One of the densest regional networks in West and Central Africa · single hub at Lome, Togo · 30 African cities · 27 countries
ASKY Airlines (Compagnie Aerienne ASKY) is headquartered inLome, the capital of the Republic of Togo, a 100 percent privately owned pan-African regional airline andone of the carriers with the densest network in West and Central Africa. It rests on two core assets. The first isLome, a single hub set almost exactly between West and Central Africa- from Lome the radius covers Accra, Lagos, Abidjan, Dakar, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Bamako, Douala and Kinshasa. The second isits deep ties with Ethiopian Airlines, which is a shareholder as well as the source of its aircraft, its maintenance provider and its intercontinental interlining partner. The fleet is entirely Boeing 737: 17 aircraft, all passenger types,with no dedicated freighters, so all cargo travels in passenger belly holds. For Chinese exporters it solves one specific problem:once cargo has reached a city in West or Central Africa and there is no direct flight from China and no widebody freighter to be found, what gets it onward to inland countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. Goodhope Freight provides international air cargo from China via the Ethiopian Airlines hub at Addis Ababa onto the ASKY Lome network, reaching 30 cities in West and Central Africa.
ASKY Airlines isa private regional airline headquartered in Lome, the capital of the Republic of Togo, registered as Compagnie Aerienne ASKY. Its origins are unusual. In 2002 the long-established pan-African carrier Air Afrique, which served West and Central Africa, went into liquidation, leaving a large gap in cross-border air transport across the region; many countries had to route traffic through Europe or North Africa. On 10 January 2004 ECOWAS and UEMOA met in Niamey, Niger, and decided to promotea private, competitive, cost-controlled regional airline that would still meet safety and security requirements. In September 2005, at the initiative of the African banker Gervais Koffi G. Djondo, the Societe de Promotion de la Compagnie Aerienne Regionale (SPCAR) was set up to run a feasibility study; the company was incorporated in November 2007 and held its founding shareholders' meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 17 January 2008, beforebeginning commercial operations on 15 January 2010.
Its founding can be dated three ways:November 2007 is the date of incorporation, June 2008 is the founding date most sources use, and 15 January 2010 is when it first carried passengers. Other sources record that itsfirst scheduled flight was Lome to Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, on 15 June 2010, which does not conflict with the 15 January 2010 start of operations: the earlier date marks the point at which it obtained its operating qualification and began flying, the later one may mark the first scheduled sector once the network was rolled out. For external citation, 2010 as the year operations began is the safest form.
The shareholding is a model of African institutional partnership.The company is wholly privately owned; shareholders includethe West African Development Bank (BOAD), the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), the pan-African banking group Ecobank (ETI), South Africa's Sakhumnotho Group Holding and private investors in West and Central Africa, with the Togolese state holding a minority stake of about 14.39 percent. The most important shareholder isEthiopian Airlines, which is both a strategic shareholder and ASKY's technical operations provider.Ethiopian Airlines is its strategic shareholder and technical support provider.
The company's operating record deserves separate mention.ASKY Airlines has been profitable every year since 2017. On 1 December 2025, at the 57th annual general assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in Luanda, Angola, ittook two awards at once: the Outstanding Service Award, for its work as lead airline of the Free Route Airspace Project in Africa, and theAirline of the Year - Best Financial Performance in Regional Operations award. It also received the titleBest Airline in West Africa 2023at the seventh Accraweizo event in Accra, Ghana. In a region where most carriers run on subsidies, a private company that stays profitable for years and wins a financial performance award means something concrete for shippers:the carrier's payment terms and ability to pay are comparatively solid, and a sudden grounding is less likely in the short term, which matters more for arranging long-term space than any promotional claim.
On network structure,as of September 2026 ASKY Airlines serves30 African cities in 27 countries; apart from Lome every point is international, with no domestic points, since Togo is a narrow strip with road access north and south and domestic routes have no economic case. In 2025 it opened Nouakchott (NKC) in Mauritania; in August 2026 it added Lome to Kano (KAN) in Nigeria, about three flights a week via Niamey with Boeing 737-800 aircraft, a new channel into northern Nigeria. Its medium-term target isto grow to more than 42 points within five years.
On traffic, ASKY Airlines carried1,319,406 passengers in 2025, up about 4.8 percent on 1,259,119 in 2024; the 2026 target is more than 1.5 million.The company does not publish separate cargo tonnage figures, stating only that added capacity drove cargo growth. Payload figures quoted here follow published aircraft-level technical data.
Connecting thirty cities across West and Central Africa into one network without losing money on each sector requiresa central hub with every flight fanning out from it. ASKY Airlines chose Lome in Togo.
Lome sits on the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea, with Benin to the east, Burkina Faso and Niger to the north and Ghana close to the west, placing it right on the border between anglophone and francophone Africa.
1. It flies neither to China nor to the United States.Its traffic rights currently cover the African continent only; the company has stated publicly that it is applying to the Togolese civil aviation authority to widen the scope of its operating certificate.
2. It has no freighters.All 17 aircraft are passenger types, cargo travels in the belly, and it is loaded loose: no pallets.
3. Its value is in the last leg.The China to Lome sector depends on carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines; from Lome to the 30 cities is where ASKY is strongest.
| Chinese name | ASKY Airlines (some Chinese sources render it as Asky Air) |
| English name | ASKY Airlines (registered as Compagnie Aerienne ASKY) |
| Country | Republic of Togo (West Africa) |
| Head office location | Lome, Togo, BIDC-ECOWAS building (128, Boulevard du 13 Janvier, B.P. 2988, Lome, Togo) |
| Main operating hub | Lome-Tokoin International Airport (LFW / ICAO: DXXX), also known as Gnassingbe Eyadema International Airport |
| IATA two-letter code | KP |
| ICAO four-letter code | SKK |
| Radio call sign | ASKY AIRLINE |
| AWB three-digit prefix | 032(the full waybill number is 032-XXXXXXXX, 11 digits) |
| Founded and start of operations | incorporated November 2007, founding date June 2008, commercial operations from 15 January 2010 |
| Company type | 100 percent privately owned pan-African regional airline |
| Main shareholders | Ethiopian Airlines (recorded as 24.9 percent or 40 percent depending on the source, which conflict), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Ecobank group (ETI), Sakhumnotho Group Holding, the Togolese state (about 14.39 percent) and private investors in West and Central Africa |
| Strategic partners | Ethiopian Airlines (technical operations, aircraft source, global interlining); commercial partner Air Burkina |
| Active fleet | 17, all Boeing 737 passenger aircraft (as of July 2026) |
| Network size | 30 cities / 27 countries, all within Africa |
| Employees | about 700 |
| Loyalty program | ASKY Club (Brown, Silver, Gold and Black tiers) |
| Airline alliance | Not part of any global alliance; connects worldwide through Ethiopian Airlines and various interline and codeshare agreements |
| Safety and certification | IOSA registered carrier; joined IATA in 2021; not on the EU air safety list |
| Official website | www.flyasky.com |
Allocated by IATA for sales, reservations, schedules, fares and waybills.Any booking system or GDS a customer uses to look up ASKY Airlines flights uses these two letters.KP also appears in the airline field of tickets and cargo manifests. Note that KP is easily confused with the code of a Central Asian carrier, so when quoting to an overseas agent it helps to add ASKY Airlines, Togo.
Allocated by ICAO for flight plans, air traffic control communications, aeronautical information and traffic rights documents.It does not appear on commercial documents, but if cargo involves a charter, an ad hoc extra flight or a filing with a civil aviation authority, SKK is what appears in the file. The matching callsign isASKY AIRLINE- controllers use the callsign, not the IATA code.
Of the three, this isthe code that matters most directly to shippers. An air waybill number has 11 digits: the first 3 are the carrier prefix, digits 4 to 10 are the serial number and the last digit is a check digit.An ASKY Airlines waybill number looks like 032-12345675.Tracing, claims and amendments all quote this number. The prefix is bound to the carrier, so whichever carrier issues the waybill, the prefix follows.
ASKY Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines are so closely linked that the two are easily mixed up in practice.Ethiopian Airlines uses the 071 waybill prefix; ASKY Airlines uses 032. On China to Lome interline shipments, the cargo may well sit under an 071 waybill on the first sector and an 032 one on the second. That waybill structure and the allocation of space are among the points Goodhope Freight watches for the customer at the booking stage.
As of July 2026 the ASKY Airlines fleet is17 aircraft, all Boeing 737 narrowbody passenger types: 9 Boeing 737-800 and 8 Boeing 737 MAX 8. That follows delivery of two new 737 MAX 8 aircraft (registrations ET-BCJ and ET-BCK) on 5 and 16 July 2026; the fleet stood at 15 before that.
It has no dedicated freighters.Since it was founded, ASKY's cargo business has ridden on passenger belly holds:no 737-800BCF conversions and no widebody freighters at all. Available cargo space has two natural ceilings. The first is thatbelly volume and structural payload are fixed on each flight; the second is thatwhen passenger numbers, baggage and sector length are high, the tonnage left for cargo is squeezed further. How much cargo a given flight can take in peak season has to be calculated at booking against that day's actual passenger load and baggage weight, not quoted from the aircraft manual.
A second point gets less attention but matters more in operations: the Boeing 737 belly is a loose-load hold and cannot take ULDs.The 737 belly door measures only about0.9 meters by 1.22 meters, with one forward and one aft, and the opening will not admit even a standard LD3 container, so cargo can only beloaded piece by piece as loose freight. That limit directly rules out, or makes very hard, three kinds of cargo: boxed items whose dimensions approach the door opening, high-value precision equipment that must be handed over as a full pallet, and whole batches of identical goods that need palletised handling. Conversely,small-lot, multi-batch cargo with modest piece size and tight transit needs, such as samples, spare parts, small appliances, phone accessories and e-commerce packets, is the best fit for a loose-load hold. Goodhope Freight explains this more often than anything else when preparing a plan, and quoting tonnage while ignoring door dimensions is the common practical mistake.
A third point concerns where the aircraft come from and how they are maintained.Most ASKY aircraftare subleased from Ethiopian Airlines and registered on the Ethiopian register (registrations beginning ET-), with only one 737-800 on the Togolese register. A single-source fleet has a simple advantage:one aircraft type, with maintenance and spares provided through the Ethiopian Airlines technical system- Ethiopian Airlines is the largest carrier in Africa, one of the few with full in-house maintenance capability, and an important operator of several Airbus and Boeing types. For shippers the practical meaning isthat backup capacity is relatively plentiful when an aircraft goes technical. ASKY Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines are also building a jointA maintenance (MRO) facility and flight simulator center representing about USD 100 million of investmentin Lome, where the 737 MAX full-flight simulator is already under construction, to reduce reliance on European training resources.
A fourth point is fleet renewal.ASKY's direction is clear:make the 737 MAX 8 the core type and phase out the 9 Boeing 737-800s, and in the longer term grow from today's 17 aircraft to about 30. It took delivery of 2 MAX 8s in 2026 with more planned, and executives have said publicly that they are negotiating a direct order with Boeing for deliveries from 2032. As for widebodies, ASKYhas discussed introducing the Boeing 787 to open a Paris route, but has no widebody in service yet. The cargo consequence is thatper-flight cargo capability will not change by an order of magnitude in the next few years; it remains a narrowbody belly operation.
1. Volume of about 43-44 cubic meters.That is the theoretical volume of the forward and aft holds combined, not sellable tonnage.
2. Cargo door of only about 0.9 by 1.22 meters.Loose loading, no LD3 containers and no pallets.
3. Payload moves with the passenger load.Sellable cargo can differ widely between flights of the same aircraft type and must be checked flight by flight.
| Aircraft type | Number | Seat layout | Belly volume (reference) | Belly loading method | Role at ASKY Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 9 aircraft | Two-class layout, commonly 154 seats (16 business / 138 economy) or 168 seats (12 business / 156 economy) | about 44.1 cubic meters (1,555 cubic feet) | Loose load, one cargo door of about 0.9 by 1.22 meters forward and aft | Main type, covering most regional routes; due to retire progressively over the next 5-6 years |
| Boeing 737 MAX 8 | 8 aircraft | Two-class layout, 16 business + 144 economy (new aircraft configuration, July 2026) | about 43.6 cubic meters (about 18.7 forward + 25.0 aft) | Loose load, cargo door dimensions the same as the 737-800 | Core type for renewal, lower fuel burn, deployed first on high-frequency and long sectors |
| Total | 17 aircraft | All-passenger configuration | — | All loose-load belly space | 0 dedicated freighters |
The 737-800 is the stretched member of the Boeing 737 Next Generation family, about 39.5 meters long with two CFM56-7B engines, and one of the most widespread narrowbodies of the past two decades. For cargo its value lies in beingrugged, easy to repair and supported by modification parts almost everywhere- at secondary African airports the 737-800 has the most mature ground support, which bears directly on on-time performance and how fast a fault is resolved. ASKY's 9 aircraft carry a large share of regional routes, and on paper their belly volume (about 44 cubic meters) is even slightly larger than the 737 MAX 8. Under the company plan these aircraft retire in batches over the next five to six years, replaced by the 737 MAX 8.
The 737 MAX 8 is the fourth-generation development of the 737 family, with CFM LEAP-1B engines and new winglets, and markedly lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions than the 737-800. The two aircraft ASKY took in July 2026 (ET-BCJ and ET-BCK) are of this type, configured 16 business + 144 economy. The type keeps coming up becausejet fuel in Africa has long been among the most expensive in the world, at times accounting for thirty percent of the carrier's operating cost, so replacing older 737s with MAX aircraft is its main lever on cost, and fuel cost feeds straight into freight rates. One caution:"the MAX 8 belly volume is roughly level with the 737-800, and even slightly smaller. A change of type does not transform how much cargo a flight can take; what changes is sector economics and on-time performance.
| Cargo types | Fit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small-lot parts, samples, spares | Suitable for | Small pieces, light weights and many batches: exactly what a loose-load belly does well |
| Phones, consumer electronics, small appliances | Suitable for | Controllable piece size, high value, time-sensitive; lithium batteries must be declared under the IATA dangerous goods rules |
| Yiwu small commodities, everyday light goods | Suitable for | Mostly low-density cargo, which uses belly volume rather than payload |
| Pharmaceuticals, vaccines, in-vitro diagnostic reagents | To be confirmed sector by sector | Depends on whether the station has temperature-controlled acceptance and storage, and whether the flight allows passive containers to be loaded; confirm shipment by shipment before booking |
| Fresh food, seafood, live produce | To be confirmed sector by sector | Short sectors favor fresh cargo, but cold-chain handling and customs timing at destination must be checked, and connection time left sufficient |
| Full-pallet, full-container, palletised batches | Not suitable | Door dimensions and loose loading rule out pallet or container handover; cargo must be depalletised or moved to another carrier |
| Out-of-gauge heavy cargo, construction machinery, large equipment | Not suitable | Both dimensions and weight exceed narrowbody belly capability; a widebody freighter or charter is needed |
As of September 2026, ASKY Airlines has no office in mainland China or Hong Kong, and no publicly appointed China cargo general sales agent (GSA/GSSA).That fits its business model. ASKY's traffic rights currentlycover the African continent only, and the company has said publicly that it is applying to the Togolese civil aviation authority to extend its air operator certificate beyond Africa, with the aim of a Paris route. A carrier whose points are all in Africa has no reason to run a cargo sales desk in China.
At the same time,its sales structure is own stations plus global distribution systems: it runs its own sales and station offices in every African city it serves, and passenger and cargo space is open to agents worldwide through the GDS. So cargo from China has, in reality, one route onto its flights:a forwarder such as Goodhope Freight brings the cargo to Lome through Ethiopian Airlines' China cargo stations or a first-tier agent, and the Lome station then puts it on ASKY flights.Space requests, waybill structure, connections and exception handling in between are where a forwarder actually does the work.
Anyone collecting a deposit, bond or space reservation fee in the name of an ASKY Airlines China representative office should check with Goodhope Freight first; legitimate charges in the forwarding chain appear only on our invoice.
None at present.No office, no published Chinese-language cargo hotline and no publicly appointed China cargo general sales agent.
For shipments from China, contact Goodhope Freight, which handles them centrally.
Address:BIDC-ECOWAS Building, 128 Boulevard du 13 Janvier, B.P. 2988, Lomé, Togo
Telephone:+228 22 20 88 18
Fax:+228 22 20 89 00
Customer service center:+228 22 23 05 00 / +228 70 69 15 15
General email:headoffice@flyasky.com
Brand and media:communication@flyasky.com
Websitewww.flyasky.comProvides flight search and booking, including an entry point for cargo space requests. Station office email addresses mostly follow the formatthree-letter code + kpcto@flyasky.com, where cto stands for cargo traffic office; the cargo contact published for the Niamey station follows this pattern -but such addresses come from third-party compilations rather than an official airline directory, so confirm with the Lome head office before use.
The customer deals with one point of contact. Goodhope Freight handles pickup at the Chinese gateway, export declaration, flight selection, waybill issuance, space requests and end-to-end tracking, breaking the China to Africa leg into executable steps and taking up any issue externally.
The main carrier on the China to Africa leg is Ethiopian Airlines, which has several cargo stations in mainland China and Hong Kong (Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Changsha, Chengdu, Wuhan, Ezhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen and others) and connects to points across Africa through its Addis Ababa hub. This leg is usually handled by its China cargo team or a first-tier agent.
Once cargo reaches Lome, the cargo traffic office at the ASKY Lome station handles loading and distribution. Each city in the network has its own station team, and coordination usually runs through Lome. Working languages at this layer are mainly French and English, and the time zone and working week differ from China, so this is one of the points Goodhope Freight watches for the customer.
The direct answer: ASKY Airlines has no points in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, so there is no schedule question of which day of the week or which airport.All 30 of its destinations are in Africa. The furthest east is Nairobi in Kenya and the furthest south is Johannesburg in South Africa; the network concentrates on West and Central Africa with one point each extending into East and Southern Africa.
This leads to one firm conclusion:Chinese export cargo cannot be waybilled straight onto ASKY flights; it must reach Lome first to enter the network.The China to Lome leg currently has to be carried by other airlines, so the chain uses two carriers.
The schedule of the first leg from China to Africa sets the pace.The first leg sets the rhythm for the whole chain. Taking ASKY's strategic partner Ethiopian Airlines as an example, its cargo schedules in mainland China and Hong Kong, compiled from published industry schedule data and subject to seasonal change in practice, are as follows:
| Departure gateway | Flight type | Flights per week | Aircraft type | Transit via Addis Ababa | Indicative transit time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guangzhou (CAN) | Freighter | 4 flights per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) | Boeing 777F | Can connect toward Lome | About 2–4 days via Lome |
| Guangzhou (CAN) | Passenger aircraft belly capacity | 1 flight daily | Boeing 787-8 | Can connect toward Lome | About 3–5 days via Lome |
| Hong Kong, China (HKG) | Freighter | 1 flight daily | Boeing 777F | Can connect toward Lome | About 2–4 days via Lome |
| Changsha (CSX) | Freighter / passenger belly | 1-2 flights per week | Boeing 777F / 787-8 | Can connect toward Lome | About 3–5 days via Lome |
| Chengdu (CTU) | Passenger aircraft belly capacity | 4 flights per week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and others) | Airbus A350-900 | Can connect toward Lome | About 3–5 days via Lome |
| Wuhan (WUH) | Freighter | 3 flights per week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) | Boeing 777F | Can connect toward Lome | About 3–5 days via Lome |
| Ezhou (EHU) | Freighter | 2 flights per week | Boeing 777F | Can connect toward Lome | About 3–5 days via Lome |
Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali are alllandlocked countries with no seaport. The traditional approach moves cargo by sea to a port in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana or Togo and then overland across the border, but road clearance and security are highly uncertain.
ASKY Airlines moves that stepinto the air and centralizes it at Lome: the cargo area at Lome airport can process Togo customs formalities for cargo bound for the interior, and flights from Lome to Niamey, Ouagadougou and Bamako are short, high-frequency narrowbody sectors. That is where its real value in West Africa lies.
Lome, TogoAccra, GhanaLagos, NigeriaAbuja, NigeriaKano, NigeriaCotonou, BeninAbidjan, Cote d'IvoireDakar, SenegalBanjul, GambiaConakry, GuineaBissau, Guinea-BissauFreetown, Sierra LeoneMonrovia, LiberiaBamako, MaliOuagadougou, Burkina FasoNiamey, NigerNouakchott, MauritaniaPraia, Cape Verde
Douala, CameroonYaounde, CameroonLibreville, GabonBrazzaville, Republic of the CongoPointe-Noire, Republic of the CongoKinshasa, Democratic Republic of the CongoN'Djamena, ChadBangui, Central African RepublicMalabo, Equatorial GuineaSao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe
Nairobi, KenyaJohannesburg, South Africa
These two points extend the network to the eastern and southern edges of Africa. Some flights connect through an intermediate stop (for example Johannesburg served via Libreville or Kinshasa),so whether a route is nonstop has to be checked against the specific flight number, and it should not be called nonstop in general terms.
All Asian citiesAll European citiesAll American citiesNorth Africa (Morocco, Egypt and others)Outside Tanzania and Angola
As of September 2026 its traffic rights and network are limited to Africa; the Paris route is still at the planning stage,with no launch date confirmed. Luanda in Angola appears in some third-party databases but is not among the 30 points in the airline's own count, so it is excluded here.
West and Central Africa is a wide region; Dakar to Kinshasa is over 4,000 km in a straight line. Many carriers put their hub at one end of the network, which adds a long detour when flying to the other end;Lome sits almost at the geometric center of the region, with flights to most mainline cities taking about three hours. In practicefor the same consignment to Accra or N'Djamena, the gap in transit time and cost is clearly narrower than on a routing that detours through a European hub, which is particularly economical for customers splitting cargo across several West African countries at once.
30 cities in 27 countries, mostly short high-frequency sectors. Third-party databases put its scheduled sectors anywhere between several dozen and about 200, depending on the count. For a Chinese shipper,destination density determines the fallback when something goes wrong: if a flight is cancelled or full, moving the cargo to another day or another connection depends on how many alternatives the carrier has in its own network. A single-route carrier cannot provide that.
ASKY Airlines isan IOSA registered operator, joined IATA in 2021,is not on the EU air safety list, and has had no fatal hull loss since it began operations.This matters a great deal on African routes: many buyers and letter of credit terms require the carrier to hold IOSA registration or to be off the EU list, and confirming this early avoids finding out at the port of arrival that the documents do not comply.
It has been profitable every year since 2017 and won the AFRAA annual airline award for best financial performance in regional operations at the 57th AFRAA General Assembly in 2025. A regional carrier suspending flights without warning is one of the biggest hidden risks in emerging-market air cargo,and a company that has been consistently profitable, with an intercontinental carrier such as Ethiopian Airlines among its shareholders, offers more certainty on long-term space contracts and payment terms.
ASKY Airlines leases its fleet from Ethiopian Airlines, its maintenance is backed by Ethiopian's technical organization, and the two hold codeshare and interline agreements.The operational benefit is that between the China to Lome sector and the onward sector from Lome, handover procedures are more mature and responsibility for exceptions is clearer, which runs more smoothly than pairing two unrelated carriers. This shows most clearly when cargo is up against a delivery date or needs re-routing.
West Africa splits along language lines: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia are anglophone, while Togo, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are francophone. Many carriers serve only one side.ASKY Airlines covers both, andLome itself is described in the industry as a neutral transit point linking the anglophone and francophone zones, which makes it a practical channel for Chinese traders serving customers in both language zones.
| Cargo type | Transport characteristics | Fit with this channel |
|---|---|---|
| Machinery, electrical goods and hardware building materials | Heavy individual pieces, regular packaging but bulky | Partial fit. Small, unpalletised lots can move in belly space; for a full heavy lot, compare sea freight or a widebody freighter. |
| Phones, consumer electronics and accessories | High value, small volume, time-sensitive, often containing lithium batteries | Strong fit. Classic good cargo for loose belly space, but lithium batteries must be declared under the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and acceptance at each station has to be confirmed individually. |
| Textiles, apparel and light consumer goods | Mainly low-density cargo, many shipments, low value per piece | Strong fit. Low-density cargo is charged more economically by volume than by weight, which suits loose belly space. |
| Auto parts, motorcycles and agricultural machinery parts | Mixed sizes, fairly heavy pieces, fragmented demand | Good fit. Fragmented replenishment orders suit air freight; complete units or oversized items do not. |
| Pharmaceuticals and medical consumables | Defined temperature-control requirements, complex documentation | Confirmed case by case. What matters is whether the destination station can accept and store temperature-controlled cargo, and whether the connection time stays within the endurance of the temperature-controlled container. |
| Project materials and after-sales spare parts | Equipment spares and urgent items for Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa | Strong fit. These shipments are small in volume and cannot wait, which makes them one of the most stable cargo sources for West African air freight. |
Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have no coastline, which makes them among the hardest destinations in West Africa. The traditional route is by sea to a Gulf of Guinea port and then overland across the border, exposed to uncertain road conditions and security. The cargo area at Lome airport canprocess customs formalities for cargo transiting to the interior, and the cargo then flies from Lome to Niamey, Ouagadougou and Bamako on short narrowbody sectors. For a Chinese exporter this meansthe uncertainty of the last leg moves off the road and onto a flight schedule that can be planned.
Lome has one of the few deep-water ports in West Africa, in the same city as the airport. That opens up a practical arrangement:send the bulky low-value portion by sea to Lome and fly the urgent or high-value portion straight to destination, with the two meeting at Lome. For project cargo and orders delivered in stages, separating sea and air and merging at Lome usually finds a better balance between cost and delivery date. The exact split has to be calculated case by case on value and delivery date.
The political and linguistic map of West Africa makes the choice of a transhipment point sensitive. Lome is described in the industry asa neutral transit point linking the anglophone and francophone zones, and Togo has long positioned Lome as a regional aviation and logistics gateway. For customers who distribute to several countries and do not want all their cargo committed to one border,this neutrality lowers political and policy risk.
The new terminal at Lome airport opened in April 2016.The Export-Import Bank of China provided about USD 150 million in financing, and China Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group, Weihai International Economic and Technical Cooperation and other companies built it, covering about 21,000 sq m with a design capacity of 2 million passengers a year. The associated cargo area has grown in recent years from about 12,000 tonnes toabout 50,000 tonnes a year, with further expansion planned. For a Chinese shipper the practical meaning is thatthe operating standards and equipment at this airport carry Chinese civil aviation practice, so procedures are not too far removed from those at Chinese ports.
Seventeen Boeing 737s cover 30 cities, with modest capacity per flight butdense frequency and fast turnaround. Short sectors such as Lome to Accra, Lagos, Abidjan and Cotonou can run several times a day, and longer sectors still operate several times a week. For a shipper this structure best suitssmall lots, frequent shipments and no wish to hold inventory, especially for cross-border e-commerce and after-sales spare parts, where booking today for tomorrow matters far more than tonnes per flight.
ASKY Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines are jointly building a facility in LomeA maintenance (MRO) facility and flight simulator center representing about USD 100 million of investment, including a Boeing 737 MAX full-flight simulator that is already under construction. For cargo customers the point isflight reliability: routine maintenance and crew training will no longer depend on European facilities, and the risk of groundings and delays should fall. On time-sensitive cargo, reliability is worth as much as the rate.
Send the destination city, pieces, weight and dimensions, cargo type and preferred departure date; we quote against the space actually available that day and state how the transit time is built up
confirm cargo compliance, including whether lithium batteries, dangerous goods or temperature control need approval station by station, and confirm it in writing on both sides
request space with the first-leg carrier from China to the connection point and coordinate the onward flight from Lome at the same time
issue the air waybill, export declaration and documents accompanying the flight; the waybill structure follows the sectors actually flown, with 071 and 032 attribution settled shipment by shipment
deliver to the terminal, clear export, warehouse and load; track the shipment to destination and report exceptions immediately
coordinate destination clearance and confirm delivery, arranging onward inland transport where needed
ASKY AirlinesThere is no single published cut-off standard, and cut-off times differ from station to station. The working rhythm and customs hours at West African ports differ from China, and cargo arriving at Lome on a customs rest day can lose a day for nothing.Confirm the cut-off for both legs at booking and leave a buffer before departure.
China to Lome is Ethiopian Airlines (071); beyond Lome it is ASKY Airlines (032).Whether to issue one through interline waybill or two separate sector waybills directly affects who files a claim, how title to the cargo moves and how destination clearance is handled, and it also affects document matching for China's export tax rebate and foreign exchange verification. We advise on this at booking according to the trade term (FOB, CIF, DDP and others) and confirm in writing.
The belly door is only about 0.9 x 1.22 m and cannot take a pallet. If the cargo leaves the factory fully palletised,it has to be depalletised at the terminal, and the crate dimensions must pass through the door. This rework is charged at the airport and costs time.The simplest approach is to pack to loose-load dimensions from the start.
Francophone countries in West and Central Africa generally requirecommercial invoices and packing lists in French, or in both English and French, and some also require advance customs declaration at destination, the importer's tax number and inspection certificates for specific goods. The usual result of incomplete documents is cargo held at the airport incurring storage charges.We issue a document checklist by destination country at booking; check each item before shipping.
On African routes the agent matters far more than on European or US lanes, because:carriers have no China desk on these routes, so space availability, aircraft restrictions, destination handling practice and customs holidays all have to be sought, tested and watched by the agent.
A competent Africa agent should do four things for the customer:
The sector breakdown and cost structure from a Chinese port to Lome and on to 30 African cities are checked item by item by a professional freight forwarder.
Contact us for an air cargo planDeparting from China · international air freight forwarding · (we are an independent freight forwarder, not a branch or representative office of ASKY Airlines)
Does ASKY Airlines serve any point in China?
No. All 30 of its destinations are within Africa and its traffic rights are currently confined to the continent (the company has said publicly that it is applying to extend its operating certificate beyond Africa). Cargo exported from China has to reach Lome first, and the China to Lome sector is flown by another carrier, most often Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa.
Does ASKY Airlines operate dedicated freighters, and how much can they carry?
No. As of July 2026 its 17 aircraft are all Boeing 737 passenger aircraft (9 737-800 and 8 737 MAX 8), and all cargo travels in passenger belly space. Published belly volume is about 43 to 44 cubic metres by aircraft type, but that is theoretical volume, not sellable payload; the actual figure depends on passenger and baggage weight that day, fuel load and sector length.Any figure given before booking for how many tonnes a flight can take is an estimate and must be verified flight by flight.
How is the 032 waybill prefix used?
032 is the airline prefix code IATA assigned to ASKY Airlines; its MAWB numbers have 11 digits and look like 032-XXXXXXXX. Ethiopian Airlines uses the 071 prefix, and the two are separate systems. Cargo from China to Lome and onward to landlocked West Africa can involve two carriers, so who issues the waybill and whose prefix it carries has to be settled shipment by shipment.
What is the transit time from China to Lome?
As a reference, after handover at a Chinese terminal, cargo usually reaches Lome in 3 to 5 days via Addis Ababa, depending on whether the first leg is a freighter or passenger belly space, departure frequency and connection waiting time. From Lome to major West African cities usually takes 1 to 3 days.This is a reference range, not a commitment, because it depends on the first-leg schedule, the connection and destination customs working time. We set out the transit time breakdown for each shipment when quoting.
Can palletised or full-pallet cargo be carried?
Cargo cannot be handed over as a full pallet or container. The Boeing 737 belly is a loose-load hold with a door of about 0.9 x 1.22 m, which will not even take a standard LD3 container, so cargo must be broken down and loaded piece by piece. In practicepackaging has to be built to loose-load dimensions at the factory. For precision equipment that must stay on its pallet or for large lots of identical goods, use a widebody freighter or a heavy charter instead; we can propose an alternative.
Can dangerous goods, temperature-controlled cargo and perishables be carried?
For a specific category at a specific station, each case has to be confirmed.ASKY Airlines is an IOSA registered operator and an IATA member, which sets a baseline of international operating standards, but itdoes not publish a station-by-station acceptance list for special cargo, and its website currently has no separate cargo product manual. We verify acceptance qualifications and additional requirements for that station and flight with the carrier before booking and answer the customer only after a written reply. Any claim that all West African destinations accept dangerous goods deserves another check.
What is the safety record of ASKY Airlines?
ASKY Airlines is an IOSA registered operator, joined IATA in 2021,is not on the EU air safety list, and has had no fatal hull loss since it began operations in 2010. The company has been profitable every year since 2017 and in 2025 won the Association of African Airlines annual airline award for best financial performance in regional operations.Safety records and financial results describe the past only and cannot guarantee future operations; an airline's traffic rights, routes and financial position can all change, and we re-check the carrier's current status before every booking.
What is the schedule from Lome to destination cities?
No published schedule is available for stable reference.ASKY Airlines adjusts its flying program with the season, cargo demand and short-notice charter work, and its official channels do not issue a fixed public schedule on an ongoing basis; third-party databases also count differently. In practice we obtain the actual flight plan for the current week from the carrier on the day the booking is taken and build a workable connection around the customer's departure date, rather than relying on a timetable that may already be out of date.
Disclaimer
Prepared by Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited (Goodhope Freight). ASKY Airlines and related marks belong to Compagnie Aérienne ASKY, and we have no affiliation, shareholding or agency relationship with ASKY Airlines. Figures are compiled from public sources as of September 2026, and any item marked as not yet available or as requiring flight-by-flight confirmation is subject to the carrier's current formal reply. The information is for reference only and does not constitute a rate quotation or a transport commitment; space and schedule are subject to written confirmation at the time of booking.