Another airline puts Durban on the map

ETHIOPIAN Airlines is the
latest airline to announce
it will launch flights to
Durban, following closely
on Turkish Airlines and
Qatar Airways.
Ethiopian will launch a
thrice-weekly service to the
coastal city from December
16, operating a B737-800,
which can accommodate
15 business-class
passengers and 137
economy-class passengers.
Flight ET 0845 will depart
Addis Ababa at 08h30 on
Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays, arriving in Durban
at 13h40. Flight ET 0844
will depart Durban on
the same days at 14h30,
arriving in Addis Ababa at
21h40.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director of
Serendipity Worldwide
Group, expects that the
connections to India will be
popular, as travel agents
in Durban are currently
battling to find available
seats for their clients.
Connections to Mumbai
are “almost flawless”
on the proposed new
Ethiopian Airlines route,
Dinesh says, with a
connecting time of three
hours to India and just one
hour and twenty minutes
on the return flight. This
makes the flying time
considerably shorter than
on Emirates flights, which
are currently a popular
option for travellers from
Durban, he says. Also, the
prices are likely to be more
affordable on Ethiopian
Airlines, Dinesh says,
adding that fares for flights
from Johannesburg to India
are very competitive.
Abel Alemu, Ethiopian
Airlines’ regional manager
for Southern Africa,
told TNW India was an
important destination for
travellers from Durban.
The airline currently has
a daily service to Mumbai
and to New Delhi from
Addis Ababa, where
travellers can connect to
other destinations within
India on any of Ethiopian’s
interline partners. The
airline also planned to
introduce a second daily
flight to Mumbai from
Addis Ababa as this issue
of TNW was going to print.
Besides connections to
India, Ethiopian Airlines will
also offer Durban travellers
good connections to West
Africa, Abel says. There is
a large community of West
African citizens working
in Durban. “We want to
offer them a seamless
and affordable connection
home,” says Abel.
He adds that the Middle
East, the Far East and
Europe are also on
the agenda, with short
connections to China,
Riyadh, Frankfurt and
London, among others.
Ethiopian Airlines used
to fly to Durban but
abandoned the destination
in 1993. Abel says at
that time the airline
wanted to concentrate on
Johannesburg as South
Africa’s main economic
centre.
However, there is now
huge demand from
international business and
conference travellers for
flights to Durban, he says.
Budget carrier, Norwegian,
has announced it is also
considering flights to
Durban from Copenhagen
(see story).