Expanding its service in one of the fastest growing continents in the world, Ethiopian Airlines says it is set to start flying to three more destinations in Africa until June 2017.
From February to June, Ethiopian will launch new service to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Conakry (Guinea), the company said in its press statement this morning adding that during this period Ethiopian Airlines will also start flying to four additional destinations out of Africa.
“This is one of the greatest expansions in Ethiopian’s long and illustrious history,” the fully state-owned company said, stating that Ethiopian Airlines envisages reaching its total international destinations worldwide to 120 by the year 2025. Currently it is flying to 91 destinations across the world.
“Africa’s share of the Global Aviation is the smallest which is only around 3%. As the largest airline group in the continent, we are highly concerned on the low base of air connectivity in the continent,” said Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO.
“And we are setting record expansion to enable Africans enjoy safe, reliable and economical air connectivity both within the continent and between the continent and the rest of the world. Looking beyond the current economic slowdown especially in the oil export dependent economies of Africa, we firmly believe that the continent will become the magnet for foreign direct investment, trade and tourism, which are the engines of air travel growth,” the CEO said.
“In turn efficient air connectivity also drives socio economic development and we are happy to contribute our share in the 21st Century African Transformation,” he said.
The other four destinations the airline will start flying to until June 2017 are Oslo (Norway), Chengdu (China), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Singapore (Singapore).
Ethiopian Airlines last year alone has added new flights to Moroni (Comoros), WindHoek (Namibia) and Newark (United States) were launched, as well as three cities in Ethiopia: Hawassa, Kebridahar and Dembidolo, according to the statement.
Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing airline in Africa. In its seven decades of operation, Ethiopian has become one of the continent’s leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success. Ethiopian commands the lion’s share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet across five continents.
Ethiopian fleet includes ultramodern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as Airbus A350, Boeing 787, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200 Freighter, and Bombardier Q-400 double cabin. Ethiopian was the first airline in Africa to own and operate each of these aircraft.