. Madagascar to Join Ethiopian’s Vast Intra-African Network
Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has concluded preparations to start new flight to Chengdu, China three times weekly as of June 3, 2017. Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan province and is the 7th-largest city in China.
Chengdu is the country’s western centre of logistics, commerce, science and technology, as well as a hub of transportation, manufacturing and communication. Chengdu is also a major hub for Air China, Ethiopian Airlines’ Star Alliance partner. With this new flight, passengers from Ethiopian vast and growing network in Africa will be able to quickly connect to dozens of cities in China partnership with Air China, including Shenzhen, Kunming, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Wuhan, Changsha, and Urumqi.
Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, said: “We are glad to launch services to Chengdu, our fifth gateway to The Republic of China. Since our first flight 43 years ago, China has been a key market and it is now the largest per country market in our system. Using the geocentric location advantage of our hub in Addis Ababa we are connecting China, the world’s second largest economy and Africa’s biggest trade and investment partner, with 52 cities in the continent of Africa. With the addition of Chengdu, we shall offer the best and fastest connectivity options with a total of 34 weekly flights to China, operated with the latest and most comfortable B787 and B777 aircraft. Our Chinese customers will also enjoy seamless connection on Ethiopian vast intra African network and farther to São Paulo in Brazil.”
Ethiopian is investing to make Addis Ababa a Chinese friendly hub airport for the continent. They now have Mandarin translators and signage available at the airport transit area and in the Cloud Nine Business Class Lounge. Chinese New Year is also marked every year at Addis Abba Airport. Ethiopian was the first African carrier and the fourth in the world to fly to China back in 1973. In addition to the three weekly flights to Chengdu to be launched in June, Ethiopian currently operates daily nonstop flights to Beijing, 10 weekly nonstop to Guangzhou, and 6 weekly nonstop to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines, is delighted to announce that it will launch seven new destinations within five months during the 2017 calendar year. This is one of the greatest expansions in Ethiopian’s long and illustrious history. From February to June, Ethiopian will launch new service to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Conakry (Guinea), Oslo (Norway), Chengdu (China), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Singapore (Singapore). With the addition of these stations, Ethiopian will have service from Addis Ababa to 98 different international cities located across the world.
GebreMariam, said: “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 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 and in turn efficient air connectivity also drives socio economic development and we are happy to contribute our share in the 21st Century African Transformation.”
In the just ended calendar year alone, new flights to Moroni (Comoros), WindHoek (Namibia) and Newark (United States) were launched, as well as three cities in Ethiopia: Hawassa, Kebridahar and Dembidolo. Ethiopian is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, and we are expanding our wings every year. Ethiopian envisages to reach 120 international destinations worldwide by the year 2025. 98 down, 22 to go!
Similarly, Ethiopian Airlines, has announced that it will add Antananarivo, Madagascar to its network as of 28 March 2017. Madagascar will join the ever expanding Ethiopian network of 95 worldwide destinations. Antananarivo is the capital and the largest city of Madagascar. The island nation is known as a “biodiversity hot-spot” as over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on earth. Madagascar is home to lush rainforests and is famous for its curious lemurs.
Ethiopian’s new nonstop flight will operate three times weekly to and from Ethiopian’s hub at Addis Ababa, where passengers can connect to and from cities throughout the world, including Washington, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Beirut, Jeddah, Cairo, Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, GebreMariam, said: “Ethiopian, as a flagship carrier of Africa, is pleased to add Madagascar to its wide route network. Having started serving Africa seven decades ago with our motto “Bringing Africa Closer”, we are now continually enhancing our services and working to “Connect Africa to the World”.
As air connectivity is an essential cause and driver of a nation’s socio-economic integration, our new service will certainly contribute for a growing business and bilateral cooperation with other sisterly African cities. Moreover, travelers from Madagascar will be seamlessly connected with Ethiopian ever-expanding network across five continents. I would like to thank all who made this route possible.”
