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FOR Ethiopian businessman MesfinGetachew,a peak season plane ticket be-tween Beijing and Addis Ababa is not hard tofind.But stopping over in Guangzhou,HongKong or Dubai has become a real headachefor Getachew,who has made frequent trips to China onbusiness over the past three years.
His long-term travel woes will hopefully be curedas the Ethiopian Airlines introduces its daily non-stopservices from Addis Ababa to Beijing from this May,which will decrease his traveling time by almost threehours.
Tewolde G.Mariam,CEO of EthiopianAirlines,believes this new non-stop flightwill allow the passengers to have a convenientand direct access into Beijing,"an importantlocation with great potential for growth"inhis mind.
Seeing the potential for China's fast-ex-panding aviation industry,a growing numberof African airlines have maintained an activeChina presence and have plans on expandingeven further.
South African Airways is seeking to open anew route to the Chinese mainland this year,while Kenya Airways has announced its codeshare flights (commercial flights operatedby one airline,but marketed by others) withChina Southern Airlines,one of China's lead-ing carriers,in early January.Angola Airlinesalso set up its Beijing representative office in July lastyear,as the company is optimistic about the demandfor the flights in both Beijing and Luanda.
Africa bound
The reason why African airlines have set their eyes onestablishing a presence in China is due to the ever-in-creasing bond between China and Africa in terms ofinvestment,as well as tourism.
With total direct investment in Africa surging to$9.3 billion by the end of 2009,China has emerged asthe continent's largest trading partner,whilst Africahas become the fourth largest overseas investment des-tination for China.
Altogether,28 African countries and regions havebeen granted the Approved Destination Status fortourists from the Chinese mainland by the end of 2009.Some 381,000 Chinese visitors visited Africa as thefirst stop on their travels in 2009,up by 18.5 percentover the previous year,while the number of Africanstraveling to China during 2009 increased by6 percent over 2008,reaching 401,000.Thesestatistics were sourced from a white paper onChina-Africa economic and trade coopera-tion,issued by the Chinese Government lastDecember.
Accordingly,industrial analysts said civilaviation,a new source of growth,is in fullstride as the economic and trade interactionbetween the two sides is increasing.
China had signed civil aviation transportagreements with some 15 African countriesby the end of 2009,including Ethiopia,An-gola,Zambia and South Africa.The nationalairlines of Egypt,Ethiopia,Zimbabwe,Ken-ya and Algeria have opened scheduled directflights to Beijing and Guangzhou,while Chi-nese airlines have established direct flightsbetween Beijing and Lagos,Luanda and Khartoum.
"Shortened flight paths and more flight frequency[between China and Africa] are positive measures tak-en to facilitate bilateral exchanges,which,as a result,is likely to increase tourism and investment,"said WuFang,assistant research fellow with the Chinese Acad-emy of International Trade and Economic Coopera-tion."But that's not enough.Take tourism for example.More promotion programs and photography exhibi-tions are very necessary for African nations,"Wu toldChinAfrica.
So far,up to 10 air routes linking Beijing with majorAfrican cities provide services at Beijing Capital Inter-national Airport,which has witnessed a deeper andmore mature Sino-African cooperation,Wu added.
Kenya Airways is a clear example of how compa-nies have taken advantage of the growing Sino-Afri-can cooperation.
China's investment flow to Africa has experiencedfast growth after the global economic downturn.Airroutes connecting China and Africa have correspond-ingly emerged to be the key and competitive globalroutes.
In view of these facts,Kenya Airways plans furtherglobal business expansion with a particular focus onthe Chinese market,apart from expanding its Africancoverage by adding six new airlines on the continentin 2011.By 2012,the airline plans to serve about 80key destinations worldwide,according to Lily Tang,the area manager for the Chinese mainland and HongKong of Kenya Airways.
"Kenya Airways launched its Chinese website twoyears ago,for the needs of growing number of Chinesepassengers,which allows them,mainly businessmenand leisure travelers,to get the latest flight informa-tion and online check-in,"said Tang.
Competition or cooperation?
China's booming aviation market has laid solidgroundwork for expanding Sino-African cooperationin this field.
Despite the global economic crisis cutting deepinto the earnings of airlines,China's airline compa-nies reported 35.1 billion yuan ($5.35 billion) in profitslast year,which accounted for 60 percent of the totalreaped by airline companies worldwide,according tothe Civil Aviation Administration of China.In thecoming five years,China will build more than 45 air-ports,bringing the total number to over 220 by 2015.
In addition,China is expected to contribute muchto the growth of the international aviation industry.The International Air Transport Association indicatesthat by 2014,there will be 3.3 billion air travelers,upby 800 million from the 2.5 billion in 2009.Of the 800million new travelers expected to fly by 2014,360 mil-lion will travel on Asia-Pacific routes,and of those,214million will be associated with China.Meanwhile,theChinese mainland and Hong Kong will account for athird of global freight volume growth over the periodto 2014.The fast expanding market is attracting theattention of international airlines.
Mark Arxhoek,Regional Sales Director of GreaterChina Air France KLM,said that China is the favorite and profitable region for investors as well,adding thatthe Franco-Dutch carrier seeks to grow bigger in Chi-na.
Airlines like Air France KLM,Lufthansa and Con-tinental are now the leading foreign carriers in Chinain terms of capacity and market share.Comparatively,African airlines have a smaller market,but they haveimplemented their own strategy to compete with theirrivals.Seeing the rising number of Chinese visitorsto Kenya,not only does the Kenya Airways provideChinese customer-tailored services,such as in-flightChinese meals and Chinese-speaking attendants,buthas set up collaborations with a string of travel agen-cies,planning to soon offer competitive fares to moreand more Chinese travelers who prefer to take a self-guided tour in Africa.
Wu favors the moves that the Nairobi-based air-line has made to promote tourism in China."Thereare over 50 African countries,each with their ownspecific strengths and advantages.By making full useof Kenya's advantages in rich tourism resources,theairline does well in operating routes that support andpromote Kenyan tourism products."
The analyst also believed that the growing Chinaaviation market has made more opportunities avail-able for African nations,rather than competition.
"African airlines will take a larger market share ifthey are able to offer lower fares to Chinese travelers[than their rivals],given a large number of Chineseworkers in Africa,"Wu said.
In addition,China has in recent years been steppingup exports of civil and defense aircraft.Due to its lowoperational and maintenance costs,the Chinese-maderegional jet,Modern Ark 60,has sold quite well in Af-rica since 2005.Along with Africa's growing demandfor aircraft in the next two decades,Wu predicted thatChinese aircraft companies would receive more ordersfrom Africa."[Exports of aircraft] I think will becomeanother important aspect of Sino-African cooperationin the aviation industry."
His long-term travel woes will hopefully be curedas the Ethiopian Airlines introduces its daily non-stopservices from Addis Ababa to Beijing from this May,which will decrease his traveling time by almost threehours.
Tewolde G.Mariam,CEO of EthiopianAirlines,believes this new non-stop flightwill allow the passengers to have a convenientand direct access into Beijing,"an importantlocation with great potential for growth"inhis mind.
Seeing the potential for China's fast-ex-panding aviation industry,a growing numberof African airlines have maintained an activeChina presence and have plans on expandingeven further.
South African Airways is seeking to open anew route to the Chinese mainland this year,while Kenya Airways has announced its codeshare flights (commercial flights operatedby one airline,but marketed by others) withChina Southern Airlines,one of China's lead-ing carriers,in early January.Angola Airlinesalso set up its Beijing representative office in July lastyear,as the company is optimistic about the demandfor the flights in both Beijing and Luanda.
Africa bound
The reason why African airlines have set their eyes onestablishing a presence in China is due to the ever-in-creasing bond between China and Africa in terms ofinvestment,as well as tourism.
With total direct investment in Africa surging to$9.3 billion by the end of 2009,China has emerged asthe continent's largest trading partner,whilst Africahas become the fourth largest overseas investment des-tination for China.
Altogether,28 African countries and regions havebeen granted the Approved Destination Status fortourists from the Chinese mainland by the end of 2009.Some 381,000 Chinese visitors visited Africa as thefirst stop on their travels in 2009,up by 18.5 percentover the previous year,while the number of Africanstraveling to China during 2009 increased by6 percent over 2008,reaching 401,000.Thesestatistics were sourced from a white paper onChina-Africa economic and trade coopera-tion,issued by the Chinese Government lastDecember.
Accordingly,industrial analysts said civilaviation,a new source of growth,is in fullstride as the economic and trade interactionbetween the two sides is increasing.
China had signed civil aviation transportagreements with some 15 African countriesby the end of 2009,including Ethiopia,An-gola,Zambia and South Africa.The nationalairlines of Egypt,Ethiopia,Zimbabwe,Ken-ya and Algeria have opened scheduled directflights to Beijing and Guangzhou,while Chi-nese airlines have established direct flightsbetween Beijing and Lagos,Luanda and Khartoum.
"Shortened flight paths and more flight frequency[between China and Africa] are positive measures tak-en to facilitate bilateral exchanges,which,as a result,is likely to increase tourism and investment,"said WuFang,assistant research fellow with the Chinese Acad-emy of International Trade and Economic Coopera-tion."But that's not enough.Take tourism for example.More promotion programs and photography exhibi-tions are very necessary for African nations,"Wu toldChinAfrica.
So far,up to 10 air routes linking Beijing with majorAfrican cities provide services at Beijing Capital Inter-national Airport,which has witnessed a deeper andmore mature Sino-African cooperation,Wu added.
Kenya Airways is a clear example of how compa-nies have taken advantage of the growing Sino-Afri-can cooperation.
China's investment flow to Africa has experiencedfast growth after the global economic downturn.Airroutes connecting China and Africa have correspond-ingly emerged to be the key and competitive globalroutes.
In view of these facts,Kenya Airways plans furtherglobal business expansion with a particular focus onthe Chinese market,apart from expanding its Africancoverage by adding six new airlines on the continentin 2011.By 2012,the airline plans to serve about 80key destinations worldwide,according to Lily Tang,the area manager for the Chinese mainland and HongKong of Kenya Airways.
"Kenya Airways launched its Chinese website twoyears ago,for the needs of growing number of Chinesepassengers,which allows them,mainly businessmenand leisure travelers,to get the latest flight informa-tion and online check-in,"said Tang.
Competition or cooperation?
China's booming aviation market has laid solidgroundwork for expanding Sino-African cooperationin this field.
Despite the global economic crisis cutting deepinto the earnings of airlines,China's airline compa-nies reported 35.1 billion yuan ($5.35 billion) in profitslast year,which accounted for 60 percent of the totalreaped by airline companies worldwide,according tothe Civil Aviation Administration of China.In thecoming five years,China will build more than 45 air-ports,bringing the total number to over 220 by 2015.
In addition,China is expected to contribute muchto the growth of the international aviation industry.The International Air Transport Association indicatesthat by 2014,there will be 3.3 billion air travelers,upby 800 million from the 2.5 billion in 2009.Of the 800million new travelers expected to fly by 2014,360 mil-lion will travel on Asia-Pacific routes,and of those,214million will be associated with China.Meanwhile,theChinese mainland and Hong Kong will account for athird of global freight volume growth over the periodto 2014.The fast expanding market is attracting theattention of international airlines.
Mark Arxhoek,Regional Sales Director of GreaterChina Air France KLM,said that China is the favorite and profitable region for investors as well,adding thatthe Franco-Dutch carrier seeks to grow bigger in Chi-na.
Airlines like Air France KLM,Lufthansa and Con-tinental are now the leading foreign carriers in Chinain terms of capacity and market share.Comparatively,African airlines have a smaller market,but they haveimplemented their own strategy to compete with theirrivals.Seeing the rising number of Chinese visitorsto Kenya,not only does the Kenya Airways provideChinese customer-tailored services,such as in-flightChinese meals and Chinese-speaking attendants,buthas set up collaborations with a string of travel agen-cies,planning to soon offer competitive fares to moreand more Chinese travelers who prefer to take a self-guided tour in Africa.
Wu favors the moves that the Nairobi-based air-line has made to promote tourism in China."Thereare over 50 African countries,each with their ownspecific strengths and advantages.By making full useof Kenya's advantages in rich tourism resources,theairline does well in operating routes that support andpromote Kenyan tourism products."
The analyst also believed that the growing Chinaaviation market has made more opportunities avail-able for African nations,rather than competition.
"African airlines will take a larger market share ifthey are able to offer lower fares to Chinese travelers[than their rivals],given a large number of Chineseworkers in Africa,"Wu said.
In addition,China has in recent years been steppingup exports of civil and defense aircraft.Due to its lowoperational and maintenance costs,the Chinese-maderegional jet,Modern Ark 60,has sold quite well in Af-rica since 2005.Along with Africa's growing demandfor aircraft in the next two decades,Wu predicted thatChinese aircraft companies would receive more ordersfrom Africa."[Exports of aircraft] I think will becomeanother important aspect of Sino-African cooperationin the aviation industry."