Etihad to start flights to Ethiopia from November

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways will start scheduled flights to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa from November, it was announced on Wednesday.

The same month will also see the launch of flights to the Indian city of Ahmedabad, bringing the carrier’s total global reach to 86 destinations.

Flights between Abu Dhabi and Addis Ababa, its ninth destination in Africa, will operate five times a week, increasing to daily in 2013. Flights will operate daily between Abu Dhabi and Ahmedabad, the airline’s ninth destination in India. Both routes will be serviced by an Airbus A320 aircraft.

“Addis Ababa and Ahmedabad are economic centres in their respective countries and daily flights to Abu Dhabi will build greater ties with the UAE’s capital as it continues to invest in world-class development projects and attract business and leisure travellers,” said James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ president and CEO.

The UAE national carrier saw first quarter revenues increase 28 percent year-on-year to US$989m on the back of increased passengers, it announced last month.

“[It’s] a good start to the year. There are always challenges but certainly I am bullish about the way forward and very focused that we’ll achieve profitability again this year,” Hogan said.

“We’re certainly looking at being a US$5bn business this year, last year was just over US$4bn,” he added.

The carrier said it would launch new routes to Vietnam and South America next year but declined to name which cities.