Ethiopian Airlines, a wholly owned company of the Ethiopian government, is expanding its services in India to capitalise on the growing passenger and cargo traffic volumes from the country to various African destinations.
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde GabreMariam said traffic from India has been growing at a CAGR of 20% over many years and the airline was expecting similar response to its newly introduced direct flight services between Bengaluru and Addis Ababa.
“Our experience with India has so far been extremely good. We recently increased flight frequency by making it twice a day and also by enhancing aircraft capacity for Mumbai and New Delhi services. Bengaluru tech firms are heavily investing in Africa. A large number of Africans travel to India for healthcare services. Also, India has a large student population from Africa. We expect a huge demand for direct flight services in this route,” said Mr. GabreMariam.
The airline is currently conducting market studies in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad to gauge the African appetite of these cities.
Ethiopian Airlines currently has a fleet size of 120 and serves a network of 125 passenger destinations, including 20 domestic and 44 freighter services. The airline has plans to acquire 60 new aircraft in the next three to four years.
“We are expanding our fleet to cater to the growing global interest in Ethiopia and Africa. Our new airplanes will include smaller aircraft from Bombardier for regional services, long-haul airplanes from Boeing, and Airbus A350, Airbus 377, Boeing 777, Boeing 787 Dreamliner,” Mr. GabreMariam added.
