Singapore residents travelling to Africa will now have more options with new thrice-weekly direct flights between Singapore and Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, launched on Tuesday.

The 13-hour flights with an hour-long stopover in Bangkok, are run by Ethiopian Airlines. Singapore Airlines currently flies to Johannesburg daily and four times to Cape Town weekly.

The move also signifies a warming of bilateral relations between both countries, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan in a media statement. He was onboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight back here after a two-day visit to Ethiopia, where he had met the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Culture and Tourism. "With Ethiopian Airlines launching direct flights to Singapore, I foresee we will get to know each other better and do more together in the future," he said.

Also onboard the flight was Ethiopian's Senior State Minister of Industry, Tadesse Haile, who is in Singapore to attend a networking forum with an Ethiopian business delegation from Dec 3 to 5.