Ethiopian Airlines Sends Brand New Airbus A350-900 to Abuja Airport Signs Codeshare agreement with Singapore Airlines, Air Europa
Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has announced its decision to start its flight to Abuja Airport with its latest technology and the most modern airplane in the world, the Airbus A350-900. The state-of-the-art airplane will start the scheduled service on the Addis Ababa Abuja route, thereby gracing the reopening of Abuja Airport, to be held on April 18, 2017. Following this move Ethiopian Group CEO, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, remarked; “As a veteran Pan African airline, it has always been our source of pride to connect our beloved continent Africa together and beyond. Our presence in Nigeria dates back to the 1960’s, same time the Federal Republic of Nigeria got independence from foreign colonisation. We have always given our best to Nigeria at all times, both at good and challenging times, and we have been part of Nigeria’s historic growth and always consider ourselves as vital partners in the history and growth of Nigeria as a country.
“The A350 is yet one of the landmarks in our 70 years proud history; providing exceptional levels of luxury and reliability for a totally unique passenger experience. Hence, with the reopening of Abuja Airport, the extra features of our game changing fleet, Airbus A350, will be awaiting for our esteemed Nigerian travelers. We shall continue to avail critical air connectivity options and connect African countries together and far beyond.” Ethiopian currently operates 20 weekly flights to four Nigerian cities; Lagos, Abuja, Enugu and Kano; offering hassle free connectivity to its worldwide network spread in five continents. Passengers aboard the flight will enjoy the extra features of this latest flying machine: amazing cabin interior features with the latest high-definition touchscreen, personal monitors with a higher selection of movies, wider seats and windows, the lowest twin engine noise level, advanced air conditioning technology, full LED mood lighting. It is to be recalled that Ethiopian has been the first in Africa to own and operate the A350 in African skies. Among a total of 14 orders, Ethiopian currently has three of them in operation.
Meanwhile, Star Alliance members, Ethiopian Airlines and Singapore Airlines will expand their codeshare agreement as of 1st of June 2017, offer- ing customers traveling between Africa and Asia seamless connectivity options. Ethiopian Airlines’ daily non-stop services to Singapore from Addis Ababa, due to be launched in June 2017, will be covered by the expanded codeshare agreement. Under the expanded agreement, Ethiopian Airlines customers will be able to access multiple destinations in Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam across Singapore Airlines’ wide network. In turn, Singapore Airlines customers will enjoy access to Ethiopian Airlines’ vast intra-African network including countries like Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, The Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Mr. Girma Shiferaw, Acting Vice President, Strategic Planning and Alliances, remarked: “I wish to thank Singapore Airlines for the successful completion of this vital agreement. The two airlines will synergize their respective networks in Asia and Africa to offer customers the best connectivity options with one ticket and one single check-in at the first boarding airport. It will also play a critical role in enhancing investment, trade and tourism ties between a rising Africa, and a highly developed, innovative, and business-friendly Singapore.”
Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Mr. Tan Kai Ping, said, “We are delighted with our expanded codeshare operations with Ethiopian Airlines. This significant expansion of our important partnership is in line with our ongoing effort to continuously expand our network reach and to offer customers more travel options and convenience when travelling between Africa, Asia and Southwest Pacific.” The airlines first began code sharing on each other’s flights to and from Dubai in 2011. The expanded codeshare flights are subject to regulatory approvals and will be progressively made available for sale across various sales channels. Ethiopian Airlines operates the youngest fleet on the African continent with an average aircraft age of less than five years, serving more than 90 international destinations across five continents with over 240 daily departures. Singapore Airlines operates a modern passenger aircraft fleet of more than 100 aircraft. Together with wholly owned passenger airline subsidiaries SilkAir, Scoot and Tigerair, the SIA Group’s combined network covers more than 130 destinations around the world.
Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has also signed a codeshare agreement with Air Europa, which took effect on April 11, 2017. The new partnership is a free sale codeshare agreement, thereby allowing the partner airlines access to each other’s network by creating smooth connection at their respective hubs. Mr. Busera Awel, Chief Commercial Officer Ethiopian Airlines, said: “We are pleased to optimize our collaboration with Air Europa through this instrumental code share agreement. As a customer focused airline, we always strive to meet our customer’s ever growing demand, availing critical connectivity options. This strategic collaboration will enable our esteemed customer’s reach multiple destinations in Europe through one point check-in at point of origin. Reciprocally, Ethiopian vast African network is an added advantage to customers of Air Europa; connecting 53 major cities in Africa with minimum layover at our Addis hub.”
Imanol Pérez, Comercial Deputy Director of Air Europa, has expressed his satisfaction for the agreement reached with Ethiopian Airlines as it allows Air Europa to have presence in the African continent and offer its passengers a wider choice of travel destinations. In addition, Air Europa also provides Ethiopian Airline´s passengers with excellent connectivity with other European, Spanish and American destinations where Air Europa flies to through its Madrid hub.