Ethiopian Airlines expands operations to China

Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has concluded plans to connect Chengdu, China, with three times weekly flights.

Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan Province and is the seventh-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 the new flight, beginning from June 3, 2017 and partnership with Air China, passengers from Ethiopian network in Africa will be able to quickly connect to dozens of cities in China.

Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said the new route is their fifth gateway to The Republic of China.

GebreMariam said: “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,” he said.