2nd daily flight from Delhi
Ethiopian Airlines has announced an additional daily flight from Delhi–Addis Ababa, which would strengthen the connectivity between India and Africa.
SriLankan Airlines hosted a star-studded evening for its trade partners in New Delhi recently, with Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara and Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez in attendance. Dias said, “We haven’t had a promotion in Delhi for over five years, and hence we thought it is time to do that. We are encouraging all the travel agents to travel to and promote Sri Lanka more.” Adding further he said, “As an airline, our focus is going to be predominantly in Southeast Asia, especially India, China, Bangladesh and Japan. In future we want to be more of a regional carrier rather than an inter- national long-haul carrier. Thus, we are here to say thank you to our travel agent friends and do some more business with us.”
With India in focus, the airline is looking at expanding in South India now. Reveals Dias, “We are looking at Hyderabad and possibly Vizag. Right now we are running at around 90 per cent load factor from Delhi, and my colleagues are insisting that we run a second flight from here. We might do it, but these things take time. Apart from this, Chennai is very good for us. In fact, through Mihin Lanka, we are also flying to Kolkata, which has also picked up well. Thus, overall India as a market looks good.”
He insisited that Sri Lanka is a favourable destination for India and the numbers are only going to grow. “We’ve had about 1.5 million Indian tourists to Sri Lanka and we are targeting two million in 2016, and four million by 2020. There is huge infrastructure development going on, including many big hotels. ITC is building a huge property in Colombo and so is ShangriLa,” said Dias. “We are doing joint promotions with the Sri Lankan Tourism Board in Europe, India as well as China, which are the biggest markets for us.”
The announcement of Ethiopian Airlines’ second daily flight from Delhi to Addis Ababa also coincides with the Africa- based airline’s 70th anniversary celebration as well as the completion of their 30 years of operations from Delhi and 45 years of operations from Mumbai. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director, India Subcontinent, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “With the addition of the new flight, the number of flights ex- India has increased from 14 to 28. We are offering very attractive packages, including Buy1 Get1 free offer for the travellers and additional commission of up to three per cent for the travel agents.”
The new flight would offer better connectivity to Africa as well as other destinations in North India, aided by Ethiopian Airlines’ code-share with Air India. Mahlet Kebede, Traffic and Sales Manager, New Delhi, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “The second flight will give more options to our customers from India to many East African cities like Djibouti, Mombasa, Nairobi, Rwanda, as well as Tel Aviv.” She added, “Our code-share with Air India offers connections to Mumbai or Delhi, from where passengers can take DelhiAddis or Mumbai-Addis route to any point in Africa.”
Tilahun further revealed that they are looking at introducing more connections in India. “We want to increase our frequencies in Southern India, and currently eyeing Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Studies are going on and once that is done, we will launch an additional point in South India.”
He insisted that travel agents make a crucial part of their business. “Every time new flights are introduced or capacity is increased, we offer additional commissions for the travel agents. Until last year, Ethiopian Airlines was the only airline offering three per cent IATA commission, despite the industry moving to zero commission.”