Air China, one of China’s biggest airlines, on Monday made its maiden flightto Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, which has become the second destination of the airline inAfrica, next to South Africa.
With its launching flight, Air China touched down at the Bole International Airport in the capitalof the East African country, which is a seat for headquarters of the African Union (AU) and theUN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) among other international and regionalorganizations.
With this new route, Air China will make thrice a week flights between Beijing and AddisAbaba.
The launching flight of the Airline with Airbus A330 was accorded warm welcome during itslanding at Bole Airport by officials and staff members of the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise, theEthiopian Airlines, Air China and also diplomats among others.
The new route of Air China between Beijing and Addis Ababa came few days after the launchof maiden flight between Beijing and Johannesburg in South Africa few days back.
Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, toldXinhua on the occasion that the launch of flights between Beijing and Addis Ababa by AirChina would be both cooperation and “friendly” competition between Ethiopian and Air China.
Reiterating that both Air China and Ethiopian are members of the Star Alliance, the CEO saidthe two airliners would cooperate in the spirit of Star Alliance as Air China flies to 225domestic destinations in China while Ethiopian does to 50 destinations in Africa.
“It is going to be both cooperation and competition; we call it a friendly competition. So, weare very happy that Air China has chosen Addis as its hub in Africa,” said Tewolde.
“Naturally, Addis is the best gateway to Africa with the Ethiopian Airlines flying to more than50 destinations in Africa. So, Air China is the Star Alliance member and the Ethiopian Airlinesis also a member of Star Alliance, so, within the spirit of Star Alliance we are going tocooperate,” he said.
“Air China flies to 225 destinations in China domestically; and Ethiopian Airlines (flies to) morethan 50 destinations in Africa. So, we have a lot of synergy, complementarity; so, we aregoing to cooperate in that line. But, at the same time we are going to compete. So, it iscompetition and cooperation,” he added.
Liu Tiexiang, Senior Vice President of Air China, said at the reception held at Sheraton Hotelthat this operation of the flight is a very convenient air bridge between China and Africa.
With the increase of exchanges between the two countries and with the increase ofinvestment by Chinese companies in Africa, more and more Chinese people are coming toAfrica, he said.
XINHUA
