Ethiopian Airlines has hit the milestone of 50 years of China flights this year. The African carrier is set to reach its pre-COVID capacity in this market imminently and is also ramping up its Chinese freighter operations.
The airline became the first African carrier to fly to China over 50 years ago after its inaugural flight to Shanghai on February 21st, 1973. Later in the year, it switched to Beijing and now serves Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou, along with the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong.
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew commented, “The beginning of flights to China 50 years ago heralded an important milestone in the history of the Airline. Ethiopian was among the first to serve China and has ever since been providing reliable services to the country. As China is one of the key destinations in Asia, we will maintain our commitment to serving the country, thereby providing access for the Chinese people to the big African market.”
Ethiopian Airlines has offered uninterrupted services to China since launching 50 years ago and continued to serve the country over the COVID pandemic, albeit at a reduced capacity in the passenger department. Its Asia network is a key part of its international network – since relaunching Singapore Boeing 787 flights earlier this week, the carrier now serves 17 destinations across Asia and operates a huge 44% of Africa-Asia flights.
Once Chinese authorities announced the lifting of COVID restrictions in January, Ethiopian seized the opportunity by bolstering its Chinese network. In early February, the airline began operating daily flights to Guangzhou, along with upping its Beijing and Shanghai flights to four times weekly, then up to daily frequencies in March.
In the coming weeks, it will go up to 10 weekly Guangzhou flights and four weekly Chengdu flights, taking it to 35 weekly passenger services to the country. With Sino-African relations continuing to strengthen, Ethiopian will reap the rewards of its strong presence in China.
Mesfin Tasew added, “China-Africa relation is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, and Ethiopian Airlines continues to serve the needs of the traveling public by availing the best connections to Africa and beyond, using its ultramodern aircraft. We are pleased to have served the people of China for the last 50 years, and we will continue to be a bridge connecting China with African nations.”
Ethiopian’s cargo division recently added three more China airports to its network – Xiamen, Shenzhen and Chengdu – joining Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha. In total, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo operates 31 weekly cargo flights to nine destinations – its freighter fleet consists of nine Boeing 777-200LRFs, four Boeing 737-800SF and one Boeing 767-300BDSF.
While its passenger flights to China were severely restricted over the COVID pandemic, it continued to provide plentiful cargo services. In all, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo serves 130 international destinations with both belly capacity and around 70 dedicated freighter services.
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