Asky Airlines to establish an aviation academy in Lomé in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines
In Africa, the development of the aviation industry is hampered, in part, by the lack of professionals in quantity and quality. It is to meet this challenge that Asky Airlines, in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, aims to make Lomé an African hub for aviation training.
Asky Airlines, the pan-African carrier has initiated discussions with its partner Ethiopian Airlines (20% shareholder) to establish an aviation academy in the Togolese capital. The head of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesay Shiferaw, made this known in an interview with local media Origins Business.
According to him, this academy should train, initially, pilots, aircraft mechanics and cabin crew. Boeing estimates that by 2040, African airlines will need 1030 new aircraft. Over the period, the estimated demand for aviation personnel will increase to 63 000 new professionals, including 19 000 pilots, 20 000 technicians and 24 000 cabin crew.
If successful, the project is expected to be modelled on the Ethiopian Airlines Training Centre. Established in the 1950s, the Ethiopian Airline Aviation Academy has a capacity of 4,000 students per year. With seven decades of experience, it is today a world-class aviation training centre equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and technology offering a full range of aviation training programmes. Ethiopian Airline Aviation Academy is approved by ICAO, IATA, EASA and the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority.
The choice of Lomé as the base for this project is not insignificant. First of all, it is the hub of ASKY Airlines. Until then, the pan-African company will serve more than twenty African destinations with its fleet of eleven Boeing 737s. Togo is also an African model in terms of air safety and security performance. This is what earned the Togolese head of state, Faure Gnassingbé, the appointment by his African peers in 2018 to lead the process of implementing the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) project. He is responsible for convincing other hesitant countries to join the process.
