RELENTLESSNESS is another rare quality of Africa’s air giant, Ethiopian Airlines, and that makes it a winner of teeming air travelers across the globe, including the New Yankees in the second most populous city of the United States of America, no doubt. The airline has disclosed that preparations are underway to service New York City’s favorite — JFK airport, again after 11 years.
Ethiopian suspended flights to Newark in 2004 to provide nonstop service from Washington to Addis Ababa, with connections to its network in East, Central and Southern Africa. But due to popular demand, the airline will reconnect its network once again to provide a vital link between New York and Africa with this new service.
With the new arrangement, flights from Addis Ababa to JFK will depart Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings, and will return from JFK to Addis Ababa the same evening, the airline disclosed.
Flights will make an intermediate stop in Lomé, home base for Ethiopian Airline’s partner ASKY Airlines, in both directions. This means passengers from New York will enjoy faster flight options to a variety of cities with this new flight service.
The airline said there will be three weekly one-stop flights between New York and Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union and capital of one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
It also said there will be connectivity beyond Addis Ababa to and from major economic and tourist destinations in East, Southern and Central Africa and the Middle East, including Nairobi, Entebbe, Dares Salaam, Kigali, Khartoum, Jeddah, and Riyadh, it said.
The management of the airline noted that there will also be connectivity between New York and many cities in West Africa with Ethiopian’s partner ASKY Airlines, via Lomé, including Lagos, Abidjan, Dakar Libreville, Douala, N’djamena, Kinshasa, Bamako, Conakry, Ouagadougou, and Niamey.
The airline also said it will be deploying the most modern aircraft in the world on this service, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which not only offers unparalleled onboard comfort to passengers, but is also the world’s most environmentally friendly aircraft with its lower fuel usage and noise emissions. Ethiopian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner is configured with 24 business class and 246 economy seats, all of which are equipped with on-demand video monitors featuring a variety of entertainment options.