Fr)
ET928 dep ACC 2235 arr ADD 0730+1

ET921 dep ADD 0840 arr ACC 1120 (Daily - existing)
ET920 dep ACC 1220 arr ADD 2100

Other additional intra-Africa services of note :

Second daily CPT on staggered schedule (total 11x weekly with A350).

ET845 dep ADD 0730 arr CPT 1300 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)
ET847 dep ADD 0815 arr CPT 1345 (Mo/We/Fr)
ET847 dep ADD 0900 arr CPT 1430 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)

ET844 dep CPT 1350 arr ADD 2115 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)
ET846 dep CPT 1435 arr ADD 2200 (Mo/We/Fr)
ET846 dep CPT 1520 arr ADD 2240 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)

Also second Lilongwe on 737Max in the overnight bank to supplement the daily 77L

ET867 dep ADD 2210 arr LLW 0110+1 (Tu/Th/Su)
ET866 dep LLW 0200 arr ADD 0700 (Mo/We/Fr)

ET877 dep ADD 0950 arr LLW 1250 (Daily)
ET876 dep LLW 1530 arr ADD 2030

Lubumbashi is delinked from Lilongwe and goes daily nonstop on mix of 737Max and 787-8.

ET871 dep ADD 1050 arr FBM 1350
ET870 dep FBM 1450 arr ADD 2000

Second daily Mombasa to feed the third bank using 738/737Max mix

ET322 dep ADD 0900 arr MBA 1120
ET325 dep MBA 1225 arr ADD 1445

ET324 dep ADD 1530 arr MBA 1750
ET323 dep MBA 1850 arr ADD 2110

Third daily Nairobi will return as previously planned with 737Max to feed the third bank

ET318 dep ADD 0835 arr NBO 1045
ET319 dep NBO 1145 arr ADD 1345

ET306 dep ADD 1600 arr NBO 1810
ET307 dep NBO 1900 arr ADD 2110

ET308 dep ADD 2315 arr NBO 0120+1
ET309 dep NBO 0500 arr ADD 0715

Lusaka and Harare will be delinked to daily A350 daytime flights and 4x weekly overnight flights each.

ET893 dep ADD 2200 arr HRE 0130+1 (Mo/We/Fr/Su)
ET892 dep HRE 0220 arr ADD 0755 (Mo/Tu/Th/Sa)

ET873 dep ADD 0925 arr HRE 1235 (Daily)
ET872 dep HRE 1535 arr ADD 2045

ET891 dep ADD 2210 arr LUN 0120+1 (Mo/We/Fr/Su)
ET890 dep LUN 0210 arr ADD 0735 (Mo/Tu/Th/Sa)

ET863 dep ADD 0925 arr LUN 1230 (Daily)
ET862 dep LUN 1530 arr ADD 2030

However, fifth freedom between HRE-LUN vv continues to be provided by Ethiopian operated by Malawi Airlineson Dash8

ET 34 dep LUN 1220 arr HRE 1315 (We/Fr/Su)
ET 35 dep HRE 1215 arr LUN 1310 (Mo/Th/Sa)

Second Kigali flight on the overnight bank goes daily using 737s of various type

ET807 dep ADD 1130 arr KGL 1300
ET806 dep MBA 1655 arr ADD 2020

ET821 dep ADD 2245 arr KGL 0045+1
ET820 dep KGL 0145 arr ADD 0550

B747-437B wrote:

The much awaited expansion of Ethiopian's third bank in Addis to West Africa will proceed this summer (as originally planned for 2020).

Accra will get a second flight 4x weekly on 737Max

ET927 dep ADD 0140 arr ACC 0440 (Mo/Th)
ET926 dep ACC 0520 arr ADD 1415

ET929 dep ADD 1700 arr ACC 2000 (Tu/Fr)
ET928 dep ACC 2235 arr ADD 0730+1

ET921 dep ADD 0840 arr ACC 1120 (Daily - existing)
ET920 dep ACC 1220 arr ADD 2100

Other additional intra-Africa services of note :

Second daily CPT on staggered schedule (total 11x weekly with A350).

ET845 dep ADD 0730 arr CPT 1300 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)
ET847 dep ADD 0815 arr CPT 1345 (Mo/We/Fr)
ET847 dep ADD 0900 arr CPT 1430 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)

ET844 dep CPT 1350 arr ADD 2115 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)
ET846 dep CPT 1435 arr ADD 2200 (Mo/We/Fr)
ET846 dep CPT 1520 arr ADD 2240 (Tu/Th/Sa/Su)

Also second Lilongwe on 737Max in the overnight bank to supplement the daily 77L

ET867 dep ADD 2210 arr LLW 0110+1 (Tu/Th/Su)
ET866 dep LLW 0200 arr ADD 0700 (Mo/We/Fr)

ET877 dep ADD 0950 arr LLW 1250 (Daily)
ET876 dep LLW 1530 arr ADD 2030

Lubumbashi is delinked from Lilongwe and goes daily nonstop on mix of 737Max and 787-8.

ET871 dep ADD 1050 arr FBM 1350
ET870 dep FBM 1450 arr ADD 2000

Second daily Mombasa to feed the third bank using 738/737Max mix

ET322 dep ADD 0900 arr MBA 1120
ET325 dep MBA 1225 arr ADD 1445

ET324 dep ADD 1530 arr MBA 1750
ET323 dep MBA 1850 arr ADD 2110

Third daily Nairobi will return as previously planned with 737Max to feed the third bank

ET318 dep ADD 0835 arr NBO 1045
ET319 dep NBO 1145 arr ADD 1345

ET306 dep ADD 1600 arr NBO 1810
ET307 dep NBO 1900 arr ADD 2110

ET308 dep ADD 2315 arr NBO 0120+1
ET309 dep NBO 0500 arr ADD 0715

Lusaka and Harare will be delinked to daily A350 daytime flights and 4x weekly overnight flights each.

ET893 dep ADD 2200 arr HRE 0130+1 (Mo/We/Fr/Su)
ET892 dep HRE 0220 arr ADD 0755 (Mo/Tu/Th/Sa)

ET873 dep ADD 0925 arr HRE 1235 (Daily)
ET872 dep HRE 1535 arr ADD 2045

ET891 dep ADD 2210 arr LUN 0120+1 (Mo/We/Fr/Su)
ET890 dep LUN 0210 arr ADD 0735 (Mo/Tu/Th/Sa)

ET863 dep ADD 0925 arr LUN 1230 (Daily)
ET862 dep LUN 1530 arr ADD 2030

However, fifth freedom between HRE-LUN vv continues to be provided by Ethiopian operated by Malawi Airlineson Dash8

ET 34 dep LUN 1220 arr HRE 1315 (We/Fr/Su)
ET 35 dep HRE 1215 arr LUN 1310 (Mo/Th/Sa)

Second Kigali flight on the overnight bank goes daily using 737s of various type

ET807 dep ADD 1130 arr KGL 1300
ET806 dep MBA 1655 arr ADD 2020

ET821 dep ADD 2245 arr KGL 0045+1
ET820 dep KGL 0145 arr ADD 0550

Which routes will help feed these new frequencies? For the overnight LLW, and nonstop LUN at night on the A350? Just to name a couple. Will there be new Europe frequencies, or existing African ones?

yoshoward12 wrote:

Which routes will help feed these new frequencies? For the overnight LLW, and nonstop LUN at night on the A350? Just to name a couple. Will there be new Europe frequencies, or existing African ones?

The overnight frequencies will be fed from the daytime bank - primarily intra-African traffic that presently has to overnight in Addis.

B747-437B wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

Which routes will help feed these new frequencies? For the overnight LLW, and nonstop LUN at night on the A350? Just to name a couple. Will there be new Europe frequencies, or existing African ones?

The overnight frequencies will be fed from the daytime bank - primarily intra-African traffic that presently has to overnight in Addis.

Interesting! Do you think there are any W. African markets in line for the same service increase, like ACC? To me, Lagos or similar comes to mind.

11x weekly to ACC? That is interesting indeed. I wonder why they chose to go with 2 morning and 2 night time flights? Perhaps testing the market? I would hate to be on that 5:20 AM departure out of ACC. No sleep before a long, long journey!

ghdc10 wrote:

11x weekly to ACC? That is interesting indeed. I wonder why they chose to go with 2 morning and 2 night time flights? Perhaps testing the market?

It's designed to feed to/from the third bank. Connections to/from India, JNB, East Africa - third bank is being boosted by extra Mombasa and Nairobi flights as well.

B747-437B wrote:

ghdc10 wrote:

11x weekly to ACC? That is interesting indeed. I wonder why they chose to go with 2 morning and 2 night time flights? Perhaps testing the market?

It's designed to feed to/from the third bank. Connections to/from India, JNB, East Africa - third bank is being boosted by extra Mombasa and Nairobi flights as well.

You forgot to mention Dubai too

9ET 603 C7 J7 D7 P0 R0 Y7*DXBADD 510P 835P 77W D 0 S /E
G7 S7 B7 M7 K7 L7 V7 H7 U7

10ET 927 C7 J7 D7 P0 R0 Y7* ACC 1¥ 140A 440A 7M8 S 0 MQ /E

yoshoward12 wrote:

B747-437B wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

Which routes will help feed these new frequencies? For the overnight LLW, and nonstop LUN at night on the A350? Just to name a couple. Will there be new Europe frequencies, or existing African ones?

The overnight frequencies will be fed from the daytime bank - primarily intra-African traffic that presently has to overnight in Addis.

Interesting! Do you think there are any W. African markets in line for the same service increase, like ACC? To me, Lagos or similar comes to mind.

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Getting check in counter space at LOS for 2230 departure would be tough considering the amount of EU/USA departures at that time (BA AF KL LH UA DL).

Also last time I recall isnt the NG-ET bilaterals restricted to frequencies per week and not open skies like they have with Ghana.

In S23 season I see ADD-BOM-ADD operating with double daily B77Ls.

The Cape Town 11 weekly all leave more or less within an hour of each in both directions so that maximum amount of Europe/USA connecting pax can be uplifted since USA/EU flights still operate with one hub wave bank structure i.e. dep ADD late night and arrive back early morning following day.

behramjee wrote:

You forgot to mention Dubai too

Dubai is not a third bank flight though (yet). The new Dubai connections are through the daytime bank. Supposedly they are considering a fourth daily UAE service to either DWC or Sharjah from the third bank as they can't get more Dubai slots.

I did miss mentioning Guangzhou as a 3x weekly third bank feeder however - inbound off the overnight bank and feeding into the third bank.

behramjee wrote:

Also last time I recall isnt the NG-ET bilaterals restricted to frequencies per week and not open skies like they have with Ghana.

Also, Ethiopian is currently being sued by the Airline Operators of Nigeria over their part in the Nigeria Air boondoggle so I doubt they want to rock the boat too much right now. They are feeding their Lagos overflow via Lome already.

USA/EU flights still operate with one hub wave bank structure i.e. dep ADD late night and arrive back early morning following day.

Actually there are two daily US flights departing in the morning bank this summer - daily to EWR via LFW and daily to either ABJ/JFK or LFW/IAD depending on day. However, you can't fit a CPT rotation into the overnight bank to feed these as it is a 5+ hour flight each way.

B747-437B wrote:

behramjee wrote:

You forgot to mention Dubai too

Dubai is not a third bank flight though (yet). The new Dubai connections are through the daytime bank. Supposedly they are considering a fourth daily UAE service to either DWC or Sharjah from the third bank as they can't get more Dubai slots.

I did miss mentioning Guangzhou as a 3x weekly third bank feeder however - inbound off the overnight bank and feeding into the third bank.

So the hypothetical ADD-SHJ or DWC would somewhere between the ~1030 and ~2145 departures...so im guessing the return leg would arrive back in ADD before the late afternoon departures?

There is a massive gap between the morning and first evening departure, that was my thinking behind adding the 4th one right in the middle of the day.

behramjee wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

B747-437B wrote:

The overnight frequencies will be fed from the daytime bank - primarily intra-African traffic that presently has to overnight in Addis.

Interesting! Do you think there are any W. African markets in line for the same service increase, like ACC? To me, Lagos or similar comes to mind.

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Getting check in counter space at LOS for 2230 departure would be tough considering the amount of EU/USA departures at that time (BA AF KL LH UA DL).

Also last time I recall isnt the NG-ET bilaterals restricted to frequencies per week and not open skies like they have with Ghana.

In S23 season I see ADD-BOM-ADD operating with double daily B77Ls.

The Cape Town 11 weekly all leave more or less within an hour of each in both directions so that maximum amount of Europe/USA connecting pax can be uplifted since USA/EU flights still operate with one hub wave bank structure i.e. dep ADD late night and arrive back early morning following day.

In light of the current issues, besides Nigeria, I wouldn’t know where else could support a second MAX flight, to feed into the new bank, from W. Africa. ACC was the obvious choice there, but who else has open skies, that could support the extra frequency?

In places like Ouagadougou, for example, flights are simply being upgraded to widebodies for increased capacity, instead of another leg (which I know is the logical decision).

yoshoward12 wrote:

behramjee wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

Interesting! Do you think there are any W. African markets in line for the same service increase, like ACC? To me, Lagos or similar comes to mind.

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Getting check in counter space at LOS for 2230 departure would be tough considering the amount of EU/USA departures at that time (BA AF KL LH UA DL).

Also last time I recall isnt the NG-ET bilaterals restricted to frequencies per week and not open skies like they have with Ghana.

In S23 season I see ADD-BOM-ADD operating with double daily B77Ls.

The Cape Town 11 weekly all leave more or less within an hour of each in both directions so that maximum amount of Europe/USA connecting pax can be uplifted since USA/EU flights still operate with one hub wave bank structure i.e. dep ADD late night and arrive back early morning following day.

In light of the current issues, besides Nigeria, I wouldn’t know where else could support a second MAX flight, to feed into the new bank, from W. Africa. ACC was the obvious choice there, but who else has open skies, that could support the extra frequency?

In places like Ouagadougou, for example, flights are simply being upgraded to widebodies for increased capacity, instead of another leg (which I know is the logical decision).

FIH already has additional overnight flights added since many months ago.

Unfortunately outside of East Africa region, there is no other African city that can support it nonstop unless they build first a second hub wave for Europe that enables EU-ADD to land back between 2000-2130 which can then warrant CPT at 0100.

ET will probably have to look at many one stop tag on flights within Central/West Africa with 5th freedom rights to build the feed for the new hub wave.

Abuja in high season period only can warrant 3 more weekly flights departing ADD at 1800 just like what I had proposed earlier on for LOS.

behramjee wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

behramjee wrote:

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Getting check in counter space at LOS for 2230 departure would be tough considering the amount of EU/USA departures at that time (BA AF KL LH UA DL).

Also last time I recall isnt the NG-ET bilaterals restricted to frequencies per week and not open skies like they have with Ghana.

In S23 season I see ADD-BOM-ADD operating with double daily B77Ls.

The Cape Town 11 weekly all leave more or less within an hour of each in both directions so that maximum amount of Europe/USA connecting pax can be uplifted since USA/EU flights still operate with one hub wave bank structure i.e. dep ADD late night and arrive back early morning following day.

In light of the current issues, besides Nigeria, I wouldn’t know where else could support a second MAX flight, to feed into the new bank, from W. Africa. ACC was the obvious choice there, but who else has open skies, that could support the extra frequency?

In places like Ouagadougou, for example, flights are simply being upgraded to widebodies for increased capacity, instead of another leg (which I know is the logical decision).

FIH already has additional overnight flights added since many months ago.

Unfortunately outside of East Africa region, there is no other African city that can support it nonstop unless they build first a second hub wave for Europe that enables EU-ADD to land back between 2000-2130 which can then warrant CPT at 0100.

ET will probably have to look at many one stop tag on flights within Central/West Africa with 5th freedom rights to build the feed for the new hub wave.

Abuja in high season period only can warrant 3 more weekly flights departing ADD at 1800 just like what I had proposed earlier on for LOS.

That’s another thing, for the evening departure bank, to these markets we’ve talked about, I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD. My take on that is morning Europe-ADD flights can be fed by:

1) Other EU routes
2) Some USA/Canada
3) Local traffic flying to ADD and beyond

That can maximize the utility for any morning EU-ADD flights by offering connections on some of the new/existing overnight flights from ADD (think LLW, FIH, HRE, LUN, new ACC etc.)

Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

*I know LH offered an early(ish) departure to ADD before covid that fed some of these markets.

yoshoward12 wrote:

I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD... Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

This was exactly what they were doing with the third bank Europe flights pre-COVID. The plan was initially for LHR, FRA and FCO but only LHR/FCO actually launched. The aircraft that usually sits all day in Europe would operate back to Addis by day, and there would be a daytime ADD-LHR/FCO that then returned in the overnight slots.

B747-437B wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD... Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

This was exactly what they were doing with the third bank Europe flights pre-COVID. The plan was initially for LHR, FRA and FCO but only LHR/FCO actually launched. The aircraft that usually sits all day in Europe would operate back to Addis by day, and there would be a daytime ADD-LHR/FCO that then returned in the overnight slots.

Im hoping that with the new frequencies, the pre-covid Europe schedule or similar is built around the schedules.

B747-437B wrote:

Second Kigali flight on the overnight bank goes daily using 737s of various type

ET807 dep ADD 1130 arr KGL 1300
ET806 dep MBA 1655 arr ADD 2020

Is it a typo or the plane really stays idle for 4h at Kigali ?

eastafspot wrote:

Is it a typo or the plane really stays idle for 4h at Kigali ?

It's all about the connections. That flight feeds the overnight bank, so no point departing earlier from Kigali. It will change when they eventually add a third Kigali on the third bank.

I have a a similar puzzling question.

QR flies an A330 to nairobi that sits the whole day here from dawn till dusk then flies back to DOH.

Additionally EK has an early morning arrival in to Nairobi that doesn’t fly back until 23:55. This is despite them having an early afternoon arrival which turns around within a couple of hours! I can’t understand the logic?

MileHFL400 wrote:

EK has an early morning arrival in to Nairobi that doesn’t fly back until 23:55. This is despite them having an early afternoon arrival which turns around within a couple of hours! I can’t understand the logic?

The crew on the daytime flight does a turnaround so no layover required. The crew on the overnight flight has a shorter available duty period so they can layover in Nairobi by day and return that night. Best crew utility and cost efficiency, especially if you have surplus aircraft availability.

B747-437B wrote:

yoshoward12 wrote:

I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD... Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

This was exactly what they were doing with the third bank Europe flights pre-COVID. The plan was initially for LHR, FRA and FCO but only LHR/FCO actually launched. The aircraft that usually sits all day in Europe would operate back to Addis by day, and there would be a daytime ADD-LHR/FCO that then returned in the overnight slots.

Does ET crew perform their European layover during the day and operate back to ADD the same night ?

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... a-airlines

Uganda Airlines supposedly registered losses of $136m in 2022 on revenues of just $38.3m as per reports from the Auditor General and Parliamentary Committees.

In simpler terms, they derived revenue of approx. $135/passenger transported but it cost them over $600/passenger to actually fly them.

https://observer.ug/businessnews/76662- ... t-for-2023

Meanwhile, the airline is extremely proud at receiving the award for "Youngest Aircraft Fleet in Africa" for the third consecutive year.

Their 6 "youngest fleet" aircraft have accrued losses of approx. $35.6 million each on average since they were delivered starting in 2019. This might also be a record. Congratulations to them.

B747-437B wrote:

ghdc10 wrote:

11x weekly to ACC? That is interesting indeed. I wonder why they chose to go with 2 morning and 2 night time flights? Perhaps testing the market?

It's designed to feed to/from the third bank. Connections to/from India, JNB, East Africa - third bank is being boosted by extra Mombasa and Nairobi flights as well.

It will be interesting to see how this works out with ACC. The schedule, if it sticks, could lead to increased frequencies to 14x per week or even 21x times. Is the SAATM pilot enabling this to ACC?

B747-437B wrote:

behramjee wrote:

You forgot to mention Dubai too

Dubai is not a third bank flight though (yet). The new Dubai connections are through the daytime bank. Supposedly they are considering a fourth daily UAE service to either DWC or Sharjah from the third bank as they can't get more Dubai slots.

I did miss mentioning Guangzhou as a 3x weekly third bank feeder however - inbound off the overnight bank and feeding into the third bank.

It will be interesting to see how ET solves the Dubai problem. The night time bank sees two wide bodies (sometimes two A359s) depart within about an hour of each other consistently, unlike years ago where you'd see a wide body then a B738. This may change once China opens up and trade traffic from West Africa spreads between Dubai and China like it did historically.

I was disappointed to see the 3x weekly daytime to CAN leave ADD at 1030 instead of during the afternoon bank like it did three years ago. It has the ability/potential to feed this new bank both ways, with a 6AMish arrival and a 2 hour layover in CAN.

ET has a number of destinations today and planned for S23 that sees departures out of ADD within an hour or two. This includes DXB, BEY, CPT and I see this tied to capacity requirements but also the need to connect with flights and meet connections. I wonder if flights like BEY that are local and/or regional East Africa traffic heavy could have one flight depart during afternoon bank but return staggered the next morning.

yoshoward12 wrote:

So the hypothetical ADD-SHJ or DWC would somewhere between the ~1030 and ~2145 departures...so im guessing the return leg would arrive back in ADD before the late afternoon departures?

There is a massive gap between the morning and first evening departure, that was my thinking behind adding the 4th one right in the middle of the day.

How impossible is it to get more slots? Ideally a fourth to DXB would leave ADD in the afternoon bank with a shuffle of existing flights which may require some longer ground time for some. Could we get this? It'd require crew overnight for two of them.

ADD-DXB 1000-1500 1630-1930
ADD-DXB 1630-2130 0230-0530
ADD-DXB 2200-0300 0500-0800
ADD-DXB 2355-0455 1145-1445

B747-437B wrote:

Actually there are two daily US flights departing in the morning bank this summer - daily to EWR via LFW and daily to either ABJ/JFK or LFW/IAD depending on day. However, you can't fit a CPT rotation into the overnight bank to feed these as it is a 5+ hour flight each way.

Is it worth trying to connect CPT to USA flights given the options and the competition on that market? I could see the following:

ADD CPT 0700-1230 1330-2055
ADD CPT 1035-1605 2145-0610

I could reveal my geekiness with a full spreadsheet I have going on that can see the ADD hub as we know it today stretch further with some gains and tradeoffs, but I will reserve my fantasy to myself.

behramjee wrote:

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Looking at the third bank, my OCD gets triggered with the 1800 BOM departure. I wish they'd pull it back to 1600 to tighten the bank. Same with your proposal with LOS where the bank runs between 1400 and 1730.

yoshoward12 wrote:

That’s another thing, for the evening departure bank, to these markets we’ve talked about, I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD. My take on that is morning Europe-ADD flights can be fed by:

1) Other EU routes
2) Some USA/Canada
3) Local traffic flying to ADD and beyond

That can maximize the utility for any morning EU-ADD flights by offering connections on some of the new/existing overnight flights from ADD (think LLW, FIH, HRE, LUN, new ACC etc.)

Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

*I know LH offered an early(ish) departure to ADD before covid that fed some of these markets.

Any EU-ADD flights would need an evening arrival at ADD with the exception of FCO that could run up to 3x daily with tight turnarounds at FCO. Or a 2x daily that works with the new afternoon bank and the traditional night bank.

ET seems to prefer consolidating its North American market to its existing gateways at ORD/YYZ/IAD/JFK/EWR and soon to be ATL. It'd retain the lion share of a fare for any feeds it gets from UA/AS/AC/DL(?) at their respective hubs. This is evident in its fare structure as well as continued growth in terms of destinations and frequency; it's relying on its European Star Alliance hubs for primarily European connections. Some cities can command additional frequencies due to the O&D component, like LHR which we have seen go up to 10x per week A359s in the past, and FCO also. If frequencies allowed, we would see IST go double daily but I believe Ethiopia is trying not to open the floodgates and give TK the upper hand it will have. I remain interested to seeing what if anything LH does, to return or to support a second ET frequency to FRA (or new service to MUC.) ET could up flights to MRS, CDG but would be dependent on currently non-existent feed from additional Francophone countries including islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

MileHFL400 wrote:

I have a a similar puzzling question.

QR flies an A330 to nairobi that sits the whole day here from dawn till dusk then flies back to DOH.

Additionally EK has an early morning arrival in to Nairobi that doesn’t fly back until 23:55. This is despite them having an early afternoon arrival which turns around within a couple of hours! I can’t understand the logic?

While QR and EK's can be puzzling, this is very common in other cities. ET's overnight flights to Europe sit around at their point of termination until the next night overnight back to ADD. Longest of this we had seen with ET was their service to IAH.

If you look to JNB, daytime it's a parking lot for European carriers that do the same: overnight flight, rest during the day and fly back the next night to their points of origin.

Back to ET, if you look at them before the year 2000, with a single mid day bank, this is what many of their flights to Africa did. They'd overnight at their destination and the same crew would fly back to ADD by 1030-1100.

berari wrote:

B747-437B wrote:

ghdc10 wrote:

11x weekly to ACC? That is interesting indeed. I wonder why they chose to go with 2 morning and 2 night time flights? Perhaps testing the market?

It's designed to feed to/from the third bank. Connections to/from India, JNB, East Africa - third bank is being boosted by extra Mombasa and Nairobi flights as well.

It will be interesting to see how this works out with ACC. The schedule, if it sticks, could lead to increased frequencies to 14x per week or even 21x times. Is the SAATM pilot enabling this to ACC?

B747-437B wrote:

behramjee wrote:

You forgot to mention Dubai too

Dubai is not a third bank flight though (yet). The new Dubai connections are through the daytime bank. Supposedly they are considering a fourth daily UAE service to either DWC or Sharjah from the third bank as they can't get more Dubai slots.

I did miss mentioning Guangzhou as a 3x weekly third bank feeder however - inbound off the overnight bank and feeding into the third bank.

It will be interesting to see how ET solves the Dubai problem. The night time bank sees two wide bodies (sometimes two A359s) depart within about an hour of each other consistently, unlike years ago where you'd see a wide body then a B738. This may change once China opens up and trade traffic from West Africa spreads between Dubai and China like it did historically.

I was disappointed to see the 3x weekly daytime to CAN leave ADD at 1030 instead of during the afternoon bank like it did three years ago. It has the ability/potential to feed this new bank both ways, with a 6AMish arrival and a 2 hour layover in CAN.

ET has a number of destinations today and planned for S23 that sees departures out of ADD within an hour or two. This includes DXB, BEY, CPT and I see this tied to capacity requirements but also the need to connect with flights and meet connections. I wonder if flights like BEY that are local and/or regional East Africa traffic heavy could have one flight depart during afternoon bank but return staggered the next morning.

yoshoward12 wrote:

So the hypothetical ADD-SHJ or DWC would somewhere between the ~1030 and ~2145 departures...so im guessing the return leg would arrive back in ADD before the late afternoon departures?

There is a massive gap between the morning and first evening departure, that was my thinking behind adding the 4th one right in the middle of the day.

How impossible is it to get more slots? Ideally a fourth to DXB would leave ADD in the afternoon bank with a shuffle of existing flights which may require some longer ground time for some. Could we get this? It'd require crew overnight for two of them.

ADD-DXB 1000-1500 1630-1930
ADD-DXB 1630-2130 0230-0530
ADD-DXB 2200-0300 0500-0800
ADD-DXB 2355-0455 1145-1445

B747-437B wrote:

Actually there are two daily US flights departing in the morning bank this summer - daily to EWR via LFW and daily to either ABJ/JFK or LFW/IAD depending on day. However, you can't fit a CPT rotation into the overnight bank to feed these as it is a 5+ hour flight each way.

Is it worth trying to connect CPT to USA flights given the options and the competition on that market? I could see the following:

ADD CPT 0700-1230 1330-2055
ADD CPT 1035-1605 2145-0610

I could reveal my geekiness with a full spreadsheet I have going on that can see the ADD hub as we know it today stretch further with some gains and tradeoffs, but I will reserve my fantasy to myself.

behramjee wrote:

Yes Lagos can be sustained with additional flights using a B7M8 but the issue for ET will be to determine what it wants to connect it with in both directions in terms of preference. Note that the second daily BOM-ADD lands into ADD at 1400 whilst DXB comes at 2035 whilst ADD-BOM departs at 1820 versus 1030 ADD-DXB. Since BOM does not need LOS support as much as DXB does, I would suggest whenever extra LOS flights get published they depart as follows:

Dep ADD 1800 Arr LOS 2130
Dep LOS 2230 Arr ADD 0550+1

Looking at the third bank, my OCD gets triggered with the 1800 BOM departure. I wish they'd pull it back to 1600 to tighten the bank. Same with your proposal with LOS where the bank runs between 1400 and 1730.

yoshoward12 wrote:

That’s another thing, for the evening departure bank, to these markets we’ve talked about, I am still unsure why there hasn’t been EU routes that arrive at night in ADD. My take on that is morning Europe-ADD flights can be fed by:

1) Other EU routes
2) Some USA/Canada
3) Local traffic flying to ADD and beyond

That can maximize the utility for any morning EU-ADD flights by offering connections on some of the new/existing overnight flights from ADD (think LLW, FIH, HRE, LUN, new ACC etc.)

Some Europe markets (in my mind) that would be perfect for this, could be LHR and FRA, due to Star Alliance feed from USA/Canada/Other Europe. Maybe FCO for the O&D pax. Thoughts?

*I know LH offered an early(ish) departure to ADD before covid that fed some of these markets.

Any EU-ADD flights would need an evening arrival at ADD with the exception of FCO that could run up to 3x daily with tight turnarounds at FCO. Or a 2x daily that works with the new afternoon bank and the traditional night bank.

ET seems to prefer consolidating its North American market to its existing gateways at ORD/YYZ/IAD/JFK/EWR and soon to be ATL. It'd retain the lion share of a fare for any feeds it gets from UA/AS/AC/DL(?) at their respective hubs. This is evident in its fare structure as well as continued growth in terms of destinations and frequency; it's relying on its European Star Alliance hubs for primarily European connections. Some cities can command additional frequencies due to the O&D component, like LHR which we have seen go up to 10x per week A359s in the past, and FCO also. If frequencies allowed, we would see IST go double daily but I believe Ethiopia is trying not to open the floodgates and give TK the upper hand it will have. I remain interested to seeing what if anything LH does, to return or to support a second ET frequency to FRA (or new service to MUC.) ET could up flights to MRS, CDG but would be dependent on currently non-existent feed from additional Francophone countries including islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

MileHFL400 wrote:

I have a a similar puzzling question.

QR flies an A330 to nairobi that sits the whole day here from dawn till dusk then flies back to DOH.

Additionally EK has an early morning arrival in to Nairobi that doesn’t fly back until 23:55. This is despite them having an early afternoon arrival which turns around within a couple of hours! I can’t understand the logic?

While QR and EK's can be puzzling, this is very common in other cities. ET's overnight flights to Europe sit around at their point of termination until the next night overnight back to ADD. Longest of this we had seen with ET was their service to IAH.

If you look to JNB, daytime it's a parking lot for European carriers that do the same: overnight flight, rest during the day and fly back the next night to their points of origin.

Back to ET, if you look at them before the year 2000, with a single mid day bank, this is what many of their flights to Africa did. They'd overnight at their destination and the same crew would fly back to ADD by 1030-1100.

I have been wondering about an LH return since the pandemic happened. ET enjoyed the double daily FRA flights that seemed to work well, with LH feeding a few of the traditional night bank routes. A few years back, ET looked at an MUC launch but never happened. I think it is a viable option for obvious connectivity purposes. If it happens, I could see ET operating that route. I’ve also pounded the AMS drum for a while, but talking to some friends at ET, it seems like it may be in the cards in the future. I feel like it would complete ET’s europe operation, aside from additional freq in LHR and FCO. I personally believe ET could get more out of a flight from AMS, than MRS.

Turkish is also upgrading some of their flights from the A321NEO to A332 on flights to ADD, along with the normal swap to the MAX 8, which I found exciting. I also saw that Etihad posted something on social media with Addis Ababa in the post, so it would be interesting to see them start that.

In regards to the open skies, we see that Ghana has been all in, with KQ offering their 5th freedom flights from ACC-FNA/DSS/ROB, so I can definitely see us going x14 weekly to ACC.

As far as Dubai is concerned, I am not fully aware of the lack of slots, but ET has operated flights into DWC before, along with cargo? flights from SHJ. So adding a daily run from there also should not be an issue.

B747-437B wrote:

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/123813-auditor-general-raises-more-concerns-about-uganda-airlines

Uganda Airlines supposedly registered losses of $136m in 2022 on revenues of just $38.3m as per reports from the Auditor General and Parliamentary Committees.

In simpler terms, they derived revenue of approx. $135/passenger transported but it cost them over $600/passenger to actually fly them.

https://observer.ug/businessnews/76662- ... t-for-2023

Meanwhile, the airline is extremely proud at receiving the award for "Youngest Aircraft Fleet in Africa" for the third consecutive year.

Their 6 "youngest fleet" aircraft have accrued losses of approx. $35.6 million each on average since they were delivered starting in 2019. This might also be a record. Congratulations to them.

Why is their cost/pax so high?

I flew ET DLA-ADD-BKK on the weekend. I was very impressed with the new terminal at ADD and it was my first time flying ET since 2014. For African standards, the new ADD terminal was outstanding and a very smooth transfer experience I had.

I flew the B788 from DLA to ADD with 160 pax on board the B788 whilst ADD-BKK had 273 on board the B77L.

On board product and service levels were very good and I enjoyed watching the many Nat Geo Wild documentaries they have + 4 documentaries on ET history and its on going transformation.

yoshoward12 wrote:

I have been wondering about an LH return since the pandemic happened. ET enjoyed the double daily FRA flights that seemed to work well, with LH feeding a few of the traditional night bank routes. A few years back, ET looked at an MUC launch but never happened. I think it is a viable option for obvious connectivity purposes. If it happens, I could see ET operating that route. I’ve also pounded the AMS drum for a while, but talking to some friends at ET, it seems like it may be in the cards in the future. I feel like it would complete ET’s europe operation, aside from additional freq in LHR and FCO. I personally believe ET could get more out of a flight from AMS, than MRS.

Turkish is also upgrading some of their flights from the A321NEO to A332 on flights to ADD, along with the normal swap to the MAX 8, which I found exciting. I also saw that Etihad posted something on social media with Addis Ababa in the post, so it would be interesting to see them start that.

In regards to the open skies, we see that Ghana has been all in, with KQ offering their 5th freedom flights from ACC-FNA/DSS/ROB, so I can definitely see us going x14 weekly to ACC.

As far as Dubai is concerned, I am not fully aware of the lack of slots, but ET has operated flights into DWC before, along with cargo? flights from SHJ. So adding a daily run from there also should not be an issue.

With FRA before the pandemic, LH had maintained a daytime flight FRA-ADD and overnight ADD-FRA, while ET did daytime flight ADD-FRA and then overnight FRA-ADD. I recall flying LH FRA-ADD and on board announcements speaking to the FRA-ADD-FRA sector being operated as a joint venture between LH and ET, inclusive of Amharic announcements. ET eventually adjusted their schedule to what it is today, flying overnight ADD-FRA and then overnight back FRA-ADD. This left LH and ET with daily overnight ADD-FRA flights that left in as little as 30 minutes of each other. Loads on ET remained decent. What LH had that was different is an F class. Since then, LH has also opened service to NBO (albeit using Eurowings) and has not returned to ADD. Recent political situation in ADD may also not have it hurrying in.

Meanwhile, we are also not seeing ET growing into Germany and has maintained daily A359 (most consistent operation I have seen.) I don't know if MUC is a city that remains on ET's radar and what value it would have brought to it. If connections, and given its geographic location, I think that ET has created these opportunities through Vienna where Austrian connects it to eastern European cities well.

IST is seeing developments, but also seeing strict bilaterals that restrict seats. I see protectionism against TK here. It appeared that flights were restricted to single aisle for both airlines. Upcoming summer schedule sees widebodies (TK 332s and ET 788s) operating on specific days of the week with each sending widebody on the same day. This will for sure help alleviate luggage issues at ET where today on 737s, you cannot expect your luggage to come with you to ADD.

AMS does appear to be well placed to be next in terms of expansion. We may see MAD re-emerge before that however. I will challenge the MRS vs AMS comment you made. ET opened MRS because France is unwilling to give it additional frequency to CDG. What MRS gives to ET however is solid connections to Comoros (ET sending daily A359s in S23) and Madagascar (going daily in S23 with mix of B772Ls and MAX - this is new development!) and this may see it grow. MRS is served with A359. I don't know what connection opportunities exist for AMS, and if it is a priority for ET given KL and KQ's established service. I would also see AMS opening as a tag to existing service.

I looked up capitals or cities in countries in Europe that are not served by ET today. In terms of first trench I see AMS, MAD and LIS. Then I see Sofia, Prague, Helsinki, Budapest, Bucharest and Belgrade. Aside from LYS in France and MUC in Germany, I expect to be very surprised on where ET may take us next.

Country City
Albania Tirane
Armenia Yerevan
Azerbaijan Baku
Belarus Minsk
Bosnia & Herz. Sarajevo
Bulgaria Sofia
Croatia Zagreb
Cyprus Nicosia
Czech Republic Prague
Estonia Tallinn
Finland Helsinki
Georgia Tbilisi
Hungary Budapest
Iceland Reykjavik
Latvia Riga
Lithuania Vilnius
Macedonia Skopje
Malta Valletta
Moldova Kishinev
Netherlands Amsterdam
Northern Ireland Belfast
Poland Warsaw
Portugal Lisbon
Romania Bucharest
Scotland Edinburgh
Slovakia Bratislava
Slovenia Ljubljana
Spain Madrid
Tajikistan Dushanbe
Ukraine Kiev
Uzbekistan Tashkent
Yugoslavia Belgrade


Re: DXB, ET operated to DWC during runway maintenance at DXB that required reduction in flights. Cargo operations go to DWC (for no Cargo happens at DXB except for integrators.) SHJ would be new for ET, it has done AUH in past.

behramjee wrote:

I flew ET DLA-ADD-BKK on the weekend. I was very impressed with the new terminal at ADD and it was my first time flying ET since 2014. For African standards, the new ADD terminal was outstanding and a very smooth transfer experience I had.

I flew the B788 from DLA to ADD with 160 pax on board the B788 whilst ADD-BKK had 273 on board the B77L.

On board product and service levels were very good and I enjoyed watching the many Nat Geo Wild documentaries they have + 4 documentaries on ET history and its on going transformation.

I will agree that the transfer experience at ADD can be smooth, but it is dependent on time, your ability to maneuver with experience and expectations, and your tolerance for traveling among thousands that do not give you the organized, mannered, respectful experience you are used to. While ET and ADD provide the service, one particular part of the equation that we don't talk about openly is the African traveler: queue jumping, disorderly approach, excessive excess luggage and hand luggage that all contribute to the overall experience (including long check-in, weight scales at gates and the confusion/madness that it brings etc.) Language barrier is a major factor also, and is challenging when you are operating a hub that brings people from all parts of the continent and shuffles them and send them off. The lack of free movement, including highly restrictive visa requirements for the African traveler also add to this. I could go on. But we must consider all these when evaluating what happens at ADD.

With ET, I believe that the product is there, but the consistency, refinement and finesse is not. The AVOD is there but needs attention and needs to remain current. You do not know what aircraft will take you to your destination for this changes down to 48 hour before. I also believe that some of their signage, published material and branding can use some refinement and consistency to address the hodgepodge nature of it that reminds me of government agency offices in Ethiopia.

berari wrote:

With ET, I believe that the product is there, but the consistency, refinement and finesse is not. The AVOD is there but needs attention and needs to remain current.

Actually, the AVOD (or streaming BYOD on the 737s) has been inoperative on 5 out of my last 6 flights with Ethiopian (738, 7M8, 788, 77L). WiFi also is hit-or-miss. But those are tradeoffs I'm willing to make to get to my destination on time.

My biggest grip about Addis airport nowadays is the prices at Burger King. $20 for a Whopper combo meal???

Kenya Airways seems to close its route to Bangkok. Route opened in 2003 (https://www.travel-impact-newswire.com/ ... r-to-asia/). If it's confirmed, a page is turning for the company.

In the 2000s, under Titus Naikuni CEO, KQ had launched an ambitious growth plan with the arrival of the B777-200ERs (order of converted 767-400ERs (https://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/1- ... 200er.html), 767-300ER, ERJ 170 and B737-700 and B737-800.

The company had opened its first flights to the Far East with Bangkok, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The company had also launched a route to Istanbul and relaunched its route to Paris CDG.

In Africa in 2000s, we had the addition of Bangui, Malabo, Libreville, Brazaville, Freetown, Monrovia, Ouagadougou, Kisangani to name few one. I do not include the short lived routes in the 2010s during the Project Mawingu also under Titus Naikuni which lead the company into the crisis which has affected it for 10 years.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kenya+a ... s-wiz-serp

Today about route launched or relaunched in 2000s; only Paris, Ndola, Cape Town (route operated in the early 2000s and reopened in the late 2010s), Bangui (route closed then reopened), Freetown and Monrovia are still there. Now the bulk of KQ's network in Africa is East and Southern Africa. In Central Africa, the company only serves the DRC, The Central African Republic, and Cameroon and in West Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230203-kqea

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways seems to close its route to Bangkok. Route opened in 2003 (https://www.travel-impact-newswire.com/ ... r-to-asia/). If it's confirmed, a page is turning for the company.

In the 2000s, under Titus Naikuni CEO, KQ had launched an ambitious growth plan with the arrival of the B777-200ERs (order of converted 767-400ERs (https://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/1- ... 200er.html), 767-300ER, ERJ 170 and B737-700 and B737-800.

The company had opened its first flights to the Far East with Bangkok, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The company had also launched a route to Istanbul and relaunched its route to Paris CDG.

In Africa in 2000s, we had the addition of Bangui, Malabo, Libreville, Brazaville, Freetown, Monrovia, Ouagadougou, Kisangani to name few one. I do not include the short lived routes in the 2010s during the Project Mawingu also under Titus Naikuni which lead the company into the crisis which has affected it for 10 years.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kenya+a ... s-wiz-serp

Today about route launched or relaunched in 2000s; only Paris, Ndola, Cape Town (route operated in the early 2000s and reopened in the late 2010s), Bangui (route closed then reopened), Freetown and Monrovia are still there. Now the bulk of KQ's network in Africa is East and Southern Africa. In Central Africa, the company only serves the DRC, The Central African Republic, and Cameroon and in West Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230203-kqea

Yes not surprising and remember that during Christmas time there was an article which said that a total of 12 routes shall be cut from KQ network in 2023 as a result of fleet cuts + overall downsizing. If you wish to know about KQs unfortunate past regarding mismanagement this is the best 4 part investigative documentary on it. Episodes 1/2/4 in particular are very good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dDzi76HGEg4

Am surprised that they still maintain Dakar considering the loads on a monthly basis are in the 50% range usually.

I wish them well as I really wanted to fly KQ last week from DLA to BKK in order to include a side safari trip. I hope they can get a good code share deal with VS soon to/from LHR on key African and USA cities.

B747-437B wrote:

berari wrote:

With ET, I believe that the product is there, but the consistency, refinement and finesse is not. The AVOD is there but needs attention and needs to remain current.

Actually, the AVOD (or streaming BYOD on the 737s) has been inoperative on 5 out of my last 6 flights with Ethiopian (738, 7M8, 788, 77L). WiFi also is hit-or-miss. But those are tradeoffs I'm willing to make to get to my destination on time.

My biggest grip about Addis airport nowadays is the prices at Burger King. $20 for a Whopper combo meal???

Lol I noticed that too but Pizza Hut which I had there was the same price for a large and tasted better than USA PH places.

My AVOD worked on the 788 DLA ADD and also on ADD BKK 77L. Watch the documentary safari brothers on board under lifestyle section next time u fly them. I know you will like it !

Yes Behramjee, i hope that Kenya Airways will back in the green. Project Mawingu has really "killed" the airline.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kigali and RwandAir have been removed from the Paris Aéroports website. Probably no route to Paris. To be honest, I would like to see Air France come back


RwandAir plans to expand the cargo fleet, as the airline eyes cargo flights to Nigeria, Tanzania, the Republic of Congo and Central Africa in addition to what has been mentioned before: Kenya, Uganda, South Africa . Sharjah being the only active cargo destination at the moment

Confirmation for the arrival of a leased A330.


Great expectations should see East Africa’s air freight hubs flying

Despite the general grim outlook for air freight, it seems intra-regional demand for shipments passing through the key hubs in East Africa – Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda – are set to pick up again.

https://theloadstar.com/great-expectati ... bs-flying/


https://theloadstar.com/great-expectati ... bs-flying/

RwandAir has just added its WB code on Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen flights ( https://www.google.com/search?q=saw+doh ... s-wiz-serp) IST is served by TK on departure Kigali is also in code share with WB.


The list of destinations served by Qatar Airways in code share with RwandAir from Doha. Surprising to see RwandAir code on DOH Lanarca and DOH Amman ( demand from or to Kigali enabling to RwandAir to sell seats?). Eastern Europe with Budapest, Prague and surprise nothing in India or China. After no surprise: Europe and the United States https://www.doha-airport.com/departures ... ndair?tp=0

B747-437B wrote:

berari wrote:

With ET, I believe that the product is there, but the consistency, refinement and finesse is not. The AVOD is there but needs attention and needs to remain current.

Actually, the AVOD (or streaming BYOD on the 737s) has been inoperative on 5 out of my last 6 flights with Ethiopian (738, 7M8, 788, 77L). WiFi also is hit-or-miss. But those are tradeoffs I'm willing to make to get to my destination on time.

My biggest grip about Addis airport nowadays is the prices at Burger King. $20 for a Whopper combo meal???

Anything you buy inside ADD airport is highway robbery. From BK to even local food. And the wares they sell in the stores have astronomical margin. Prices for products in Addis vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. What’s inside the terminal is of no greater value and does not come with variety.

berari wrote:

Anything you buy inside ADD airport is highway robbery. From BK to even local food. And the wares they sell in the stores have astronomical margin. Prices for products in Addis vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. What’s inside the terminal is of no greater value and does not come with variety.

Overpriced airport stores are not unique to Addis by any means. My usual purchase in the terminal is a 500ml bottle of Coke Zero (when available) which invariably is priced at $1. Perfectly acceptable IMHO, even if it can theoretically be purchased for cheaper at a local store.

With the easing of restrictions for China, Jeune Afrique has redone a (very good) article about China Africa traffic. At present, only Ethiopian Airlines, Air Algérie, Egytpair and Kenya Airways will resume or currently serving China. Royal Air Maroc is in negotiations with the Chinese authorities to relaunch its flights. Stand by for RwandAir which had relaunched its flights in 2021 then canceled them the same year. The arrival of the 3rd A330 could surely change the situation. Stand by for Air Maurtius when Madagascar Airlines (ex Air Magadagascar) not sure that the A330 leased from Air Belgium enables to the airline to serve Paris and China. Surely wait for the 787.

The demand is still low

The Chinese companies (China Southern, Sichuan Airlines and Air China) have relaunched all their lines (Egypt, Kenya and South Africa)

In 2020, JA had already published an article on this subject. Africa-China traffic amounted to 2,540,000 in 2018. The Algiers Beijing (105,000 pax) and Algiers Guangzhou (147,000 pax) lines were the busiest. And yet Algiers and Cairo are not part of the top 5 airports that received the most Africa China traffic. The reliable network in Africa did not penalize them, because the point-to-point traffic is very important.

Ethiopian Airlines topped the rankings with 589,000 pax transiting via ADD between Africa and China followed by Emirates. Air France ranked 5th with 77,000 pax. Turkish Airlines which the largest network in Africa for a non-African company was not in the top 5.

With the covid things have surely changed a little. https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp



Ethiopian, Air Algérie, RAM… Who will board for China?https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate.goog/1415030/economie/ethiopian-air-algerie-ram-qui-embarquera-pour-la-chine/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Comeback, timid comeback or no comeback at all? While Beijing is easing access to its territory, African airlines are refining their strategy to resume their links with the Middle Kingdom. But three years of closure have left their mark.

"Beijing, we're coming back!" rejoices Air Algérie in the advertising campaign announcing the resumption of its flights between Algiers and Beijing, at the rate of two rotations per week from February 19.

The announcement follows closely that of Ethiopian Airlines, which anticipates not a recovery – the company, which was the last African company to serve China in 2020, maintained as many routes as possible – but a intensification of its program, to the point of reaching the pre-Covid level on March 1.

It will then offer daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai, ten weekly flights to Guangzhou and four to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, not to mention four rotations to Hong Kong.

Delay of nearly 75%

For its part, Kenya Airways has not yet announced a direct connection, but continues to connect Guangzhou twice a week, via Bangkok. Contacted by Jeune Afrique, the company did not wish to speak further.

In Egypt, Yehia Zakaria, CEO of Egyptair, announced for March a daily return of the link between Cairo and Guangzhou, three flights a week to Beijing and three to Hangzhou. Again, this will be a return to pre-Covid “normal”, when Egypt is one of the twenty countries (with, in Africa, South Africa and Kenya) towards which Beijing is preparing to reauthorize group travel for its nationals, starting February 6.



"A week after this announcement, which took place on January 20, reservations for these three destinations have increased by 123% compared to the same period last year", notes Olivier Ponti, vice-president in charge of strategy at ForwardKeys firm.

Although the variation is high, it should be put into perspective, because based on particularly low 2022 figures: "Chinese outbound flight bookings to Africa for the first quarter of 2023 are 74% behind what they were at the same time before the pandemic in 2019, while flight bookings from Africa to China for the first quarter are 73% behind 2019”, continues the analyst.

Last minute reservations

With significant differences depending on the city: “Total bookings from Africa to Beijing are behind 87% compared to 2019, to Guangzhou by 74% and to Hong Kong by 71%”, indicates ForwardKeys. Conversely, "as of January 27, total reservations for Algiers in the 1st quarter are 59% behind what they were at the same time in 2019, for Addis Ababa by 89%, for Cairo by 89% and for Nairobi 77%”, specifies Olivier Ponti.

The latter nevertheless says he is “optimistic” about the improvement in these figures, the pandemic having pushed the market to favor last-minute purchases, to limit as much as possible the impact of changes in travel restrictions: quarantine, isolation, PCR testing…

If the Chinese authorities lifted the quarantine requirement for travelers from abroad on January 8, getting there remains complicated. Tourist visas are still not issued, unlike residence permits for work, study, personal business or family reunification, and the prices are high.

Royal Air Maroc waiting

Faced with a timid increase in demand, the supply of flights between Africa and China has far from emerged unscathed from these three years of crisis. RwandAir, Air Mauritius and Air Madagascar (now Madagascar Airlines), which all served Guangzhou from their respective hubs, have not yet mentioned a recovery. The Rwandan company had however been one of the first to try the experience again, from January 2021.

Neither did South African Airways, which served Hong Kong and should have opened Guangzhou in January 2020. But the South African flag has since come very close to liquidation, and has seen its international destinations dwindle. Johannesburg remains served to Beijing, and Shenzhen on a weekly basis by Air China, which announced in November 2022 its ambition to increase to three flights per week.

Finally, Royal Air Maroc had bad luck with its Casablanca-Beijing line, inaugurated on January 16, 2020… and suspended 15 days later. According to our information, the Moroccan flag is trying to relaunch this line but must receive the approval of the Chinese authorities for this.


Air China, China Southern and Sichuan Airlines back

On the Chinese side, in addition to Air China, mentioned above, China Southern has resumed its connections between Guangzhou and Nairobi since January 9, while Sichuan Airlines connects Chengdu to Cairo three times a week.

“Chinese carriers are currently offering 28% less seat capacity than pre-pandemic levels, while African carriers are offering 36% less capacity,” notes Olivier Ponti. But, here again, the delay must be put into perspective: before the crisis, Ethiopian alone carried out more traffic between Africa and China (29% of the market in 2018, according to OAG) than all the Chinese companies combined.

rukundo wrote:

With the easing of restrictions for China, Jeune Afrique has redone a (very good) article about China Africa traffic. At present, only Ethiopian Airlines, Air Algérie, Egytpair and Kenya Airways will resume or currently serving China. Royal Air Maroc is in negotiations with the Chinese authorities to relaunch its flights. Stand by for RwandAir which had relaunched its flights in 2021 then canceled them the same year. The arrival of the 3rd A330 could surely change the situation. Stand by for Air Maurtius when Madagascar Airlines (ex Air Magadagascar) not sure that the A330 leased from Air Belgium enables to the airline to serve Paris and China. Surely wait for the 787.

The demand is still low

The Chinese companies (China Southern, Sichuan Airlines and Air China) have relaunched all their lines (Egypt, Kenya and South Africa)

In 2020, JA had already published an article on this subject. Africa-China traffic amounted to 2,540,000 in 2018. The Algiers Beijing (105,000 pax) and Algiers Guangzhou (147,000 pax) lines were the busiest. And yet Algiers and Cairo are not part of the top 5 airports that received the most Africa China traffic. The reliable network in Africa did not penalize them, because the point-to-point traffic is very important.

Ethiopian Airlines topped the rankings with 589,000 pax transiting via ADD between Africa and China followed by Emirates. Air France ranked 5th with 77,000 pax. Turkish Airlines which the largest network in Africa for a non-African company was not in the top 5.

With the covid things have surely changed a little. https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp



Ethiopian, Air Algérie, RAM… Who will board for China?https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate.goog/1415030/economie/ethiopian-air-algerie-ram-qui-embarquera-pour-la-chine/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Comeback, timid comeback or no comeback at all? While Beijing is easing access to its territory, African airlines are refining their strategy to resume their links with the Middle Kingdom. But three years of closure have left their mark.

"Beijing, we're coming back!" rejoices Air Algérie in the advertising campaign announcing the resumption of its flights between Algiers and Beijing, at the rate of two rotations per week from February 19.

The announcement follows closely that of Ethiopian Airlines, which anticipates not a recovery – the company, which was the last African company to serve China in 2020, maintained as many routes as possible – but a intensification of its program, to the point of reaching the pre-Covid level on March 1.

It will then offer daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai, ten weekly flights to Guangzhou and four to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, not to mention four rotations to Hong Kong.

Delay of nearly 75%

For its part, Kenya Airways has not yet announced a direct connection, but continues to connect Guangzhou twice a week, via Bangkok. Contacted by Jeune Afrique, the company did not wish to speak further.

In Egypt, Yehia Zakaria, CEO of Egyptair, announced for March a daily return of the link between Cairo and Guangzhou, three flights a week to Beijing and three to Hangzhou. Again, this will be a return to pre-Covid “normal”, when Egypt is one of the twenty countries (with, in Africa, South Africa and Kenya) towards which Beijing is preparing to reauthorize group travel for its nationals, starting February 6.



"A week after this announcement, which took place on January 20, reservations for these three destinations have increased by 123% compared to the same period last year", notes Olivier Ponti, vice-president in charge of strategy at ForwardKeys firm.

Although the variation is high, it should be put into perspective, because based on particularly low 2022 figures: "Chinese outbound flight bookings to Africa for the first quarter of 2023 are 74% behind what they were at the same time before the pandemic in 2019, while flight bookings from Africa to China for the first quarter are 73% behind 2019”, continues the analyst.

Last minute reservations

With significant differences depending on the city: “Total bookings from Africa to Beijing are behind 87% compared to 2019, to Guangzhou by 74% and to Hong Kong by 71%”, indicates ForwardKeys. Conversely, "as of January 27, total reservations for Algiers in the 1st quarter are 59% behind what they were at the same time in 2019, for Addis Ababa by 89%, for Cairo by 89% and for Nairobi 77%”, specifies Olivier Ponti.

The latter nevertheless says he is “optimistic” about the improvement in these figures, the pandemic having pushed the market to favor last-minute purchases, to limit as much as possible the impact of changes in travel restrictions: quarantine, isolation, PCR testing…

If the Chinese authorities lifted the quarantine requirement for travelers from abroad on January 8, getting there remains complicated. Tourist visas are still not issued, unlike residence permits for work, study, personal business or family reunification, and the prices are high.

Royal Air Maroc waiting

Faced with a timid increase in demand, the supply of flights between Africa and China has far from emerged unscathed from these three years of crisis. RwandAir, Air Mauritius and Air Madagascar (now Madagascar Airlines), which all served Guangzhou from their respective hubs, have not yet mentioned a recovery. The Rwandan company had however been one of the first to try the experience again, from January 2021.

Neither did South African Airways, which served Hong Kong and should have opened Guangzhou in January 2020. But the South African flag has since come very close to liquidation, and has seen its international destinations dwindle. Johannesburg remains served to Beijing, and Shenzhen on a weekly basis by Air China, which announced in November 2022 its ambition to increase to three flights per week.

Finally, Royal Air Maroc had bad luck with its Casablanca-Beijing line, inaugurated on January 16, 2020… and suspended 15 days later. According to our information, the Moroccan flag is trying to relaunch this line but must receive the approval of the Chinese authorities for this.


Air China, China Southern and Sichuan Airlines back

On the Chinese side, in addition to Air China, mentioned above, China Southern has resumed its connections between Guangzhou and Nairobi since January 9, while Sichuan Airlines connects Chengdu to Cairo three times a week.

“Chinese carriers are currently offering 28% less seat capacity than pre-pandemic levels, while African carriers are offering 36% less capacity,” notes Olivier Ponti. But, here again, the delay must be put into perspective: before the crisis, Ethiopian alone carried out more traffic between Africa and China (29% of the market in 2018, according to OAG) than all the Chinese companies combined.

Just fyi the main reason why TK doesn’t have a big market share on China-Africa is because its flights via IST especially to sub Saharan Africa do not connect in both directions.

Can someone briefly explain why MS used to fly to HGH and not PVG? Even in post covid era !