Ethiopian Plans Record Expansion in its Network with Seven New Destinations in the First Half of 2017!January 17, 2017

Addis Ababa: Africa’s largest airline group, 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.
Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewolde 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!
About Ethiopian 
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 ultra-modern 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.
Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with seven business centers:
Ethiopian Domestic and Regional Airline; Ethiopian International Passenger Airline; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Services; and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline registering an average annual growth of 25% in the past seven years.
For more information about this press release, please contact:
Mrs. Hanna Atnafu
Manager Corporate Communications
Ethiopian Airlines
Tel: (251-1) 517-89-07/656/165/913/529
CorporateCommunication@ethiopianairlines.com
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