Ethiopian Airlines accuses Kenyan rival of unfair practices
Oct 28, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Airlines accused rival Kenya Airways of unfair trade practices on Saturday, as a row broke out between east Africa’s two leading carriers.
Company chief Girma Wake said Kenya Airways had blocked it from flying to three regional destinations, Entebbe, Kigali and Bujumbura, from its Nairobi hub despite Ethiopia allowing it intra-African flights from Addis Ababa.
“Kenya Airways’ decision is not in conformity with the agreement we have with it, neither with the COMESA agreement and this is not good for Kenya,” Girma said, referring to the regional east and southern Africa trading bloc.
“Legally, we have the right to fly from Nairobi to these places,” he told reporters at a news conference called to release results from the last financial year.
“We don’t prevent them from carrying passengers between Addis and Djibouti, and we won’t,” Girma said, maintaining the move was retaliation for Ethiopia’s refusal to allow Kenya Airways to fly to Jeddah and Dubai from Addis Ababa.
He said the decision was misguided because Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, were in the Middle East and not Africa, where COMESA open skies policies apply.
“As far as I know these destinations are not in Africa,” Girma said. “For us it is a matter of principles. We are for the liberalisation of the flights in Africa, for openness.”
In Nairobi, Kenya Airways officials could not be reached for comment on the matter on Saturday and Girma said the company had not yet responded to an Ethiopian Airlines complaint.
“For three weeks, I’m waiting for a reply,” he said.
State-run Ethiopian Airlines and private Kenya Airways, in which the Dutch carrier KLM owns a 26-percent stake, are among Africa’s leading airlines and the two biggest in east Africa.
On Saturday, Ethiopian announced a 57-percent drop in profits over the past year due to soaring fuel prices and payments for new aircraft that overwhelmed a healthy rise in passenger and cargo loads.
On Friday, Kenya Airways said posted a nearly nine percent boost in earnings.
(AFP)