The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asky Airlines, Mr. Esayas Hailu, has declared that the airline is a standalone carrier from Ethiopian Airlines with its own management, board and networks.
He has also said that the airline, which was established in 2000 is a profitable carrier and is on a growth trajectory.
Hailu stated this recently in an interview with aviation journalists in Lome, Togo, the headquarters of the airline.
According to Hailu, Asky is a private commercial company, owned by shareholders in which Ethiopian Airlines is a part of, but noted that the airline had a commercial relationship with the East African airline, which had further given it an edge in its operations.
He said: “Well, Asky is an independent airline; it is the son of its own father. As an African airline, it is a private commercial company owned by shareholders. Of course, Ethiopian Airlines is part of the shareholders. But, Asky has got its own board, its own network.
“Asky and Ethiopian Airlines have a very beautiful commercial relationship. They feed each other. They have shares. They have special corporate agreements. And because Ethiopian Airlines is the bigger brand, Asky being associated with Ethiopian Airlines has given Asky a very good commercial dividend.”
Hailu further said that the West African market is a high operating cost medium for airlines, but insisted the airline was profitable.
According to him, for airlines to make profit in the region, operators have to struggle.
“There are two components for profitability. The top line revenue and the middle line cost and the bottom-line profit. The top line revenue is uncontrollable because it’s exposed to competition. So, competition is external, all players are there. They dump their prices, they do all kinds of things to compete, to take market share. So that is uncontrollable.
“Asky is endeavouring to keep profitable because it strictly controls its middle line, the cost. It has a high regiment of cost control. Because of that, it makes profits. And then that helps Asky to plough back part of the profit as an incentive to the travelling public to produce a single unit cost of available seat-kilometre, a single seat on the aircraft to be produced at the minimum cost to be able to sell it. That is how Asky struggles to be profitable,” he said.
The CEO also described the Nigerian market as a big aviation industry with a high mobility population.
He, however, said that for aviation to thrive in the country, it required the support of lawmakers through the enactment of good laws, maintaining that the market was big for international and domestic operators, but laced with stumbling blocks for operators.
“My appeal to the Nigerian Government is to enable the operators and push them to grow. That is my simple advice. Of course, the whole aviation ecosystem needs to be built to be an enabling environment for aviation,” he said.
Besides, Hailu unveiled the plan of the management to expand its operations to Europe, especially to Paris (France), Madrid (Spain) and Lisbon (Portugal), among others.
He also explained that the airline was currently serving two United States routes – Newark and Washington DC in collaboration with Ethiopian Airlines.
Asky currently operates seven weekly flights to Newark and another three to Washington DC.
