Ethiopian and ASKY Airlines assure agencies of support

The Ethiopian Airlines in collaboration with ASKY Airlines on Monday assured its travelling and tour agencies of its support in promoting the airline business.

Mr Abdul-Rahaman Mohammed, the Sales Manager, Ethiopian Airlines commended the agencies for their support to promote the interest of the airlines at a workshop in Accra.

He said Ethiopian Airlines being the largest airlines in Africa, over the past seven decades has been the pioneer of the African Aviation as an aircraft technology leader.

The workshop was to deliberate on how to minimize the wastage of the Global Distribution Systems (GDSs), introduce the Airlines new products and services and communicate the relationship between the two airlines.

It is also to foster the continuous relationship between the agencies and the airlines.

Mr Abdul-Rahaman said: “We currently have an Airline inventory of 92 fleets currently in service and 59 with an average age of five years, the youngest in Africa”.

He said Ethiopian Airlines as the trailblazer of African Aviation industry have the largest Aviation Academy in African which offers standard professional training for pilots, aircraft technicians, cabin attendants and ground service staff.

He said the Airlines has joined forces with the worldwide hospitals and has established a new product by name ‘Medical Travel,’ which connects patients with renowned and specialized hospitals abroad and established pre-treatment consultations with the medical team of the designated hospital.

“Some of the countries that have these hospitals are Thailand, India, Ethiopia, UAE, Egypt, Israel and Malaysia,” he added.

Mr Worlanyo Afadzinu, the Country Manager, ASKY Airlines said the Airline was born out of the will of some regional institutions to create a community Airline to serve as an integration tool following the demise of Air Afrique.

ASKY is the pan-African airline that was created by regional institutions: the Bank for Investment and Development, the West African Development Bank and the ECOBANK Group.

He said the Airline in 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia signed a strategic partnership with Ethiopian Airlines through a Memorandum of Understanding.

He said the Airline would resume its flight operations to and from West African cities of Monrovia, Freetown and Banjul from November 1, 2017.

“ASKY is a commercial company under private law and managed by experienced professionals from Africa,” he added.

According to him, the Pan African airline currently operates a fleet of eight New Generation aircrafts, four Dash Q-400, one Boeing 737 – 800, and three Boeing 737-700.

“ASKY now serves 19 cities in 17 countries on the African continent,” he said.

Some of the destinations are Abidjan, Abuja, Cotonou, Lagos, Bissau, Niamey, Brazzavile, Bamako, Lome, Yaounde, Libreville and Ouagadougo.

The Country Manager said during the Ebola era, the Airline decided to discontinue operations to the Monrovia, Freetown and Banjul and would resume soon.

Mr Afadzinu said the Airlines wanted to connect passengers from these destinations into Accra and also provide the opportunity for passengers to connect to other destinations.

Madam Genet Michael, Area Manager of Ethiopian Airlines in Ghana said the areas have noted some of the concerns by the Agents on the system challenges and would work towards addressing them.