Ethiopian Airlines spreads its wings to Cape Town

The new route makes provision for flights to Cape Town six times weekly and Gaborone three-times-a-week and is aimed at offering passengers more choice and flexibility, as well as facilitate trade, investment, and tourism ties between Ethiopia and the two countries.

Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris welcomed the new route saying, "the Cape Town city region has the potential to become an economic hub for Africa, but this requires building much better connectivity with the rest of our continent. The introduction of a new route like this new one to Ethiopia will open up many trade and investment opportunities for Western Cape companies in one of the fastest growing economies in Africa."

Ethiopian Group CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam said, "As a Pan-African airline working to bring Africa together and closer to the world, we are very pleased to spread our wings to Cape Town and Gaborone. Our new flights will give our customers more and convenient connectivity options when traveling within, to and from the continent. We will continue to expand our reach in our home market in Africa with a view to support the continent's socio-economic integration and development."

Ethiopian is a global Pan-African carrier currently serving 85 international destinations across 5 continents with over 200 daily flights using the latest technology aircraft such as the B777s and B787s Dreamliner. Cape Town and Gaborone will be the airline's 50th & 51st African destination respectively.

"To take advantage of this new route Wesgro will work with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Government to initiate a programme of action to help Western Cape companies, particularly in the agri-processing and the tourism sector, to access investment opportunities in Ethiopia. We will also analyse opportunities for increasing exports of Western Cape products to that country," added Harris.