Page 38 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

AFRICAN
AIRLINES

MISSING CONTINENT: OCEANIA

thiopian Airlines, the flag carrier

Eof Ethiopia, is well known around
the world for its global presence. Since its
founding in 1945, the airline has expanded
its operations and fleet.

Today, Ethiopian is Africa’s largest airline

in terms of passengers carried, destinations

served, fleet size, and revenue. It is also the

world’s four largest airline in terms of the
number of countries it serves.
Currently, it provides regular services to
all continents except Oceania. Manila. The same year, it inaugurated Los destinations. For capacity, its biggest mar-

As of February 2020, the carrier flew to Angeles and Newark, taking the total number kets - Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa and Khar-

129 destinations in 75 countries. of destinations in the Americas to six. toum - are in countries bordering Ethiopia.

In 2018, Buenos Aires became the second
HUB AND SPOKE country market for the airline on the continent. OCEANIC ADVENTURE

Ethiopian Airlines’ slogan, ‘The New Spirit It’s strange that, even after so many years,

of Africa’, is an appropriate representation MAJOR MARKETS Ethiopian has not set foot in Oceania.

as far as passenger traffic is concerned. The African carrier’s leading country Nevertheless, the reason might be understand-
The airline has done a commendable job market is China, with an estimated 2.5 able. First of all, Oceania to Africa passenger

in connecting Africa to the world, and it million passengers between the country demand is not substantial, with most of it

boasts a monopoly over international flight and Africa in 2019. concentrated within a few countries.

demand out of the continent. Pre-corona virus, Ethiopian served Beijing, Secondly, non-stop flights to destinations

It is unique geographically, but in terms of op- Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai Pudong like Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland will
erations is very similar to the likes of Emirates, on a passenger basis. The US leads by air- be no less than 13 hours and require a wide-

Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Etihad. ports per country, with five: Chicago, Hous- body aircraft like B787 or A350. This would

Ethiopian serves more destinations in ton, Newark, New York and Washington. mean that the carrier will have to shift its

Africa than any other airline. By late 2012, the In terms of weekly seats, Dubai, Nairobi aircraft from more in-demand routes.

carrier was already flying high demand routes and Entebbe are in the top three. Delhi and Moreover, Ethiopian’s strong presence in
out of Addis Ababa using its new 787s. Mumbai were also a part of the top-ten list, Singapore is already serving the purpose.
In 2013, Ethiopian entered South America with twice-daily frequencies to both the Using its code share partnership with
with non-stop services to Rio de Janeiro Indian cities. Earlier this year, the airline Singapore Airlines, passengers can fly

and São Paulo. Soon, Singapore, Shanghai expanded services to India with new flights extensively to Oceania via Singapore. With

and Vienna were launched too. to Bangalore and Chennai. the ongoing pandemic, it is doubtful we will

By 2016, Ethiopian was flying to unexpect- In terms of connections, Nigeria is the see Ethiopian fly to the seventh continent

ed destinations like Tokyo-Narita, Dublin and most important African country with four in the next few years. Q
SUPERSONIC
WORLD'S FASTEST CIVIL AIRCRAFT

in engine-airframe matching activities. The priorities of this engagement are
The teams will also investigate wheth- informed by Boom and Rolls-Royce’s

oom Supersonic, an aerospace er existing engine architecture can be shared commitment to sustainability.

Bcompany building the world’s fast- adapted for supersonic flight, while Overcoming the technological chal-

est civil aircraft, and Rolls Royce have an- Boom’s internal team continues to devel- lenges of supersonic flight provides a

nounced an engagement agreement that op the airframe configuration. unique opportunity to accelerate innova-

tion sustainably.
will explore the pairing of a Rolls-Royce Blake Scholl, Boom founder and CEO said,
Simon Carlisle, director of strategy
propulsion system with Boom’s flagship “We’ve had a series of valuable collabo- Rolls-Royce said, “We share a strong

rations and co-locations with Rolls-Royce

supersonic passenger aircraft, Overture. over the past years to lay the groundwork interest in supersonic flight and in sustain-

The goal of the new agreement is to for this next phase of development. ability strategies for aviation with Boom.

work together to identify the propulsion “We look forward to building on the prog- “We’re now building on our valuable

system that would complement Boom’s ress and rapport that we’ve already built experience in this space as well as our
Overture airframe. with our collaboration as we work to refine previous work together to further match

The engagement will involve teams Overture’s design and bring sustainable and refine our engine technology for

from Boom and Rolls-Royce collaborating supersonic transport to passenger travel.” Boom’s Overture.” Q
World Airnews | September 2020
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