CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

also proving to be one of the core businesses of the industry contributing 15% of airline’s
revenue with six dedicated aircrafts for this specific service. There are 6 to 7 domestic
airlines that mainly operate charter flight services in country and occasionally operate
flights on short-haul regional trips (ECAA 2013).
Airports. EAE operates four international airports (most notably Addis Ababa Bole
International Airport), and eight domestic airports. Airport operations consist of
aeronautical services (runways, taxiways, lighting, and aerobridge services), and nonaeronautical
services (facility operations, support, and rental) (EAE 2013).
Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Providers. MRO activities are dominated by EAL,
which maintains and repairs aircraft, engines, and components for its fleet, as well as for
those of other airlines (EAL 2012).
Aviation Academy. Ethiopia has a strong focus on aviation education, including the
training of pilots, cabin crew, maintenance technicians, ground operators and marketing
staff. EAL operates the largest aviation academy in the country, but the domestic airlines
also operate training academies. Aviation academies in Ethiopia are traditionally feeder
programmes, as trainees are employed by the associated airlines upon completion of
coursework.
Services Auxiliary to Air Transport. These services are related to air transport, but are
not technically defined as a part of that sector. This includes airlines’ ticket distribution,
ground handling, airport services, air navigation services and catering services which
also serve third party airlines.
Key Stakeholders
Regulation of the sector involves the Ministry of Transport and the ECAA. Also, the bilateral
and regional agreements afford a good account of international regulation of the sector. In
previous arrangements, ECAA had the power to control, regulate, and maintain efficient air
transport, facilitate the provision of regular air transport, and determine the tariff rate of the
commercial aircraft operators. 57 Since the authority kept the domestic flights at a lower rate with
the power it had, EAL had been forced to cross-subsidise its domestic services with the profit it
makes from the international services. 58 That served as a disincentive for the airline to fully
function in domestic operations. The same was true as a constraint for new entrants to the
sector.
But with the coming into effect of a new proclamation, Proclamation 273/2002, the role of the
authority was rather focused on determining the rules and regulations for air transport,
licenses, and certification and regulation of operators, as well as implementation of domestic
regulations and international agreements. This served very well for the domestic air transport
services. The bilateral and multilateral/regional agreements governed the international aspect
of the service in terms of tariff rates, capacity limit, and quality of the services.
57
Proclamation No. 111/1977.
58
Alemayehu Geda, above, p. 301.
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