Three major African airlines to launch new regional player
There are exciting plans afoot in the African aviation industry the continent’s three largest airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines, considering the establishment of a regional airline in central and West Africa that would feed the larger airlines on loner routes or what they call ‘truck routes’.
The possibility of a new airline in Africa was first reported earlier in 2010 when the CEO of South African Airways (SAA) indicated that he was in talks with Egypt Air and Ethiopian Air about the idea.
Siza Mzimela pointed out to South Africa news media that while SAA provided extensive long-haul flights to and from and around the continent and while Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines provided flights to and from North and East Africa respectively, there is a need for regional flights in central Africa and West Africa, two areas of the continent that are severely underrepresented in terms of daily or even weekly flights.
Talks about a regional airline for central and West Africa come just as Ethiopian Airlines received approval from Star Alliance to join the global airline alliance, which is the largest and most integrated of its kind in the world.
Improving air transport on the continent is seen as key to the development of countries that are largely isolated at presented, such as landlocked states in central Africa and countries in West Africa emerging from periods of violence and internal conflict that circumscribed air travel to and from their major cities.
Safe and efficient air travel is the foundation to future investment and the establishment of a regional airline would have economic benefits for the three major African airlines, all of which are now members of Star Alliance.
The regional airline, which has not yet been given a name, would ‘feed’ the larger airlines. For example, people travelling from smaller towns and cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or surrounding countries would fly to Kinshasa or some other regional hub with the new airline and would then get on connecting flights to Johannesburg, Addis Ababa or Cairo with SAA, Ethiopian Air or Egypt Air.
However, while SAA supports the establishment of a new airline for the regional West and central Africa, it has in recent months backed away from speculation of establishing the airline as a subsidiary or affiliated company.
“While SAA, Ethiopian Airlines and Egypt Air will provide the truck routes, there is a need to get a regional airline to feed the larger carriers. Therefore we are supportive of a new airline in the central region and will assist where we can,” a spokesperson for SAA, Fani Zulu told African news provider Business Day.
SAA is the largest airline in Africa and has dominance on most major long-haul routes around the continent, the withdrawal of financial support, or at the very least the dismissal of potential financial support is a blow to the future prospects of the project, but the incongruence of SAA’s statement is not as negative as it may seem.
The airline is able to provide expertise, advice and guidance, factors that are extremely important for a start up venture. It does leave the question of where the money will come from. Previous subsidiary projects announced by airlines, such as Ethiopian Air’s Asky Airlines, which is based in Lome, Togo and is envisioned as another regional airline for West Africa, have proven slow in getting off the ground.
Asky was established in 2009, but has yet to get off the ground. Much of this has to do with safety regulations, the navigation of local laws and permits etcetera, but reveals the complicated and drawn out nature of creating a new airline. And the heavy cost. South African Airline has its own regional airline in central Africa, Congo Express flies just one route between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi with a Bombardier CRJ200 that is leased from South African Express, another subsidiary of SAA. The airline had initially flown two routes within the DRC, but reduced its portfolio to one due to a lack of feasibility.
The process will be a difficult one then and there is no guarantee of success within the first few years of operation, success being profitability, of course, which would perhaps explain the reluctance of SAA to invest money in the venture when SAA itself has had to ask the South African government for several bailouts in recent years. However, the new regional airline for central and West Africa will reportedly connect the two regions to the rest of the continent and the Star Alliance; it will therefore primarily operate inter-regional flights between the countries of these two regions where there is greater demand.
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Three major African airlines to launch new regional player
West and central Africa may soon have a regional airline to connect the countries of the region and feed the three largest airlines in Africa, especially South African Airways, which has dominance on the continent, although it has indicated it will not provide financial support to such a venture.
There are exciting plans afoot in the African aviation industry the continent’s three largest airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines, considering the establishment of a regional airline in central and West Africa that would feed the larger airlines on loner routes or what they call ‘truck routes’. Read more
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