Ethiopian Airlines postpones flight to Sao Paulo

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Ethiopian Airlines has postponed the launch of the flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil, from December to March next year due the inconvenient slot given to the airline. Ethiopian was planning to launch a thrice-weekly flight to Sao Paulo via Lome, Togo, in December this year. However, executives of Ethiopian are not happy with the slot (landing and departure time) allotted to them by the Sao Paulo Airport Administration.

Ethiopian CEO Tewolde-Gebermariam told The Reporter that the slot allocated to the airline was not convenient. “We should talk to the Brazilian authorities,” Tewolde said.   The national flag carrier plans to collect passengers from different countries at its hub and transport them to Sao Paulo with a stopover at Lome where its affiliate airline, ASKY, will feed more passengers. Sao Paulo is one of the busiest airport in South America. “Since we have connection flights here in Africa we need a convenient slot,” an official at Ethiopian told The Reporter. Ethiopian and Brazilian Civil Aviation Authorities have a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) that allows carriers of both countries to fly seven weekly flights

Ethiopian will start flying to Kuala Lampur on a three weekly flights as of next week. Ethiopian is expanding its network remarkably. Ethiopian is conducting studies to open new routes to Moscow (passenger and cargo), Istanbul (cargo), Singapore, South Korea and in the long term to Tokyo. Ethiopian says that based on its Vision 2025 development strategy it will focus on the BRICS countries. Ethiopian international destinations have reached 67.

Source: The Reporter