Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, announced a joint initiative to purchase fuel with eight other African airlines. The collaborative initiative to bur fuel is expected to result in significant savings for the airlines. 
The program for the nine airlines to jointly buy fuel was launched following the conclusion of the evaluation process of bids tendered by several fuel companies said The African Airlines Association.
The program enables airlines to receive advantageous and stable prices for fuel with guaranteed quality and supply reliability while at the same time fuel suppliers can benefit from higher fuel volumes purchased according to AFRAA.The nine carriers jointly carried out two rounds of negotiations for the purchase of the oil although contracting will be finalized by individual airlines with successful fuel suppliers noted AFRAA.
The implementation dates for the contracts will vary but all will terminate at the end of December 2012 to be replaced by new contracts for 2013 explained the statement from AFRAA.
The total amount of fuel to be purchased by the airlines through the joint initiative is to be about 700 million liters worth an estimated 1.5 billion dollars according to Alex Mbugua Group Finance Director of Kenya Airways.
The first phase of this program will include only 9 members of the AFRAA but it is expected that more member airlines will take part in future tenders resulting in more volumes he explained.
The airlines taking part in the initiative are TAAG Angola Airlines, Kenya Airways, LAM Mozambique Airlines, Air Malawi, Air Namibia, Precision Air, Rwandair, Air Seychelles, as well as Ethiopian Airlines.
Source: Capital
