Congratulations to the folks over at Ethiopian Airlines and at new Togolese carrier ASKY, which launched operations on 15 January with a maiden flight from Lome to Abidjan and Banjul.
ASKY is part-owned by Ethiopian Airlines (which we recently did a cover profile on) and the two airlines are working together to create a West African hub at Lome. The start-up is led by former Ethiopian commercial vice-president Busera Awel, who I first met during Ethiopian's 60th birthday celebrations in 1996.
This is a regional carrier, which is good for the continent. Africa needs more point-to-point services, helped along by the support of a strong and well-respected partner. Indeed, partnerships were very much the theme of November's African Airlines Association general assembly in Maputo.
During the conference one executive chatted to me about Africa's lack of direct flights, likening African flights to a game of pool. To get from A to B, you have to re-bound off a cushion to get to where you actually want to go. I thought this was a great analogy.
I have been following this start-up project for two years, so it's good to see it get off the ground - both literally and figuratively. Well done to all involved.
on July 24, 2010 12:21 AM | Reply
Just returned from a trip on Asky, Lome - Bamako - Niamey - Lome. Having spent a lot of time and money travelling the sub region in recent years I was extremely impressed by this outfit. I intend to post a review of my experience on the Skytrax website in the near future - nobody has reported on Asky there yet. Agree it is exactly what Africa needs - 15 countries and 16 destinations at this point in their operations is quite impressive as is the fact they have two of the newest aircraft in Africa. The only sad thing is that there were only about 30 passengers on my first and third flights with not more than 85 on the middle one - I hope they can increase busines sooner rather than later.