Ethiopian Set to Connect to Star Alliance This Week
The carrier expects to be incorporated into the network by the end of 2011
Ethiopian Airlines is to become a future member of Star Alliance, a network of 28 airlines, as of Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
High officials from Star Alliance network and chief executive officers (CEOs) of some of the member airlines of the network are expected to attend the ceremony to be held on Wednesday at the Sheraton Addis to officially announce the acceptance of Ethiopian as a member, sources told Fortune.
Over the past couple of years, the airline had indicated its interest to join the network but only applied for membership early this year.
The announcement would make Ethiopian Airlines the third African airline to join Star Alliance, the biggest network of airlines, joining South African Airlines (SAA) and Egypt Air. The alliance was established in 1997, by five airlines: Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines Systems, Thai Airways International, and United Airlines.
Star Alliance member airlines have code sharing agreements which is a practice of multiple airlines selling seats on the same flights giving passengers more departure times to choose from on a given route and easier connecting and transferring between flights.
Ethiopian Airlines already has a code sharing agreement with around a third of the 28 member airlines of the network. It signed an agreement with Scandinavian Airlines Systems in March 2010, and with SAA in early September, bringing the total number of airlines in the alliance it has code sharing agreements with to 10.
After the announcement on Wednesday, it is expected to take from one year to a year and a half for Ethiopian to be integrated into the network, these sources told Fortune.
Currently, Aegean Airlines, a Greek carrier, and Air India, soon to become the 29th and 30th members of the alliance, are undergoing the integration process with Ethiopian Airlines expected to become the 31st before the end of 2011, according to sources.
Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliances Services Management GmbH since 2001, is expected to make the announcement of the acceptance of Ethiopian to the alliance which Hussien Massoud (Eng), CEO of Egypt Air, is confirmed to attend.
Star Alliance network reported revenues of 156.8 billion dollars in June 2010, flying 627.52 million passengers on 4,027 aircraft. The inclusion of Ethiopian Airlines which flies to 59 destinations, 38 of which are in Africa, is expected to give the alliance a major boost in its coverage of the continent, according to industry experts. Ethiopian took the contract to manage and operate ASKY, a West African community based airline, in which it is a major shareholder with 25pc of the total shares.
The national carrier, which currently has 41 aircraft in its fleet and 50 more on order, was ranked the number one profitable airline in Africa in 2008/09 with a registered profit of 128 million dollars.
Girma Wake, the outgoing CEO of Ethiopian is to see a major achievement by the airline before he leaves his post at the end of this year.
da http://www.addisfortune.com
The carrier expects to be incorporated into the network by the end of 2011
Ethiopian Airlines is to become a future member of Star Alliance, a network of 28 airlines, as of Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
High officials from Star Alliance network and chief executive officers (CEOs) of some of the member airlines of the network are expected to attend the ceremony to be held on Wednesday at the Sheraton Addis to officially announce the acceptance of Ethiopian as a member, sources told Fortune.
Over the past couple of years, the airline had indicated its interest to join the network but only applied for membership early this year.
The announcement would make Ethiopian Airlines the third African airline to join Star Alliance, the biggest network of airlines, joining South African Airlines (SAA) and Egypt Air. The alliance was established in 1997, by five airlines: Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines Systems, Thai Airways International, and United Airlines.
Star Alliance member airlines have code sharing agreements which is a practice of multiple airlines selling seats on the same flights giving passengers more departure times to choose from on a given route and easier connecting and transferring between flights.
Ethiopian Airlines already has a code sharing agreement with around a third of the 28 member airlines of the network. It signed an agreement with Scandinavian Airlines Systems in March 2010, and with SAA in early September, bringing the total number of airlines in the alliance it has code sharing agreements with to 10.
After the announcement on Wednesday, it is expected to take from one year to a year and a half for Ethiopian to be integrated into the network, these sources told Fortune.
Currently, Aegean Airlines, a Greek carrier, and Air India, soon to become the 29th and 30th members of the alliance, are undergoing the integration process with Ethiopian Airlines expected to become the 31st before the end of 2011, according to sources.
Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliances Services Management GmbH since 2001, is expected to make the announcement of the acceptance of Ethiopian to the alliance which Hussien Massoud (Eng), CEO of Egypt Air, is confirmed to attend.
Star Alliance network reported revenues of 156.8 billion dollars in June 2010, flying 627.52 million passengers on 4,027 aircraft. The inclusion of Ethiopian Airlines which flies to 59 destinations, 38 of which are in Africa, is expected to give the alliance a major boost in its coverage of the continent, according to industry experts. Ethiopian took the contract to manage and operate ASKY, a West African community based airline, in which it is a major shareholder with 25pc of the total shares.
The national carrier, which currently has 41 aircraft in its fleet and 50 more on order, was ranked the number one profitable airline in Africa in 2008/09 with a registered profit of 128 million dollars.
Girma Wake, the outgoing CEO of Ethiopian is to see a major achievement by the airline before he leaves his post at the end of this year.
da http://www.addisfortune.com
