Ethiopian Airlines and Liege Airport (LGG) have increased their longstanding partnership by signing another five year contract meaning that Liege Airport will continue to be Ethiopian Airlines cargo hub serving as a freighter gateway between Africa and Europe until 2026.
Liege Airport is Belgium’s largest cargo airport and the 6th largest cargo airport in Europe and will continue working with Ethiopian that began flying to the airport 15 years ago, and has since operated 15,000 freighter flights into Liege Airport and steadily approaching 1m tonnes of cargo carried.
Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services Acting Managing Director, Enquanhone Minyashal said, “We are glad to have renewed our partnership agreement with our long-standing partner airport at a time when we are registering tremendous growth in our cargo destinations and capacity. In collaboration with Liege Airport, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services has been providing fast and secure cargo transportation service across Europe and beyond for the last 15 years of successful cooperation.”
“In the next five years, we will work to transform our freighter operation to serve Europe better with our renewed commitment to Liege Airport. As the largest pan African carrier, Ethiopian Airlines will continue to strengthen its partnership with Liege Airport to boost its freighter operations between Africa and Europe,” added Enquanhone.
Steven Verhasselt, VP Commercial of Liege Airport said: “First of all, Liege Airport would like to congratulate Ethiopian Airlines and all its staff and partners on a very happy 75th birthday. It is with great pride that we are part of Ethiopian’s success story for almost 15 years and LGG will continue to be Ethiopian Airline’s cargo hub in Europe. Looking back from the start to where we are today, Ethiopian has already operated 15,000 freighter flights into LGG, approaching an incredible 1 million tonnes of cargo carried”.
“Still, this is the past and can be considered as a very impressive start. Today, we celebrate the future. Ethiopian and LGG have renewed their partnership agreement that not only confirms the European Cargo hub in LGG for the next 5 years but also states that Ethiopian will become much more than an airline flying into LGG.”
“In the future, a dedicated cargo hub can be established in Liege North, for which Ethiopian was the launch customer to start with. We are very much looking forward to this next step that will help Ethiopian to serve its customers even better. More than ever, LGG will be the hub for Ethiopian and the main freighter gateway between Africa and Europe,” Steven Verhasselt highlights.
Ethiopian Airlines Group retained its leadership position in the continent as the largest Pan-African airline while becoming Africa’s top airline in passenger and freight traffic, according to African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) recent report. The airline handled 500 thousand tonnes of cargo and 5.5 million passengers through its main hub, Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, in 2020.
By Victor Shalton Odhiambo
