AfricaReview Ethiopian upgrades its fleet AMI looks to imports for future growth


Ethiopian Airlines’ took delivery of its first B787 ‘Dreamliner’ at Seattle on 14 August, ahead of its first commercial flight from Dulles to Addis Ababa. The carrier will be the first in Africa to operate the all-new aircraft, a testament, according to CEO Tewolde Gebremariam, of Ethiopian’s “continuing pioneering role in African aviation”. Meanwhile, last month (July) also saw Ethiopian order a


further B777-200LR (Longer Range) aircraft from US manu- facturer Boeing in a deal that would be worth US$276 million at list price. The carrier already boasts five B777-200LRs and, Gebre-


mariam noted, it has been “a fantastic airplane for Ethiopian Airlines. The performance and range of the airplane allowed us to open direct routes from Washington DC to Addis Ababa, as well as Addis Ababa to Beijing, Toronto and other long-range routes.” He added: “In line with our Vision 2025, we plan to pro-


vide more and more non-stop long-haul flights to connect East, West, North and South using the strategic location of our Addis Ababa hub. “This additional airplane will let us take full advantage of the performance and economic of this great airplane.”


An import boom has prompted a search by wholesaler AMI for additional premises near Johannesburg's Oliver Tambo Airport, says VP Africa, Mike Todd. At the time of writing, AMI was hoping to gain final approval for new space that would allow it to step up its activities in this field, including an off-airport degroup facility - one of the conditions for which is a separate import warehouse. The degroup facility would speed up and


smooth out import operations, Mike Todd explains, and could also reduce costs to clients. Queues of trucks can build up at airport import facilities and lead to delays at busy times. With traditional markets out of South Africa


in Europe and the US subdued by the financial crisis, imports into South Africa have held up reasonably well and there is definitely scope for an import wholesale service, Mike Todd believes. Exports still account for 80 percent of AMI's business in South Africa, including intra-African trade which has been


Todd: “concerned about Europe to Africa trade prospects”


building up nicely, particularly from South Africa to the mining and oil producing regions of West Africa – mostly urgent spares. “At the moment, we're above budget and we see export destinations in Africa making up for downturns in Europe and the US,” explains Todd. “But we are a bit concerned about what is happening in Europe, as it is a major market.” AMI has offices and facilities in the three


major South African air freight markets – Johan- nesburg, Cape Town and Durban plus an office in Port Elizabeth. So far at least, the company has held back from opening its own operations in other African countries and continues to work with agents. “Would a wholesaler neces- sarily work in those markets?” asks Todd. “Often, the main market is perishables con- trolled by perhaps half a dozen large


organisations; for a wholesaler to thrive, you need large num- bers of smaller agents. And some markets just don't have a 'culture' of wholesaling.”


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Kenyan forwarder stays FIT


Samuel Gichohi, group busi- ness development director at Nairobi-headquartered freight forwarder Freight In Time (FIT), says that things are hard right now but there is some rea- son for optimism. “There has not been any


signficant recovery yet, the Eurozone crisis is still weighing on demand from the region,” he declared. Plus: “The current political


situation in Sudan has slowed everything down and most pro- jects there are on hold, with players adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude. Our office there has been affected, with most of our projections currently being missed and on hold. “However, the recent discovery of oil in Kenya and gas in


Gichohi: “committed to achieving our vision”


Tanazania have elicitied some excitement – although these pro- jects will take a long time to come to fruition.” Elswehere, FIT remains on track to open new offices in Zam-


bia and Congo by the end of this year, with Malawi to open up in the first quarter of 2013. “We remain committed to achieving our vision of being the pan-African logistics provider of choice,” Gichohi confirmed.


BRIEFS • BRIEFS • BRIEFS


KLM IS ADDINGto its African network with the launch of three times a week A330-200 services to Harare, the Zimbabwean city being served in conjunction with Lusaka in Zambia. The Dutch carrier inaugurated operations to Kigali (in Rwanda) in 2011 and to Luanda (in Angola) and Lusaka earlier this year.


INVESTMENT COMPANY Cambria Africa has sold an F27-500 Cargo aircraft to a Kenyan operator.


THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association has urged the adoption of the Africa Strategic Improvement Action Plan to improve aviation safety in Africa.


20 August 2012 Page 7


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