Traveling to Africa used to be a nightmare for Yan Kai, the senior manager of
a machinery company in Beijing in the past because it involved flight changes,
lengthy stopovers and extensive time delays. Yan, however, says that things have improved considerably as burgeoning trade
and investment ties between China and Africa have prompted airlines from both
sides to establish more connections. "My first trip to Africa was in 1997 to Accra in Ghana," Yan says. "The trip
took nearly 35 hours and had long, expensive stopovers in Amsterdam and Paris.
Since 2000, the situation has improved considerably. Middle Eastern carriers
such as Emirates Group and Qatar Airways Co QCSC now provide several travel and
transit options to Africa."
Better ties between China and Africa will help stimulate bilateral trade as
more secondary cities establish air links. Currently most of the flights to
China operate from African cities such as Addis Ababa, Nairobi and
Johannesburg. "There has been a steady growth in the number of Chinese people traveling to
African countries and vice-versa," Yan says, adding that more connections with
other African and Chinese cities are needed. "China is a major trading partner for many African nations. Coupled with the
growing number of tourists and air traffic between the two sides, it will
witness steady growth," says Elijah Chingosho, secretary-general of the African
Airlines Association. The association, based in Ghana, is a trade grouping that
fosters ties between Chinese and African carriers.
"Our estimates are that air traffic between Africa and Asia will grow by 8.1
percent every year until 2030," he says. International air traffic to and from Africa has been growing by about 6
percent every year over the last decade, while domestic air traffic in Africa
grew by 12 percent annually, the African Airlines Association said in its 2013
annual report. According to Chingosho, the Africa-China aviation market will be one of the
fastest intercontinental air travel growth markets in the long term. It is also
the reason why several African carriers are looking to expand their presence in
China, he says. "African carriers such as Air Algerie SpA, Air Mauritius Ltd, EgyptAir,
Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways Ltd, TAAG Angola Airlines and South African
Airways are all planning more flights to China," he says, adding that Chinese
carriers will follow suit soon.
Chingosho says that Hainan Airlines Co Ltd's decision to start direct flights
between Beijing and Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, was a breakthrough for
the aviation sector from both sides. The Chinese airline recently announced that it plans to start a service in
August that will fly between Beijing, Mumbai and Nairobi three times a week. According to the African Airlines Association, many African airlines have
become more active in the China-Africa aviation sector. Many may have added
capacity and more flights to China this year based on the growing sales, it
says.
Ethiopian Airlines was the first African carrier and the fourth in the world
to fly to China. Since its first flight some 40 years ago in the 1970s, China
has become a key destination for the African carrier. It now operates nonstop daily flights from Addis Ababa to Beijing, Guangzhou,
Hangzhou and Hong Kong. It plans to start flights to Shanghai from next
month. "We have grown considerably from one weekly flight to China more than 40
years ago to more than 28 weekly flights and provide seamless connections across
Africa," says Tewolde Gebremariam, chief executive officer of Ethiopian Airlines
Group. "Our network in China has been growing steadily along with the growth in
trade, investment and tourism between China and Africa," he says. "The direct flights from Shanghai to Africa along with the existing
connections will help promote increased mobility of people and goods between the
two sides."
Shanghai will be Ethiopian's 80th international destination. With the new
flight, Shanghai will be connected to 66 cities across Africa through
Ethiopian's main hub in Addis Ababa. Gebremariam says Chinese destinations are important gateways for China-Africa
business relations and the company plans to further improve its market position
in China. Ethiopian is currently regarded as one of the fastest growing airlines in
Africa and operates in 47 African and 79 international destinations across five
continents.
Mbuvi Ngunze, chief operating officer of Kenya Airways, another fast-growing
African carrier, says that while it is difficult to estimate the actual number
of passengers traveling between China and Africa, there are clear indications
that passengers are becoming more diverse. "Apart from business people and labour, there has been a steady increase in
leisure travelers, a segment that holds immense potential," he says. "Better air linkages not only provide convenient connectivity and better
access, but also allow people to have more choices," he says. "When you sell
end-to-end products to clients, you also drive the cooperation through various
departments including tourism, investment and trade," Ngunze says.
Leisure travel, especially tourism, has become a new trend in bilateral ties.
Tourist flows to Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles, especially from
China, have been clocking up steady annual growth. Ninety-seven million Chinese travelled abroad in 2013, 14 million more than in
the year before, according to the China National Tourism Administration. The
number is expected to exceed 100 million this year with more Chinese tourists
heading to Africa. More than 50,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya last year - and 42,000
visited Mauritius. Andre Viljoen, CEO of Air Mauritius, says that the growing
numbers have prompted the carrier to add more flights to China this year.
According to the Mauritius-based newspaper L'Express, Air Mauritius plans to
add an additional weekly flight to Beijing from Port Louis in July. Viljoen also said Air Mauritius would increase the seat capacity on its
flights to China. The carrier expects overall tourist numbers of more than
146,000 this year, compared with 93,000 last year. Although African carriers are pushing ahead with expansion in China, they
face several hurdles. The biggest challenge is finding suitable slots at airports. Most of the
major airports in China are too crowded and hence unable to offer new slots to
newcomers, says Mbuvi Ngunze, chief operating officer of Kenya Airways.
"We have realized that the real challenge is not about building more airports
in China, although the existing ones are really busy, but more about how to
solve the bottlenecks and make the slot allocation more efficient in Chinese
airports," he says. There are also no suitable mechanisms to connect domestic flights efficiently
with international ones and simplify the overall processing procedures, experts
say. "We (African carriers) need to be careful about leveraging our regional hub
status and do this in such a manner that it ensures adequate returns for Chinese
investors," he says.
Chinese carriers, on the other hand, after making a strong start, seem to
have slowed their pace in Africa. In December, a notice from the Civil Aviation Administration of China said
that Hainan Airlines had submitted an application for expansion of operations in
Africa. If the application is approved, it will mark the return of a major Chinese
carrier to Africa after several years of absence. HNA Group, China's fourth-largest aviation group and the parent company of
Hainan Airlines, recently indicated that it had shifted its focus from Europe
and North America to emerging markets like Africa. Chen Feng, chairman of HNA Group, said recently that the company was focusing
more on lesser-known routes, especially in Africa, and would make the necessary
investment to grow the business in these areas.
In its application HNA said it sought permission to operate flights on the
Beijing-Mumbai-Nairobi route. It used to have three routes to Africa -
Beijing-Cairo, Beijing-Abu Dhabi-Khartoum and Beijing-Dubai-Luanda. The routes
were stopped, many for security reasons. "Interaction and communication between China and Africa is growing rapidly
and it is important for a Chinese airline to be a part of the African market,"
says Liu Jichun, deputy manger of the marketing department at HNA. "We expect the Beijing-Mumbai-Nairobi route to closely connect people in
China, India and Kenya and also add to passenger flows."
