|
|
 |
| Media |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Competition is fiercer than ever
"We have won Gold where we could have won platinum ". This anonymous statement from an Air France worker probably accounts for the reshuffle that occurred within the managing team of the African/ Mid-eastern regions of the company, earlier this year, with the arrival of a new boss, Jean-Marie Mariani. When looking at the evolution of the company's passenger traffic, one can clearly see that it has been realising most of its gains on the continent, for several months, while it is losing on its major destinations, namely North America and Asia.
The development of African destinations has increased since the beginning of the year, exceeding 30% of the yearly growth, after the funds for the winter programme of the French airline company were increased: daily servicing of Bamako; five weekly flights to Conakry and Ouagadoudou, one weekly direct flight to Niamey; the maintaining of summer schedules in Central Africa, where the N'djamena destination was developed; opening up in January of the Kinshasa destination, and finally, replacement of several old A310 by larger aircraft.
It was high time. Air France was developing a disastrous reputation in several African capitals, with travellers becoming more and more angry at uncontrolled overbooking and fares that were much too high. Maybe the company was taking too much advantage, though passively, of the situation, with Air Afrique, Swissair and Sabena having collapsed virtually at the same time, and with British Airways, which was once again going though difficulties…What more could one ask for? The drop in the number of passengers to the Middle-East did not trigger a decrease in the company's business, while the strong increase in demand, in Africa was increasing the rate of seat occupation. The Mid-Eastern occupation rate became the lowest one of the company, with minus 55%, while the African rate became the highest, to reach up to 84% of the growth. Given the slack periods of traffic, this implied that planes to the Mid-East were virtually empty, and that there were not enough seats available for passengers in Africa.
The market was thus ripe and open to competition. It eventually came from every side, starting with the Africans themselves. "Well, it's ok", modestly said Hamidou Traoré, , the representative of Air Mali in Europe, which has started servicing Bamako-Paris since last December. Two weekly flights, on Thursday and Sunday. The plane, a 276-seat A300 is regularly full at 50%. The company recently launched a Bamako-Dakar-Brussels flight, as well as a Bamako-Dubai one. Another Malian company, Nas Air, also travels between Bamako and Paris twice a week, according to a charter formula.
In Dakar, Air Senegal International has kept its promises. The company is launching three weekly flights to Paris, on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, aboard a 180-seat Boeing 757. We are also developing our regional service, in order to be able to transfer Paris passengers who are in transit, towards Abidjan, specifically, to which we now fly every day, with a stop in Bamako. We have made arrangements, so that flights from Paris arrive in the morning…", the Managing Director, Mohamed El Aoufir, says, as enthusiastic today as he was in the company's early days. What about prices? Air Senegal is offering a discount fare at Euros1 0066,57 , for a return ticket to Paris, as against Euros1404,62, for Air France, while Air Mali is around Euros60 cheaper for a flight towards Bamako; NAS Air prices, as far as they are concerned, are unbeatable.
Christian D'ALAYER
> Back to the list of press articles
|
|
|
|
|
