The Diplomat Couch sat down with Mr Eyob Mulugeta, Ethiopian Airlines Country Manager for Zimbabwe, to discuss the airline’s longstanding presence in Zimbabwe and its role in strengthening connectivity, tourism, trade and economic links between Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa and the world. With Ethiopian Airlines serving Zimbabwe for more than four decades, Mr Mulugeta discusses the importance of air connectivity for businesses and travellers, the opportunities presented by tourism and agricultural exports, the airline’s cargo capabilities, aviation skills development and how technology is transforming the passenger experience.
The Diplomat Couch is a television programme produced by The Diplomat Africa.
Ethiopian Airlines has been part of Zimbabwe’s aviation landscape for more than four decades. How would you describe the airline’s journey and presence in Zimbabwe today?
As we said, we have been in the Zimbabwean market for more than four decades. Ethiopian Airlines has proved that we have continued serving Zimbabwe without interruption since the beginning of our operations, and we are happy to continue serving the country.
Since we started our services here, we have strengthened our presence by gradually increasing our frequencies and adding destinations. We started with a few flights per week, moved to daily services and later increased our frequencies further while expanding our operations to different airports in Zimbabwe.
What makes Zimbabwe an important market for Ethiopian Airlines, and how does the country fit into the airline’s wider African network?
Zimbabwe has enormous potential in travel, with demand coming from multiple sources. There is tremendous demand for tourism as well as for people visiting friends and relatives.
As an airline, Zimbabwe is therefore a very good market with huge potential. On top of that, as an African carrier, one of our missions is to serve the African continent by bringing Africa together and connecting the continent to the rest of the world.
Having a presence in Zimbabwe is therefore important to us both from a market perspective and in terms of our broader mission as an African airline.
Ethiopian Airlines connects Zimbabwean travellers through Addis Ababa to destinations across Africa, Asia, Europe and beyond. How important is this connectivity for Zimbabwean businesses, tourists and professionals?
We are connecting Zimbabwe to the globe and to the African continent, and this has a tremendous impact on business, tourism and the overall socioeconomic activities of the country.
For tourism, we have more than 140 destinations globally. Having that connection to Zimbabwe creates multiple tourism opportunities because tourists can easily travel to and from Zimbabwe from those destinations.
Business also depends on movement. People and groups need to move from one place to another, so having reliable connectivity, especially through a large multinational airline such as Ethiopian Airlines, plays a major role.
Ethiopian Airlines now serves Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo. What opportunities do you see for improving connectivity between Zimbabwe’s different cities and the rest of the continent?
Ethiopian Airlines is a customer-focused airline. We take our clients’ needs and demands into consideration by continuously analysing travel patterns and trying our best to ensure that our services respond to those patterns.
We continue to monitor and analyse the potential from Zimbabwe and other parts of the world. In this regard, I believe there are still opportunities for further connectivity in the future.
What would you consider some of the biggest milestones for Ethiopian Airlines in Zimbabwe over the past four decades?
Since we began servicing Zimbabwe, we started with Harare and only a few flights per week. I would say it has been a huge achievement to add destinations such as Victoria Falls and Bulawayo, as well as increasing our frequencies.
We currently have daily services from Harare and Victoria Falls, while Bulawayo has five frequencies. We also have 14 flights per week from Harare.
In addition, we operate cargo flights, with a minimum of 14 flights per week. Moving from a few flights per week at the beginning to the level of service we have today is a real achievement.
Zimbabwe has strong potential in tourism, agriculture, mining and manufacturing. How can improved air connectivity help Zimbabwean businesses access new markets and international opportunities?
Zimbabwe has unique potential in tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and mining. Having reliable and seamless air connectivity has an irreplaceable value.
If we take agriculture, for example, Zimbabwe has significant produce, including flowers and fresh produce. When you have products targeting premium markets, you need air connectivity to those markets and a reliable supply chain, including maintaining the cold chain, because the products need to reach their destination while still fresh.
Ethiopian Airlines has invested significantly in this area. At our hub in Addis Ababa, we have a state-of-the-art warehouse that handles pharmaceuticals and other products. Our aircraft are also equipped to maintain the required temperatures while the cargo is in transit.
This allows products to move from Harare to Addis Ababa, through the warehouse while maintaining the cold chain, and then onward to destinations in Europe, America and other markets.
Zimbabwe has the produce, and having those products reach premium markets on time adds value to them.
Zimbabwe is an important tourism destination, with attractions such as Victoria Falls. What role can Ethiopian Airlines play in bringing more tourists from different parts of the world to Zimbabwe?
As I mentioned, we have a global reach of more than 140 destinations. This means we need to promote our destinations to one another. In Zimbabwe, we can promote those 140 destinations, while also promoting Zimbabwe as a destination across our network.
That can encourage more travellers to consider Zimbabwe for their next trip.
We have also designed connections to make the journey as seamless as possible. For example, a passenger travelling from Europe can connect through Addis Ababa and continue to Zimbabwe with a relatively short transit time.
A smooth travel experience can encourage passengers to recommend the destination to others, which can attract more tourists. In this way, both the airline benefits from having passengers on board and Zimbabwe benefits from receiving visitors who spend time in the country.
From your experience, what are the main reasons people travel between Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, and have you seen changes in those travel patterns?
Most of our passengers travelling between Zimbabwe and Addis Ababa are transit passengers because our network is designed to allow them to connect through Addis Ababa and continue their journeys.
Apart from transit, we also have business travellers and people travelling because of bilateral relations. There are also Zimbabwean communities in Ethiopia and Ethiopian communities in Zimbabwe, so people travel to visit their families.
People also travel for education and investment.
While transit passengers have traditionally dominated the route, we are now seeing the pattern shift towards investment, visits and tourism.
Ethiopian Airlines has invested significantly in aviation training through the Ethiopian Aviation University. How important is skills development to the future of Africa’s aviation industry?
Aviation cannot thrive without skilled manpower. That is why Ethiopian Airlines has invested heavily in aviation training.
Previously, we had separate schools for areas such as marketing, technical services, maintenance and piloting. We have now brought these areas together under the Ethiopian Aviation University, which is part of the Ethiopian Airlines Group.
Whether it is cabin crew, cockpit crew, pilots, flight technicians, ground staff or frontline employees, aviation requires specialisation and discipline.
Having these training facilities under our control is important for continuous success. If you have a pilot training school that produces qualified pilots, you can bring more aircraft into your fleet. More aircraft also require qualified technicians for maintenance, as well as more cabin crew and ground staff.
As a pan-African carrier, our goal is not only to train personnel for Ethiopian Airlines. We want the graduates to play a role across the continent and contribute to the development of Africa’s aviation industry.
African aviation remains fragmented, and there is a need to bring the different parts together and build a stronger industry. Developing a skilled workforce is essential to achieving that.
Technology is transforming everything from ticketing and check-in to customer service and airport operations. What innovations do you think will have the biggest impact on the passenger experience in the coming years?
If we go back a few decades, a passenger who wanted an air ticket had to visit an airline office or a travel agency. The ticket had to be issued manually, with the passenger’s details and destination entered by staff.
Travelling to multiple destinations could also require purchasing separate tickets from different airlines.
Technology has changed this completely. Today, passengers can purchase tickets from an airline office or online, using their phones and airline applications or websites, without having to visit an office or travel agency.
Passengers can also check in online and receive their boarding passes on their devices. This means they can arrive at the airport having completed much of the process themselves.
Looking ahead, technology and artificial intelligence could further reduce the number of physical touchpoints between passengers and airlines. In the future, passengers may be able to complete almost every part of their journey independently, with the physical interaction between the passenger and airline becoming increasingly limited.
