Ethiopian Airlines to Fly from IAH to Lome, Togo (Houston: live, costs)

[As Above So Below...]

In an effort to link IAH with oil business centers in West Africa like Lagos, Abuja, Malabo, and Point Noire, Ethiopian Airlines will fly to Lome which is the hub for the ASKY Airlines (a subsidiary they own that flies to those destinations from Lome). They are cancelling the route they had from LAX to supply the plane.

I personally find it a good move. Ethiopian has been rumored at looking at a flight to West Africa from Houston. Unlike the routes from Chicago and Washington DC, this flight will not be direct to Addis Ababa because there isnt a market to Ethiopia or East Africa from Houston. Rather, its a great way to capitalize on the large market to West Africa from Houston.

https://onemileatatime.com/ethiopian...s-lax-houston/

[Synott]

As long as they don’t bring disease with them

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Synott

As long as they don’t bring disease with them

Hopefully if you ever visit there, you don't bring your diseases over there.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

In an effort to link IAH with oil business centers in West Africa like Lagos, Abuja, Malabo, and Point Noire, Ethiopian Airlines will fly to Lome which is the hub for the ASKY Airlines (a subsidiary they own that flies to those destinations from Lome). They are cancelling the route they had from LAX to supply the plane.

I personally find it a good move. Ethiopian has been rumored at looking at a flight to West Africa from Houston. Unlike the routes from Chicago and Washington DC, this flight will not be direct to Addis Ababa because there isnt a market to Ethiopia or East Africa from Houston. Rather, its a great way to capitalize on the large market to West Africa from Houston.

https://onemileatatime.com/ethiopian...s-lax-houston/

Great move for them, and I'm planning on visiting East Africa at the end of the year. Perfect timing and IAH will once again become one of only two U.S. airports (along with ORD) to have service to every inhabited continent. This, on top of being one of the few metros with two international airports as well.

Added to United's domestic growth ongoing at IAH, Houston's air service is continuing to grow quite nicely after a bit of a drought over the last couple of years. Terminal D is bursting at the seams so it'll be interesting to see the timings on this flight (unless UA will let them use E, which I doubt). Exciting times for the city's airport system.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

Great move for them, and I'm planning on visiting East Africa at the end of the year. Perfect timing and IAH will once again become one of only two U.S. airports (along with ORD) to have service to every inhabited continent. This, on top of being one of the few metros with two international airports as well.

Added to United's domestic growth ongoing at IAH, Houston's air service is continuing to grow quite nicely after a bit of a drought over the last couple of years. Terminal D is bursting at the seams so it'll be interesting to see the timings on this flight (unless UA will let them use E, which I doubt). Exciting times for the city's airport system.

I think if they are truly serious about making this work, ASKY needs to launch Luanda. A flight to Johannesburg wouldnt hurt either.

United's domestic growth at IAH has been very meager compared to what they have added to ORD, DEN, and SFO. To me, what IAH has lacked the most was in the form of domestic destinations as opposed to more international flights.

Ethiopian is handing this right so props to them. There is virtually no market from Houston to the Eastern half of Africa, but there is a very large market from Houston to West Africa. This is a great way for them to take advantage of it and provide good connection in Lome.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I think if they are truly serious about making this work, ASKY needs to launch Luanda. A flight to Johannesburg wouldnt hurt either.

United's domestic growth at IAH has been very meager compared to what they have added to ORD, DEN, and SFO. To me, what IAH has lacked the most was in the form of domestic destinations as opposed to more international flights.

Ethiopian is handing this right so props to them. There is virtually no market from Houston to the Eastern half of Africa, but there is a very large market from Houston to West Africa. This is a great way for them to take advantage of it and provide good connection in Lome.

Agreed as far as the Luanda/JNB flights. ASKY just needs more planes to make that work, JNB-LFW is like a 12 hour round trip.

Domestic growth has been slow, but it seems like they're starting to pick up again with some new adds to places like ONT and GSO. Agreed this is the biggest weakness now, but I expect UA to steadily add more as they get more small narrowbodies on property.

Internationally, though, I think we're well covered in terms of overseas flights. Maybe we can get Shanghai and perhaps another European destination or two at some point, but I think IAH's main international growth areas are the Caribbean, South America, and even Mexico if UA is willing to compete. Still lots of untapped opportunities there, places like Medellin, Cali, Kingston, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, Curacao should all get a loo in the medium to long term.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

Agreed as far as the Luanda/JNB flights. ASKY just needs more planes to make that work, JNB-LFW is like a 12 hour round trip.

Domestic growth has been slow, but it seems like they're starting to pick up again with some new adds to places like ONT and GSO. Agreed this is the biggest weakness now, but I expect UA to steadily add more as they get more small narrowbodies on property.

Internationally, though, I think we're well covered in terms of overseas flights. Maybe we can get Shanghai and perhaps another European destination or two at some point, but I think IAH's main international growth areas are the Caribbean, South America, and even Mexico if UA is willing to compete. Still lots of untapped opportunities there, places like Medellin, Cali, Kingston, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, Curacao should all get a loo in the medium to long term.

GSO actually didnt get added except for a few flights in April which is puzzling to me.

In regards to certain expansion points mentioned, Santo Domingo and Kingston may be difficult. I know AA just announced DFW-Santo Domingo, but I felt that was bone headed. There is almost no market for Kingston and Santo Domingo west of the Mississippi.

From people Ive talked to who have, profits to Mexico and most of Latin America have fallen across the board for all carriers. Southwest's margin to Mexico was actually the worst of all of them. I dont know that UA will be expanding from Houston to Latin America. I actually have more specific details but I cant really share them here.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I think if they are truly serious about making this work, ASKY needs to launch Luanda. A flight to Johannesburg wouldnt hurt either.

United's domestic growth at IAH has been very meager compared to what they have added to ORD, DEN, and SFO. To me, what IAH has lacked the most was in the form of domestic destinations as opposed to more international flights.

Ethiopian is handing this right so props to them. There is virtually no market from Houston to the Eastern half of Africa, but there is a very large market from Houston to West Africa. This is a great way for them to take advantage of it and provide good connection in Lome.

Doesn't UA try to send most domestic traffic through hubs (ORD, DEN, NWR) unless demand for a longer distance segment is really strong? In that case, adding flights from ORD and DEN might seem to them to be adding flights from IAH as well.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Doesn't UA try to send most domestic traffic through hubs (ORD, DEN, NWR) unless demand for a longer distance segment is really strong? In that case, adding flights from ORD and DEN might seem to them to be adding flights from IAH as well.

A lot of it has to do with market size and geography.

Despite Houston being a much larger metro area, Denver is a much larger O&D market for domestic traffic. Way more people originating in the US are traveling to Denver than Houston. Now obviously, Houston is a much larger international market than Denver. However, fare premiums are higher on a RASM (revenue per seat mile) on domestic flights as opposed to international ones right now. As such, United's latest power point to investors showed Denver (not Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, or Newark) as their most profitable hub. The fares from Denver to places in the Rocky Mountain West are sky high and the operating costs are very low!

Chicago is blessed with almost perfect geography and a massive domestic and international O&D base, but competition is so fierce in Chicago that it forces UA and AA to think outside the box. Thats why we started seeing new domestic routes like Chicago to Eugene and Durango for UA and AA is tapping into the summer seasonal market with ORD-ATH/VCE.

Houston is completely different. We dont really have good geography for domestic connections and UA focuses so heavily on Latin American connections. Our travel market lives and dies by oil. I know our economy is becoming diverse, but as of now our business travel market is anything but diverse. All of the high fares are coming from energy related travel. This is especially true on international travel. Thats not to say that we arent filling the back cabins of planes with ethnic or tourist travel, but the front of the plane is almost entirely oil and thats what the airline cares about.

In regards to your original point, IAH is the Latin America gateway for UA. Thats really the bottom line. The non-Latin America long hauls that exist from Houston are either massive O&D markets (like Tokyo, Amsterdam and London) or they are meant to feed partner hubs (like Frankfurt, Munich, and Tokyo again).

[ParaguaneroSwag]

I would like to point out that Lome isn’t the confirmed midpoint between Houston and Addis Abada. And Ethiopian airlines last year seeked and gained government approval to fly between Accra and Texas. So there’s a big chance this is it.

Here’s a link to a report from last year that announced the Accra-Houston route:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mod...t-flights.html