Ethiopian Airlines to Resume Flights to Lalibela

Addis Ababa – Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will resume its daily flights to Lalibela, Wollo on January 3, 2022.

The airport, which was badly damaged by the retreating TPLF forces, was only opened recently after the Ethiopian defense forces recaptured the city. 

Comprising eleven churches and two chapels, Ethiopia’s labyrinthine ‘New Jerusalem’, excavated by King Lalibela in the 12th century and still in active use today, has been dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. Hand-carved into the rock flake by painstaking flake, a process that would have required around 40,000 man-years to complete, Lalibela represents the apex of an Ethiopian church-excavating tradition that dates to the arrival of Christianity circa 350 AD.

The most iconic church at Lalibela, Bete Giyorgis is a free-standing monolith carved in the shape of a cross and dedicated to its namesake Saint George. Legend has it that Saint George was so delighted when he saw his church that he rode his horse right over the entrance tunnel, leaving behind hoof prints that are still visible today.

Sources: Ethiopian Airlines & Tourism Ethiopia