Ethiopia overtakes Dubai as the main source of air traffic in Africa

Ethiopia has overtaken Dubai as a transit route for long-haul pbadengers to Africa, highlighting the success of the airline's expansion attempt and the reforms of its new prime minister.

ForwardKeys travel consulting company said Wednesday that the Addis Ababa airport had increased the number of pbadengers making international transfers to sub-Saharan Africa for the fifth consecutive year. By 2018, it had pbaded Dubai, one of the busiest airports in the world, as a transportation hub in the region.

Analyzing the data of travel booking systems recording 17 million flight bookings per day, ForwardKeys found that the number of long-haul transfers to sub-Saharan Africa via Addis Ababa jumped 85% between 2013 and 2017 Transfers via Dubai increased by 31 percent.

So far this year, Addis Ababa has grown 18%, compared with 3% in Dubai.

Dubai has long been a major global airline hub, as it is the base of the Emirates carrier. In the absence of an "open skies" agreement to smooth flights across Africa, many pbadengers traveling from one region of the continent to another, from Asia or from from Europe to Africa, often have to transit through Dubai.

But that changes.

Ethiopian Airlines, the country's most successful public company, is accelerating the 15-year strategy launched in 2010 to regain market share on routes to and from Africa dominated by Turkish Airlines and Emirates.

It is also weaving a mosaic of new African roads into fast-growing, lucrative Asian markets.

ForwardKeys also attributed the recent rise in bookings via Addis Ababa in part to a positive international response to the sweeping reforms introduced by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in April and who has upset politics in the country. about 105 million people. people.

He notably mentioned two changes: a decision allowing visitors to apply for visas online and Abiy 's promise to open to the foreign economy the economy largely controlled by the government. Ethiopia.

After Abiy made peace with Eritrea to end a two-decade state of war, the Ethiopian resumed flights to his neighbor in July. This month, he relaunched flights to the Somali capital after four decades.

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