Ethiopian Airlines eyes Balkan region for future expansion
Ethiopian Airlines is planning to expand its operations in Southeast Europe with Balkan markets on its radar. Speaking at the recent New Air Gateway Conference in Ljubljana, Saba Kassaye, Ethiopian Airlines’ Regional Manager for Austria and Eastern Europe, covering Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Ukraine, said, “Currently we are using Vienna, Athens, Istanbul and Zurich to cover these markets. We have a big vision, especially for our expansion in Europe and Southeastern Europe. Destination wise, we will have to see but we have a list of countries that we are planning to study and open within the region”. Ms Kassaye added, “We want to connect Africa to the world, and we want to expand outside of Africa. Currently, our expansion is focused on Europe and America and also, of course, within Africa, especially bigger countries. Our strategy is to expand across the world”.
In its Vision 2035 plan, Ethiopian Airlines aims to nearly double its number of destinations to 207; as well as double its fleet to 271. The Star Alliance member does not operate to the former Yugoslav markets but has a General Sales Agent for the region. TAL Aviation covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia for Ethiopian Airlines, with its regional office in Belgrade. “Ethiopian Airlines is quite known that they utilise some European cities as a stopover for fifth freedom rights towards the US because of the distance. So, if they would consider Belgrade, we would be very open for cooperation”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said.
Demand from former Yugoslav markets to Africa is mainly limited to the Maghreb region and Egypt. Outside of this area, based on point-to-point demand, Belgrade Airport sees the most traffic to Johannesburg, the Seychelles and Zanzibar. From Zagreb, most indirect traffic to Africa outside of the North is headed to Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Seychelles. Similarly, passengers departing Ljubljana for the African continent are mostly headed to Mauritius, Cape Town and the Seychelles. In the case of all three, Turkish Airlines is the main transfer airline to Africa. In Slovenia it holds a 60% share of the Africa bound market, followed by Air France. In Zagreb it handles 29% of all passengers to and from Africa, followed by Qatar Airways, while in Belgrade it holds a 25% share, followed by Lufthansa.
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