Ethiopian to go daily on London Heathrow-Addis Ababa from July 2014.

Tuesday 25th February 2014

Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing and most profitable African airline, is pleased to announce the start of daily flights from London Heathrow to Addis Ababa from July 8, 2014 when a new Tuesday evening service is added to the schedule.   The new departure leaves London Heathrow at 21:00hrs arriving at the capital's Bole International Airport at 07:00hrs.  The Addis service departs at 13:00hrs, arriving LHR at 19:00hrs.  Ethiopian started operations to London on April 1, 1973 and has been providing uninterrupted service to and from the city for more than 40 years.

Ethiopian CEO Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, said: "We are very happy to finally be able to offer a daily service to our customers to and from London, one of our most important routes. We have been constrained to six weekly flights daily but from July our leisure and business customers can enjoy a greater flexibility with our state-of-the-art Boeing 787s affording ultimate on-board comfort with much reduced noise, the largest windows in the sky, dimmable lights, higher ceiling and higher cabin humidity."

With daily flights to and from London and daily services to 48 African destinations and very short connections through its Addis Ababa hub, Ethiopian offers the shortest total travel time to its valued customers.

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.

Star Alliance partner Ethiopian will have a new home at the new Royal Terminal 2, LHR.

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," he said.

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.

About Ethiopian:

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its operations in the past close to seven decades, Ethiopian has become one of the continent's leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success.

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. 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.

Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with seven business centers: Ethiopian Domestic and Regional Airline; Ethiopian International Passenger Airline; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Services; and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the past seven years.

www.ethiopianairlines.com