Mayor Hancock’s Plan for Direct Flights to Africa

By Kailee Stiles, Mayor’s Office

“We made such wonderful personal connections with the people we met, and it reminds me of how much we have in common, even when our first languages or everyday lives might be different,” Mayor Hancock said of the mission. “The interactions we had with our counterparts in Cairo and Addis Ababa were enriching experiences that have brought our cities closer together and bodes well for direct flights and future exchanges between our cities.”

Beginning with his time on City Council, Mayor Michael B. Hancock has been an advocate for increasing business and global connections for Denver International Airport. Under his tenure as Mayor, Denver International Airport (DEN) has added 17 new international flights and seven new carriers. International direct flights bring significant business and economic opportunities as well as cultural ties. Africa has recently come into play and Mayor Hancock wants to make sure Denver is connected.

To bring that reality closer, Mayor Hancock and a delegation of civic and business leaders made their way to Ethiopia and Egypt earlier this month to strengthen bilateral ties with the cities of Cairo, the capitol of Egypt, and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and discuss establishing direct air service between those cities and Denver.

Currently Africa is the only continent without direct air service to Denver, a fact Mayor Hancock and DEN leaders are committed to changing. The decision to pursue adding these flights was also spurred by the airport’s Vision 100 Strategic Plan, unveiled early last year, which pledges to expand Denver’s global connections. The first step was recruiting community leaders for the Africa Air Service Committee, who were tasked with analyzing for air service expansion into Africa.

The members of the committee understood well the enormous possibilities new direct flights can present. The airport is the state’s largest economic engine, and the investments from new air service can have a similarly huge impact. Direct flights to and from Tokyo, started a decade ago, have an annual economic impact of $130 million in Colorado; non-stops between Denver and Munich have an annual impact of $80 million. and representatives from Ethiopian Airlines.

The Committee’s year of research led them to zero in on the cities of Cairo and Addis Ababa as the most promising opportunities for new flights. After hearing the Committee’s recommendations, Mayor Hancock and partners at DEN agreed that their next step needed a more personal touch. They planned a weeklong swing through the two countries that included meetings with local officials and airline representatives in person to make the business and tourism case for direct flights to and from Denver.

Mayor Hancock also received a surprise invitation from another government official with Denver ties – the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali. Welcoming the Mayor and delegation members to Addis Ababa, the Prime Minister shared that during the country’s recent challenges, his wife and children took refuge in

Denver, where there is a strong Ethiopian community and a sister-city partnership with the Ethiopian city of Axum going back to 1995. Prime Minister Ahmed Ali expressed his gratitude to Mayor Hancock for Denver’s willingness to take in his loved ones.

“That was such a humbling moment, to be with the Prime Minister and seeing how deeply thankful he was to our city,” Mayor Hancock recalled. “I will never forget that.” of Tourism and Antiquities, several business leaders, and Air Egypt representatives.

“It was a privilege to speak directly with the Ministers of Tourism and Civil Aviation, and to connect around the tourism economies we share,”

Mayor Hancock said of the second leg of the delegation’s mission. “We represented Denver well, and I’m looking forward to further conversations to make these flights a reality.”

Already a global hub, these latest efforts by Mayor Hancock and DEN leadership to expand worldwide pathways in and out of Denver present a key economic opportunity for the state and the wider Western United States.

“The Gateway to the Rockies is expanding, and we couldn’t be more excited,” Mayor Hancock said..

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Washington echoed that sentiment in a message to airport employees about the effort: “Such delegations are a clear message

that Denver

Shows Up in support of airline partners and demonstrates a sincere interest in learning about a new region and engaging in dialogue to identify common goals…The power of presence cannot be underestimated.”

In Ethiopia, Mayor Hancock and the delegation held positive and productive conversations with the Mayor of Addis Ababa, Adanech Abebe, as well as the Ethiopian Minister of Tourism, U.S. Embassy officials,

Also on the delegation representing the Denver business community was Yemane GebreMichael, who is from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. He added, “From a business perspective, this flight would really open up Africa in a way that we really haven’t had the access in the West.” Gebre-Michael also said that a direct flight would make it easier for the hundreds of Ethiopians in Denver and across the American West to visit their families.

In Cairo, Mayor Hancock and delegation members saw similarly optimistic results from their meetings with the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation, the Egyptian Minister

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