Ethiopian to launch flight service to Madrid

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The national flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines is planning to launch a new flight service to Madrid, Spain in the coming June. Reliable sources told The Reporter that the management of Ethiopian Airlines is contemplating to commence a thrice weekly flight to Madrid as of June 15. Sources said officials of Ethiopian and the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority have dealt with the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority and the Madrid Airport Administration on issues related to the commencement of the flight.

The public relations department of Ethiopian, however, said that studies on the new route has been undertaken adding that it has not been arrived at a decision yet. Nevertheless sources have confirmed to The Reporter that the flight would be launched in the coming June. The flight service would be the first when Ethiopian flies to Spain, a major source of tourists to Africa.

Ethiopian plans to start new flight service to Sao Paulo, Brazil the coming March. The airline has postponed the launch flight to Sao Paulo from December 2012 to March next year due the inconvenient slot given to the airline. Ethiopian was intending to launch a thrice weekly flight to Sao Paulo via Lome Togo in December. However, executives of Ethiopian are not happy with the slot (landing and departure time) allotted to them by the Sao Paulo Airport Administration.

Ethiopian is expanding its network remarkably. It recently started operating flights to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, Toronto, Canada and Windhoek, Namibia. Ethiopian is conducting studies to open new routes to Moscow, Russian Federation (passenger and cargo), Istanbul, Turkey (cargo), Singapore City, Singapore, Seoul, South Korea and in the long term to Tokyo, Japan. Ethiopian says based on its Vision 2025 development strategy it will focus on the BRICS countries. Ethiopian international destinations have reached 70.

Source: thereporterethiopia.com