Ethiopian Airlines expands India service

Ethiopian Airlines is adding cargo and passenger service to Ahmedabad and Chennai and increasing its capacity to Delhi as a part of its expansion in India.
 

Ethiopian Airlines is the largest carrier in Africa and currently flies twice daily to Mumbai and Delhi. It plans to introduce thrice weekly Addis Ababa-Chennai service later this year and upgrade it's Delhi operations from existing Boeing 737 service to Boeing 767 and 787 service adding 100 seats on the route.

At present, no Indian carrier flies to Africa and passengers to the continent fly via Addis Ababa, Dubai, Nairobi or other hubs. Between January-December 2016 Ethiopian Airlines flew around 200,000 passengers to/from India and has a share of around 20 per cent of India-Africa air traffic, second only to Emirates.

It flies freighters to four Indian cities and will add a service to Ahmedabad from March.

"We are expecting 15 per cent increase in passenger traffic and 6-8 per cent growth in cargo traffic from India," said Esayas Wolde Mariam, managing director (International Services), Ethiopian Airlines.

About 20 per cent of passengers from India travel to Addis Ababa and the rest travel onward to other African countries including South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. "We offer value for money and shorter transit halts," he said adding that passengers from India are also travelling to Brazil via Addis Ababa.

The airline's regional director for India Tadesse Tilahun said "India is a growing and very strategic market for Ethiopian.  We have plans to expand our operations in India."