Airlines aim to upgrade flights

Passengers boarding a flight to Beijing in Algiers. Algeria began to operate direct flights to the Chinese capital in 2009. Yin Ke / Xinhua

Those traveling between Africa and China used to put up with many challenges

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."