Emirates mulls growing African footprint
Dubai based airline Emirates is considering flight frequencies to key African destinations including Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, and South Africa as it sees potential for growth in Africa.
Orhan Abbas, senior vice-president of commercial operations in Africa for Emirates, said that Africa has been one of the strong performing markets for the carrier over the past two years, even amid challenges there.
Apart from passenger operations, he remarked cargo performance to and from Africa has also improved, particularly in terms of demand for perishable goods from the continent.
In the year ending March 31, 2019, Emirates saw a 9 percent rise year-on-year in revenues from its operations to and from Africa, with the region registering the strongest growth compared to other markets.
Abbas said the growth in travel into and out of Africa stems from various sectors including leisure, business travel, trade, and religious travel especially for Haj and Umrah from West Africa.
“The potential going forward in Africa looks very good. I see it as an untouched market until today, in terms of its aviation sector, trade, tourism — there’s a lot to discover in Africa,” he noted.
