Ethiopia overtakes Dubai as top feeder of air traffic to Africa

Ethiopia has overtaken Dubai as a conduit for long-haul passengers to Africa, highlighting the success of the state airline's expansion drive and the reforms of its new prime minister. Travel consultancy ForwardKeys said Wednesday Addis Ababa airport had increased the number of international transfer passengers to sub-Saharan Africa for 5 years in a row, and in 2018 had surpassed Dubai, one of the world's busiest airports, as the transfer hub for long-haul travel to the region. Analysing data from travel booking systems that record 17m flight bookings a day, ForwardKeys found the number of long-haul transfers to sub-Saharan Africa via Addis Ababa jumped by 85% from 2013 to 2017. Transfers via Dubai over the same period rose by 31%. <br/>