The planes of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are at the Kamuzu International Airport in Malawi. File Photo | Courtesy

As East Africa’s leading airlines Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways struggle to cope with financial and political crises, regional airlines Tanzania Airlines, Uganda Airlines and Rwanda Airlines have developed plans to eat big boys’ lunch.

This was exposed at the just-concluded 2021 Dubai Airshow, Uganda Airlines and Tanzania Airlines signed an agreement to prepare for the sky battle with ET and KQ. They signed aircraft and spare parts supply agreements with leading manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to ensure seamless service in the region and beyond.

At the same time, Rwanda Airways and Qatar Airways signed a code-sharing agreement, allowing the Kigali-based airline to use Qatar Airways’ vast network to bring the right to compete to ET and KQ.

The decline in the wealth of Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines was a result of financial austerity, which allowed Kenya Airways to survive the government bailout, and the Addis-based airline recently entered the austerity regime.

Changes in fortunes have caused the national airlines of Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, with government support, to shift their models to the expansion of aircraft and routes, as they seek to take over the business lost by larger and older competitors and build their own hub.

Kenya Airways has 9 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and Ethiopian Airlines has more than 20. But the Tanzanian government, which owns one, is increasing its competitiveness. On Wednesday, Dodoma ordered four Boeing freighters and passenger planes worth $726 million to increase the airline's capacity.

Boeing and Tanzania announced on Tuesday that they have ordered a 787-8 Dreamliner, a 767-300 freighter and two 737 MAX jets. Tanzania Airlines said it will use the new aircraft to "extend services from the country to new markets in Africa, Asia and Europe", in direct competition with Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways, which serve these continental routes.

“Our flagship 787 Dreamliner is very popular with passengers,” said Ladislaus Matindi, CEO of Tanzania Airlines. “Therefore, the launch of the 737 MAX and 767 freighters will give Tanzania Airways superior capabilities and flexibility to meet the needs of Africa and other countries. Regional passenger and freight demand."

The airline plans to expand its existing fleet, using new 737 aircraft for its regional network and 767 freighters to take advantage of Africa’s rapidly growing demand for freight.

At the Dubai event, Uganda Airlines and European aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced that they have begun exploratory negotiations on more aircraft that will be used to fill a key gap in the airline’s existing fleet.

The two signed a flight hour service agreement under which Airbus will be responsible for providing non-engine spare parts for a pair of Uganda Airlines A330-800.

According to the five-year agreement, the manufacturer will place a batch of key spare parts in Entebbe to meet the airline's daily spare parts requirements. The carrier will also have unlimited access to Airbus’s spare parts and component pools on the basis of exchange. In this case, the defective parts will be replaced with new ones, and the airline will only pay for the use of the parts at the agreed price time.

Uganda Airlines interim CEO Jennifer Musiime (Jenifer Musiime) said that the agreement is similar to the agreement signed with Rolls-Royce earlier to cover engines and will help the two-year-old airline avoid occupying key financial resources To reserve spare parts inventory.

"This ensures that we can continue to obtain the supply of spare parts we need. Another option is to purchase our own spare parts, which will require hundreds of millions of dollars in astronomical capital investment," she said.

Air Uganda became the first African airline to sign such an agreement with Airbus, but Tanzania Airlines is expected to sign a similar agreement to cover its A220 fleet.

Regarding the medium-range aircraft plan, Ms. Musiime said that the focus of negotiations with Airbus is whether the A320neo is suitable to fill the gap between the 76-seat Mitsubishi CRJ-900 and the 258-seat A330-800.

"CRJ's voyage can reach most of the destinations planned for the African internal network. Its weight is limited, which means there will be a trade-off between the number of passengers on board," Ms. Musiime said, but declined to disclose how many A320s will be purchased. .

At the air show, Ms. Musimei also signed cooperation agreements with Pakistan International Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines. These two partnerships further underwrite the planned Mumbai service by increasing the potential for connected transportation.

So far, the airline has been shunned by its peers Tanzania Airlines, Kenya Airways and Rwanda Airlines.

Kenya Airways has only signed a "cooperation" agreement with Boeing for its new Fahari Innovation Center that supports the use of drones.

But as the Tigray conflict unfolds, the decline in Ethiopian Airlines' wealth may give East African Airlines a respite. Competitors in the Middle East are also circling and killing.

The Ethiopian crisis is weakening ET's Bole hub in Addis and is expected to impact the airline's bottom line and frequency. If war breaks out in Addis, the airline will suffer severe losses. But the chain reaction of its massive investment in dozens of airlines across western, central and southern Africa and the mini-hubs they created could trigger a storm.

In December, the Ethiopian airline is expected to launch Congo Airlines to operate a mid- and long-haul fleet in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400, Boeing 737 and two 787s.

Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of the airline said: "We have just signed an agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The government owns 51% of the airline and we hold 49%."

ET is also involved in the opening of a new airline in Zambia, which is expected to open next month. Ethiopia will hold a 49% stake, and Zambia will hold a 51% controlling stake.

Currently, it has established strategic partnerships with Togo’s ASKY, Malawi Airways, and Chad’s Chadiya Airways. It also signed a management contract with the Intercontinental Kapok Company of Equatorial Guinea.

Ethiopian Airlines is also keen to set up an airline in Nigeria, and has begun negotiations to help the revival of South African Airways, but it has not been selected by the airline.

The airline also plans to restart Mozambique Airways' operations after terminating services in May due to Covid-19, which affects the aviation industry.

No African airline can match the connectivity of ET. Kenya Airways is its closest competitor. Due to aircraft restrictions and a weak capital base, it is unable to initiate any influential airline expansion or acquisition.

This makes Middle East Airlines, Emirates and Qatar possible beneficiaries.

The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is pushing airlines to tighten, and the financial outlook looks grim.

At the previous air show, ET signed multi-billion-dollar aircraft orders with Boeing and Airbus, but at the 2021 Dubai Air Show, it only signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing and will help it through the Boeing 787 landing gear. Exchange items to reduce maintenance and operation costs.

"As the fastest growing airline in Africa, our success largely depends on our ability to find new ways to improve operational efficiency in the process. This memorandum of understanding will help manage the overall maintenance operations of our entire fleet. And cost," Mr. GebreMariam said.

As the Tigray conflict rages, its competitors are taking advantage of demand, especially from foreigners who have fled the country.

This month, the conflict in Ethiopia escalated after rebels and their allies in the northern region of Tigray acquired territory and threatened to march into the capital.

On November 2nd, the government declared a state of emergency, reflecting the fear that this war might tear Ethiopia apart and further destabilize the turbulent Horn of Africa.

Several countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have issued travel warnings to citizens living in Ethiopia and evacuated non-essential staff. The United Nations and the African Union have followed suit. Safaricom, which has been preparing for operations in Addis, also withdrew some employees.

Kenya Airways subsequently increased its flights to Addis in an attempt to control the route once dominated by Ethiopian Airlines. Kenya Airways has added weekly scheduled flights to Ethiopia and other East African countries. The airline even offered incentives-offering a 15% discount to passengers who booked through them-and increased the frequency of flights to Ethiopia from 3 to 7 times.

In the case of increasing competition between Tanzania Airlines and Uganda Airlines, Kenya Airways has also increased flights to other routes, including Dar es Salaam from the 14th to the 16th, and from the 14th to the 16th. Entebbe. While ET is expected to support Congo Airlines next month, KQ will also increase the frequency of flights to Kinshasa from 5 to 8.

In December, KQ plans to increase the number of flights to London from 5 to 7 in order to take advantage of the increasing demand of passengers during the holiday.

"Since the opening of the United Kingdom to Kenya, we have had five flights a week, but starting in December, we will operate flights to London Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 seven days a week. Kenya Airways will increase Flights because of holidays and as countries relax travel restrictions," the airline said on Tuesday.

Last month, KQ signed a codeshare agreement with British Airways, which will enable BA customers to seamlessly connect on Kenya Airways flights within Africa, and vice versa, to provide services to KQ customers in Europe. The top destinations include Douala, Zanzibar, Lusaka, Mombasa, Addis Ababa and Entebbe, as well as Indian Ocean destinations in Mauritius and Seychelles.

Kenyan Airways customers can transfer from British Airways’ LHR hub to 26 destinations in Europe, including Heathrow Airport, Glasgow, Madrid, Milan, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and holiday destinations around the Mediterranean.

Tanzania Airlines, which has 11 aircraft, announced a flight from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Nairobi (Kenya), Bujumbura (Burundi), Ndola (Zambia) and Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo) Four new regional routes.

Last month, Tanzania and Belgium signed an air agreement allowing Tanzania Airlines to fly to Brussels Airport, while Brussels Airlines introduced reciprocal flights to Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar.

The maiden flight of Dar-Bujumbura took off on November 8, Dar-Ndola and Dar-Lubumbashi routes will begin operations last week (November 18), and Dar-Nairobi routes will reopen on November 26.

Tanzania Airlines has regional flights to Entebbe (Uganda), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia) and Hahaya (Comoros), as well as weekly cargo flights to Guangzhou.

The Johannesburg route was also cancelled due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and has not been reintroduced, while plans to open flights to London Gatwick Airport are still in an uncertain state, even though the airport allocated a slot for ATCL last year.

Tanzania recently paid a down payment of US$258.7 million for the purchase of five other aircraft. It is expected that these aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2023, with the goal of having 16 aircraft. The current stables include two Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, four Airbus A220-300 and five Bombardier Q-400/Dash 8-400.

At the same time, Rwanda Airways plans to open direct flights between Kigali and Doha from December 1st, giving this national airline a leading position and an advantageous position in regional competition.

Rwandan Airlines passengers will now connect Doha and London via Heathrow Airport and use Qatar Airways’ network. This will enable Rwanda Airlines to attract regional passengers, who usually choose Nairobi or Addis Ababa for long-haul flights.

Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways have hubs in Doha, but direct flights from Kigali to Doha will greatly promote the development of Rwandan Airways as a transit airline, and the cooperation with Qatar will provide passengers taking African routes with more multiple choice.

Rwanda Airways will also resume its London flights, operating three flights a week between London and Kigali, departing from Heathrow Airport every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

"Code sharing with Qatar Airways is a major achievement for Rwanda Airways. It allows our passengers to use world-class airlines and global networks. To achieve a truly seamless connection, we will open it in December 2021 Direct flights between Kigali and Doha,” said Yvonne Makolo, CEO of Rwanda Airlines.

"It allows us to visit 265 global destinations and they have greatly improved their pan-African services. We will also share our loyalty program, and RwandAir is the first sub-Saharan airline to do so. When appropriate At that time, Qatar Airways will also acquire a part of Rwanda Airlines. We will also consider other synergies in terms of training and service provision," she said.

The opening of the Kigali-Doha route and the recent code-sharing agreement with Qatar Airways appears to be the latest move by Gulf Air to complete the acquisition of a 49% stake in Rwanda Airways.

The route expansion and consolidation of its existing network appears to be a plan to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline recently opened new routes-Kigali-Lubumbashi and Kigali-Goma, expanding its footprint in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The opening of Kigali-Doha and the resumption of Kigali-London flights are expected to put Rwanda Airlines on a solid path to recovery.

"We had to scale down our services, but doing so allowed us to start growing again. We suspended the finer routes, but we also opened up new routes. Our growth will be organic," Ms. Makoro said .

"It is also important to diversify our sources of income. Freight will be an important part of this, because since the beginning of 2021, we have put the African Continental Free Trade Area into operation."

The airline recently resumed the Kigali-Kampala route, and the Kigali-Mumbai route began to pick up, waiting for the Kigali-Guangzhou route to fully resume, which was the airline’s best-performing route before the pandemic .

Among the airline's West Africa routes, the Kigali-Lagos route performed best during the pandemic and has been designated as its own flight.

The Kigali-Dubai route also played an important role during this period and will continue to play a key role in the airline's recovery.

The airline recently resumed other African routes, such as Johannesburg, Lusaka, Harare, and Cape Town, which will be the key to its recovery.

The US Embassy in Dar es Salaam also warned that the community spread of the coronavirus is still spreading in Tanzania.

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