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Ethiopian airlines is quickly dominating the African aviation industry. The company is rapidly expanding, following its growth plan “Vision 2025”.

Ethiopian’s History

The airline was founded in 1945 following the Emperor of Ethiopia making a request to the US, UK, and France to launch a national airline. TWA went on to launch the airline at an initial investment cost of $25m ETB. From the early days until now, the airline has gone on to grow to becoming the launch customer for Boeing’s iconic B787.

Current Growth

Ethiopian is rapidly growing. It has planned its growth for a 15 year period from 2010-2025, meaning it has completed roughly a half of this plan. The plan is already well on its way to making the airline the biggest on the continent. As part of this plan, the airline is launching a number of national airlines across the continent. “Through its multiple hubs strategy in Africa, Ethiopian currently operates hubs in Lomé (Togo) with ASKY Airlines and Malawian in Lilongwe (Malawi), while having the already acquired stakes in Zambia’s and Guinea’s national carriers and making preparations to launch Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines.”

As you can see from the map above, Ethiopian intends to have a fairly even spread across the continent. Its expansion into Chad is the most noteworthy, as this gives the airline a base right in the centre of Africa to operate out of. Part of the Vision 2025 plan is to have multiple hubs across the content. When commenting on the launch of a Chadian national airline Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, said “The strategic equity partnership in the launching of the new Chad national carrier is part of our Vision 2025 multiple hub strategy in Africa. The new Chad national carrier will serve as a strong hub in Central Africa availing domestic, regional and eventually international air connectivity to the major destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.”

Lack Of Competition Drives Growth

In addition to Ethiopian’s growth plan, local factors are also playing to the airline’s advantage. As a continent Africa has relatively poor infrastructure links. Where as in Europe and the Americas you would travel by road or rail, such options aren’t as common in Africa. Aviation doesn’t require roads or rails to be built in the sky, meaning all that is needed are runways. This makes travelling by air an attractive option for getting from A-B quickly on the continent.

Poor performance by competitors is also aiding Ethiopian. The other big airline on the continent, South African Airways, is preforming relatively poorly. Following a loss of $475mUSD in the 2016-17 financial year, the future of the airline could be in jeopardy. By contrast, Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s most profitable carrier. Maybe Ethiopian should use this money to buy South African’s slogan, “Bringing the world to Africa and taking Africa to the world”. It certainly seems like Ethiopian is already doing just that!