Now fly non-stop to Chengdu from Addis Ababa via Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines plans to start new non-stop service in June from Addis Ababa to its fifth China destination in Chengdu, a logistics and transportation hub.
Jan 6, 2017: Ethiopian Airlines plans to start new non-stop service in June from Addis Ababa to its fifth China destination in Chengdu, a logistics and transportation hub.
Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan province and is the seventh-largest city in China. It is the country’s western center of logistics, commerce, science and technology, and a hub of transportation, manufacturing and communication, stated the airline’s release to the media.
Ethiopian Airlines already has nonstop flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.
With this new flight, African passengers will be able to connect to dozens of cities in China including Shenzhen, Kunming, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Wuhan, Changsha, and Urumqi.
Ethiopian is investing to make Addis Ababa a Chinese friendly hub airport for the continent. The airline has also invested in a new $150 million cargo terminal which is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed by April.
Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, TewoldeGebreMariam said, “We are glad to launch services to Chengdu, our fifth gateway to The Republic of China. Since our first flight 43 years ago, China has been a key market and it is now the largest per country market in our system. Using the geocentric location advantage of our hub in Addis Ababa we are connecting China, the world's second largest economy and Africa’s biggest trade and investment partner, with 52 cities in the continent of Africa. With the addition of Chengdu, we shall offer the best and fastest connectivity options with a total of 34 weekly flights to China, operated with the latest and most comfortable B787 and B777 aircraft. Our Chinese customers will also enjoy seamless connection on Ethiopian vast intra African network and farther to Sao Paulo in Brazil.”
Ethiopian was the first African carrier and the fourth in the world to fly to China back in 1973. In addition to the three weekly flights to Chengdu to be launched in June, Ethiopian currently operates daily nonstop flights to Beijing, 10 weekly nonstop to Guangzhou, and 6 weekly nonstop to Hong Kong.
China has invested heavily Ethiopian infrastructure, funding railways, roads, dams, and sub-Saharan Africa’s first modern tramway in Addis Ababa.