Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights between S’pore and Addis Ababa from Changi Airport in March
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There will be four weekly direct services between Singapore and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE - African carrier Ethiopian Airlines will resume flights between Singapore and Addis Ababa from Changi Airport on March 25, after a three-year absence due to the pandemic.
There will be four weekly direct services between Singapore and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, said Changi Airport Group (CAG) and Ethiopian Airlines in a joint statement on Friday.
The carrier is the only airline that operates on this route.
Flights from Addis Ababa to Singapore will take about 10½ hours, while the return journey will take close to nine hours.
A 270-seat Boeing 787-8 aircraft will be used for the flights, which also connect to Kuala Lumpur. This means that flights will start in Addis Ababa and transit at Changi Airport before departing for Kuala Lumpur. On the return journey, flights from Kuala Lumpur will go on to Addis Ababa after transiting at Changi Airport.
Mr Lim Ching Kiat, CAG’s managing director of air hub development, said: “Ethiopian Airlines has been consistently voted as the best airline in Africa, and the network from its Addis Ababa hub connects with more than 60 destinations on the African continent.”
He added that the service will offer more travel options for passengers from the region to Africa.
“For many Singaporeans, Ethiopia could also be an exciting new vacation destination as it boasts many attractions, ranging from historic sites such as Axum to breathtaking natural geography such as the Simien Mountains and Blue Nile Falls,” he said.
The town of Axum is where historical ruins of the Aksumite Empire, such as royal tombs and large obelisks, can be found. The ancient kingdom ruled the region at the crossroads of Africa, Arabia and the Greco-Roman world from about the 1st century to the 8th.
The Obelisk of Axum is 24m tall and intriguingly carved to represent a multi-storey building with motifs of windows and doors.
As at the first week of December, 95 airlines operate more than 5,500 weekly scheduled flights at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to about 140 cities in 48 countries and territories worldwide. This is 82 per cent of Changi’s pre-Covid-19 connectivity.
Ethiopian Airlines Group chief executive Mesfin Tasew said: “We are delighted to continue our service to Singapore, which was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“In line with our plan for growing our network around the world, we will keep on opening new routes to enhance connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world via Addis Ababa,” he added.
The last time the carrier operated its passenger services to Changi Airport was from June 2017 to March 2020. In 2019, Ethiopian Airlines contributed about 69,000 passenger movements to Changi Airport, an increase of 3 per cent from 2018.
Before the pandemic, more than 1.4 million passengers travelled between Africa and South-east Asia in 2019, an increase of about 30 per cent from 2015.
While the airline suspended its services due to the pandemic and border closures, it continued to operate ad hoc cargo services using passenger aircraft.
Singapore travel agencies have welcomed the return of the African carrier. Chan Brothers Travel senior marketing communications manager Jeremiah Wong said the long-awaited return of Ethiopian Airlines will open doors for travel to East Africa, which is popular with visitors keen on safaris and nature tours.
“Eastern African tours to Tanzania and Kenya are popular... and Addis Ababa is an important access point for our connecting flights to these destinations,” he said.
