African carriers seek access to former Yugoslav markets

Airlines from Africa are increasingly seeking connectivity to former Yugoslav markets. Uganda Airlines, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines are all pursuing greater access to the region which once had strong ties to the African continent. Uganda Airlines has said it will look to “make the most” out of its future cooperation with Air Serbia after the country’s President, Yoweri Museveni, announced he had requested for the state-owned flag carrier to conclude a partnership agreement with Air Serbia in order for the two states to fast-track business, tourism, and personal exchanges. Uganda has selected Serbia as its strategic partner in Southeastern Europe. According to African press, Air Serbia could potentially play a crucial role in facilitating Uganda Airlines’ plans to enter the European market and launch its much-anticipated flights to London. The Ugandan carrier boasts a fleet of two Airbus A330-800s and four CRJ900s.

The national carrier of Rwanda, RwandAir, has, as of this month, begun codesharing on Qatar Airways’ flights from Doha to both Belgrade and Zagreb. The African airline has a wideranging codeshare parentship in place with Qatar Airways and flies to Doha itself. The development will enable passengers to and from Belgrade and Zagreb to connect onto RwandAir’s two weekly service from Doha to Kigali. The African airline’s outbound service to Doha also provides quick connections onto Qatar Airways’ flights to both the Serbian and Croatian capitals. A total of six airlines now codeshare on Qatar Airways’ daily Belgrade service, including Air Serbia, Cathay Pacific, Oman Air, Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Australia. Similarly, four carriers now codeshare on Qatar’s ten weekly Zagreb flights, including Cathay Pacific, Oman Air and Virgin Australia.

Slovenia and Rwanda are looking to establish a bilateral Air Service Agreement, which would allow for the establishment of scheduled air services between the two countries. “The establishment of a scheduled air service between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Rwanda is in the economic interest of both countries. Representatives from the Slovenian aviation industry have expressed their interest in concluding a bilateral Air Service Agreement between the two countries, namely due to the possibility of operating cargo flights”, the Slovenian government said recently. It added it would consult the European Commission during the ongoing negotiations but said it does not believe there would be any obstacles in concluding the deal with its Rwandan counterparts.

Ethiopian Airlines is planning to expand its operations in Southeast Europe with Balkan markets on its radar. The airline recently said, “Currently we are using Vienna, Athens, Istanbul and Zurich to cover these markets. We have a big vision, especially for our expansion in Europe and Southeastern Europe. Destination wise, we will have to see but we have a list of countries that we are planning to study and open within the region. We want to connect Africa to the world, and we want to expand outside of Africa. Currently, our expansion is focused on Europe and America and also, of course, within Africa, especially bigger countries. Our strategy is to expand across the world”. In its Vision 2035 plan, Ethiopian Airlines aims to nearly double its number of destinations to 207; as well as double its fleet to 271. The Star Alliance member does not operate to the former Yugoslav markets but has a General Sales Agent for the region. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said, “Ethiopian Airlines is quite known that they utilise some European cities as a stopover for fifth freedom rights towards the US because of the distance. So, if they would consider Belgrade, we would be very open for cooperation”.

Demand from former Yugoslav markets to Africa is mainly limited to the Maghreb region and Egypt. Outside of this area, based on point-to-point demand, Belgrade Airport sees the most traffic to Johannesburg, the Seychelles and Zanzibar. From Zagreb, most indirect traffic to Africa outside of the North is headed to Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Seychelles. Similarly, passengers departing Ljubljana for the African continent are mostly headed to Mauritius, Cape Town and the Seychelles. In the case of all three, Turkish Airlines is the main transfer airline to Africa. In Slovenia it holds a 60% share of the Africa bound market, followed by Air France. In Zagreb it handles 29% of all passengers to and from Africa, followed by Qatar Airways, while in Belgrade it holds a 25% share, followed by Lufthansa.