Revival - from A-Zambia

Zambia Airways head Abiy Asrat Jiru harbours big ambitions for his relaunched flag carrier, with aspirations to add five more Boeing 737-800s this year and even the widebody 787 within a couple of years.

The owners and management at the carrier, which describes itself as “The new wings of Africa”, is on a mission to establish a well-run, financially-sound business that can develop a strong network from this land-linked republic in southern Africa.

The shareholders of Zambia Airways signed an agreement on August 19, 2018 to launch the airline the same year. The board was established, and a management team appointed, but due to several factors, predominantly the onset of the pandemic, the initial plan was paused for the next three years.

In December 2021, the shareholders met to see if a fresh attempt could be made to relaunch Zambia Airways. Through the Zambian Industrial Development Corporation, the government took a 55 per cent stake in the airline with the remaining 45 per cent taken by Ethiopian Airlines as part of its strategy to set up hubs across the continent.

Jiru arrived in February 2022, selected by former Ethiopian Airlines group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam to lead Zambia Airways. Jiru had been director, group business development and innovation hubs at Ethiopian since 2019.

“I was told the airline was in a very serious survival issue,” he told African Aerospace. “It was on the brink of failure and needed someone innovative who could transform the airline from A to Z.”

Undoubtedly, it has been a struggle to bring the new Zambia Airways to life, a task made almost impossible by the financial blow inflicted by Covid. However, the carrier had restarted flying with a single De Havilland Dash 8-400 from Ethiopian Airlines in December 2021 just prior to Jiru’s arrival.

What Jiru found was a disorganised operation, but he relished the challenge. “When I was at Ethiopian Airlines my job was to find the major problems and turn them into opportunities,” he said.

“At Zambia Airways the first thing I have done is bring in a high-performance culture and a world-class operating system which can utilise our capacity to the ultimate,” said Jiru.

The turnaround was fast, with the renovated carrier seeing its traffic double within just five months on its domestic routes from capital Lusaka and to Ndola in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, he said. The airline brings in a second Dash 8-400 from Ethiopian to supplement the original one when demand is high.

A permanent and significant addition to the fleet came in September 2023 with the arrival of new carrier’s first jet, a Boeing 737-800, also from Ethiopian Airlines.

This aircraft has given Zambia Airways the ability to launch a daily service to Johannesburg, timed to connect with the morning bank of outbound flights from the South African hub, said Jiru.

The increase in traffic brought by the changes introduced by Jiru, plus the extra capacity on offer, means the carrier is profitable at the operational level but with the investors in the initial phase of the strategy it will take longer to achieve net profitability.

Zambia Airways is in a strong growth trajectory, boosting its RPKs significantly in 2023 compared to the previous year, and this will climb again in 2024.

“I am so excited on what we have achieved in the past two years of leading Zambia Airways,” said Jiru. “My airline has been voted by the public of Zambia and awarded the Trophy by The Office of The President as ‘the most transformed and innovative company’ in my first year and as ‘the most performing ethical and responsive company’ in my second year in Zambia.”

“Ultimately, my role as a leader of a national airline is to deliver to the nation real and tangible results,” he added. “It is like the coach of a national soccer team. I am so proud of what I have delivered in the past two years here in Zambia.”