Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive of Ethiopian Airlines, paid a flying visit to Dublin to brief the media on the airline’s new service that will link the three continents of Africa, Europe and North America.
The carrier will be the first airline to operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into Dublin when it commences its Addis Ababa-Dublin-Los Angeles service on 19th June 2015. The aircraft will be in a two-class configuration of 24-J and 246-Y.
Gebermariam said that he had got tremendous support from the daa for the route and that Vienna Airport had a made a similar proposal – but they favoured the daa proposal in the end. Ethiopian will be targeting Irish business travellers and NGOs for both sectors, with J class fares of €2,500 from Dublin to Addia Ababa and €3,000 from Dublin to Los Angeles. An Economy Class fare of €595 will be available for each sector.
The airline plans to work with a number of Irish tour operators to package tours to Africa. There will also be a new route to Cape Town, South Africa, commencing next spring.
Ethiopian Airlines carried six million passengers last year, turned over $2.5 billion, and is a member of the Star Alliance.
