Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
October 31, 2006
Posted to the web October 31, 2006
Issayas Mekuria
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Airlines, Girma Wake, gave two pieces of advice to the Ethiopian authorities and members of the media during a press conference at the Sheraton on Saturday, October 28.
"Two wrongs do not make a right," answered Girma, when asked whether he wants retaliation by the Ethiopian government to what their counterparts have done in banning his airline from flying from Nairobi to African destinations such as Entebbe (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda) and Bujumbura (Burundi).
A bilateral agreement entered between Ethiopia and Kenya, and regional trade pact among all Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states require them to open their skies to airlines of each other countries. Ethiopian had for years picked up passengers from Nairobi and flown them to destinations of these East African nations. Nevertheless, three weeks ago, the Kenyan Ministry of Transport prohibited Ethiopia's flagship airline from flying anywhere else in Africa but Addis Abeba.
Kenyan officials were reciprocating for an Ethiopian ban on Kenyan Airways taking its passengers from Addis Abeba to Dubai and Jeddah.
"As far as I am concerned, these places are out of Africa," Girma told reporters, cautioning them not to "play this up out of proportion".
"We are not at war with the Kenyan Airways. Neither are our countries. It is only that the Kenyan authorities were misled by someone in the competition," Girma said.
He told reporters that Kenyan Airways is operating a flight from Addis to Djibouti, while his management has reserved from advising Ethiopian authorities to deny permits when they have applied for another destination from Addis Abeba. Recalling how Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa were the African nations that were pushing for more liberalized airline transport in Africa, Girma said he believes "the move will hurt Kenya more than anyone else."
Girma said he had talked to the Kenyan authorities following the ban and they did admit their mistakes.
"They said that they would reply in 10 days," Girma told reporters. "But, it's been three weeks now. I have still not heard anything from them."
Whether or not they respond or lift the ban, Girma said he is not interested to replay in kind.
"We oppose their decision not so much because we depend on the flight traffics going from Nairobi to these countries, but because principles need to be upheld," Girma said. "And we will under no circumstances stop Kenyan from flying to Djibouti or other African destinations from Addis Abeba."
He said African airlines who close their doors on others cannot ask others to open theirs. Although Girma believes that this was hardly a war between the two airlines or countries, he looked forward to the situation being eased.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment