BY DAVID ONJILI
It was a once revered on the Continent, branding itself as The Pride of Africa, still does to date, yet, Kenya Airways (KQ) remains an embarrassing symbol of Kenyan incompetence and lack of innovation. Delays in passenger departures is common, with a number of them being neglected by a staff bereft of empathy and professionalism.
The crew and engineers keep lamenting of poor pay and working conditions with pilots flying longer hours than the required International Air Transport Association (IATA) standard regulations. Ethiopian Airways on the other hand is meteorically rising on the Continent and in the world. So what lessons can Kenya Airways and other African airlines get from the Ethiopian?
Profitability is rarely fluky; market ascendancy even less so. Fairly, the success of any enterprise comes as an upshot of a clear, painstaking and profit-oriented strategic business model underpinned by professionalism, industry experience and commercial astuteness. This is where Ethiopian Airways beats other airlines on the Continent as she grows exponentially.
Ethiopian Airways, established on 21 December 1945 and started operations in 8 April 1946 is a story rare and enviable. It is one of patriotism, grit determination, enviable vision and the spirit of a workforce that is unencumbered by greed. Unlike most African Airlines that have gone on their knees due to corruption, lack of vision and open theft, Ethiopian offers shaping lessons to be studied. It is little wonder they pride themselves as The New Spirit of Africa. One intoxicated with excellence, profit, competitive pricing and a young modern fleet; the envy of many.
Ethiopian is the most profitable airline on the African Continent and has been so for five years in a row. In the 2015-2016 financial year ended June, Ethiopian recorded a profit of $273m, which was greater than those of all African airlines combined ($800m loss) not to mention the $258m loss Kenya Airways made in the same period. Modeled similar to Singapore Airlines as its Chief Executive Gebremariam Tewolde admits, the national carrier is 100% government owned but autonomous in its operations. Nigerian Airways that was government owned and boasted close to 200 flights a week in the 1990s has grounded due to government interference.
It was not all rosy, as Ethiopia government in the 1970s romanced with communism and tolerated both the Chinese and Russian governments, Ethiopian boldly reminded the government that doing away with US manufactured Boeing planes and substituting them with Russian manufactured models would mean that they do not just replace the fleet but the entire training facility they had set up. It would also include a huge fiscal sacrifice to retrain personnel for the new planes, purchase of new spares and several maintenance costs. Reason prevailed and the government backed off.
Chief Executive, Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam was once a check-in agent at the airport when he began work at Ethiopian in 1985 before rising through the ranks to his current post. In an interview with BBC, he credits the rise of Ethiopian to the fact that the average service of the management team has a collective 25 years experience in the aviation industry. Gebremariam also notes that the Ethiopian government has allowed the Ethiopian management team in their capacity as professionals to run the company on sound business principles. The management team is strictly hired on professional management competency and not placements motivated by patronage and cronyism.
This is despite the fact that the chairman of the airline is the deputy prime minister of Ethiopia and several board members are leading government officials. They ensure there is no conflict of interest and the management team is assured that there will be no political interference or fear of any political reprisals in the execution of their duties. They are judged purely on performance and also worth noting is the fact that Ethiopian civil servants do not receive free tickets from the national carrier.
Ethiopian sticks to aviation best practices. The airline, for instance, employs industry average number of staff on each flight, 11, contrast this to other airlines in Africa who are understaffed or some like the South African Airlines that was once guilty for employing double the requisite numbers. Corrupt governments in collusion with national carriers do this because they view their airlines as an opportunity for patronage, rent seeking and clientelism. Not so in Ethiopia, theirs is strictly productivity.
Gebremariam dismisses the notion that Ethiopian is favoured by the Ethiopian government and thus their rapid rise. According to him, Ethiopian raises its own debt, finances its own development, expansion and growth and ensures they are profitable without government subsidies. In fact, the airline pays dividend to the government noting that unlike most airlines, Ethiopian cannot float shares because of the absence of a capital market in Ethiopia.
The airline boasts an advanced maintenance base that is fully operational for airframe maintenance and engine overhaul. Maintenance is certified by the U.S Federal Aviation Administration FAA. Allowing the airline to service planes at Bole International airport meeting the aviation standards.
The New Spirit of Africa has also a state of the art maintenance hangar measuring 7,200 square meters and 25 meters high that can at one time hold two B737-700S. Their aviation academy is responsible for training pilots. Unlike most African countries like Kenya, which offer only private pilot licenses, Ethiopian offers the highest pilot training recognized in the industry and that meets the highest IATA standards.
Cargo is an area that ET has fully utilized; currently they are stamping their mark as they tap into the heavy investment of China in Africa. Boasting of over 200,000 tonnes of cargo transported annually to 24 freight destinations and eight modern cargo aircraft shows the seriousness with which they treat this sector. Direct flights to Asian countries like China and Singapore is an area they have fully utilized and enjoy daily flights to these cities not to mention that Ethiopian is one of the only few African countries that fly directly to the USA.
With high satisfaction levels and great customer service, fact that the airline operates the Dreamliner and Airbus A350s, some of the most modern planes in the sky today and its diversification in both passenger and cargo points to sound visionary management. To spread her connectivity, Ethiopian has set up regional hubs in Lome, Togo and Lilongwe, Malawi to help them connect to more destinations.
The success of The New Spirit of Africa is totally not accidental but planned. Their Vision 2025 blueprint, once the implementation is complete will help stamp their position in Africa as the undisputed leader in aviation. Comparing the path their success story has taken to that of Kenya Airways leaves one really wondering whether this can be replicated.
The bar that Ethiopian has set is extremely high and she isn’t resting, opinion aside, she offers valuable lessons and a business model worth emulating.
