ADDIS ABABA: Already Africa's largest and fastest growing airlines, Ethiopian Airlines has said it wants to establish regional hubs in both southern and central Africa. The carrier's CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said that it is in the process of holding talks with the governments of Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo to assess the possibilities of setting up regional hubs in the three countries to push more traffic across the continent. Earlier this month, Ethiopian announced daily flights to Abidjian in Ivory Coast as part of its continued expansion on the continent. It is also the first African airline to purchase and begin using the new Boeing Dreamliner, which it hopes will add to the airline's brand image. Zambia is believed to be the best fit for a regional hub, company sources confirmed to Bikyamasr.com on Monday. A delegation from Ethiopia traveled to Zambia last week to hold discussion with officials in Zambia on the possibility of establishing a hub in Lusaka. Ethiopia expects the Zambian capital to become its Southern hub particularly since that nation does not currently have a national flag carrier according to Tewolde. Ethiopian Airlines is also in preliminary talks with Tanzanian officials as well as exploring the possibilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo he explained. Ethiopian officials are confident that by establishing regional hubs across the continent it can develop more routes and increase travel for residents in the southern part of Africa.
