Ethiopian Airlines has announced the start of daily flights from London Heathrow to Addis Ababa from 8th July 2014, when a new Tuesday evening service is added to the schedule. The new departure leaves London Heathrow at 21.00, arriving at the capital’s Bole International Airport at 07.00. The Addis service departs at 13.00, arriving LHR at 19.00. Ethiopian started operations to London on 1st April 1973 and has been providing uninterrupted service to and from the city for more than 40 years.
Connections on the African continent include popular holiday destinations such as Zanzibar, Mombassa, or Kilimanjaro and schedules to growing business centres such as Lagos and Johannesburg.
The step up to daily services in July will be closely followed by the airline’s move to a brand new terminal at London Heathrow from September. As a full Star Alliance member, Ethiopian will join the Star partner airlines at the brand new Royal Terminal 2, scheduled to open in June.
“Being part of the Star Alliance is vitally important to Ethiopian,” Tewolde Gebremariam told the UK’s Aviation Club earlier this month. “Aligning with one of the big three alliances helps us with our global competitive landscape, gives us a strong brand advantage and certain cost advantages too. It also helps us maintain a high service standard. We can grow as much as we can on our own, but being part of Star Alliance gives our passengers access to 21,900 daily departures in 195 countries and 1,300 plus airports.”
Ethiopian Airlines carries 5.6 million passengers annually. It has a fleet of 63 aircraft with an average age of seven years. Its principal hub is in Addis Ababa, its second in Togo, West Africa, and a third new hub in Malawi, where it has just started a new airline in partnership with the Malawi Government. A fourth hub will be formed in the DRC for Central Africa and 100% government owned.
Ethiopian commands the lion’s share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network, operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 79 international destinations across five continents, operating over 200 flights daily. The Ethiopian fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as the Boeing 787, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200LR Freighter and Bombardier Q400 featuring a two-class cabin.
