South African Airways (SAA) are in a very terrible situation said an internal memorandum on the 6th of November 2015,
It was made public last month that the SAA is technically insolvent and thus mortified of careless and irresponsible trading. It is also legally obliged under the Companies Act to file for the liquidation of the company. But after the investigation of the SAA failure, it is confirmed that the quality of management was responsible, not the state ownership.
Ethiopian Airlines, largest African airline
Ethiopian Airline is the fastest growing and largest profitable airline in Africa. The airline has grown at an average rate of around 20 to 25 percent every year.The profits for the fiscal year 2014/15 were amounted to $175 million, which was more than the profits of entire African airlines combined.
Ethiopian Airlines network
Ethiopian airlines is the most networked African airline because both in terms of schedule routes within the Africa as well as the international destinations. It serves almost 91 destinations internationally, where, 52 destinations in Africa, 15 destinations in Europe and America, however 24 destinations are in Asian countries from Gulf to Tokyo.
It has a youngest and the largest cargo fleet in Africa. It has 68 passenger planes and makes more than 230 departures daily, it is an average of the previous five years.
Cargo and freight within Africa
The airline has around 1.2 million tonne annual capacity of cargo and freight and it has its major cargo terminal in Addis Ababa, airline hub. This hub is a massive setup and slightly smaller than London Heathrow Airport, which is the 4th largest in Europe.
Ethiopian airline currently covers 48 cargo destinations where the largest portion comes from Europe and Asia. The major part of cargo to Africa handled by the airline ad it has eight dedicated cargo carriers, however, by 2025, airline has a target to increase the fleet to 18 cargo carriers.
The success factor
The major success factor of the airline is strategically capturing of entire African market and the establishment of a multi hub system on the continent. The strategy and alliance president of the airline commented that Africa is a massive continent and it was not sufficient to control the continent with one hub.
Thus, the airline bought the failing ASKy airline and Air Malawi and used them as a part of the multi system hub.
