Ethiopian Airlines to open new routes to Asia & N. America

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian Airlines is undertaking a study to open four new routes to Asian countries: South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and more destinations in China.

Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told The Reporter that the national flag carrier wants to strengthen its Asian market by opening new routes to the stated countries. Ethiopian has seven destinations in Asia. Ethiopian flies to three cities in China – Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou. It also flies to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Delhi. “We are undertaking market studies on Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and more destinations in China,” Tewolde said.

Ethiopian is also planning to open new routes to the US in addition to Washington DC. Ethiopian is preparing to launch a new flight to Toronto this year. The Canadian Civil Aviation Authority has already given the green light to Ethiopian. The airline hopes to launch the flight to Toronto, where is a large Ethiopian community. Ethiopian will deploy new jetliners – hopefully the Dreamliners – on the new routes.

Ethiopian, which was established in 1945, serves 62 international and 17 domestic destinations. The airline, which prides itself on being “The New Spirit of Africa” serves 40 destinations in Africa, the largest number of destinations served by a single airline.

Ethiopian currently flies only to Cairo in North Africa. A senior executive of the airline told The Reporter that currently the airline is eyeing the north African market – Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. However, the executive declined to mention the exact destinations (cities) that the airline wants to serve in North Africa.