Ethiopian Airlines is all set to increase its commercial operations to China to reach the pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. The airline is planning daily flights to Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, while increasing its weekly flights to Beijing and Shanghai to four each and maintaining the thrice weekly operation to Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
“The frequency of our flights to Chinese cities will increase as of February 6, 2023, ultimately returning to the pre-COVID-19 levels on March 1, 2023, following the lifting of restrictions by the government of China," the airline said in a statement.
Starting March 1, the flights will surge back to the pre-COVID-19 levels with daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai as well as ten and four weekly flights to Guangzhou and Chengdu, respectively.
In total, Ethiopian airlines will operate a total of 28 weekly passenger flights to China when the services are fully restored.
Mesfin Tasew, CEO, Ethiopian Airlines Group said: “China is one of the largest markets for Ethiopian airlines outside of the African continent. We are glad that we are ramping up the frequencies of our flights to Chinese cities thanks to the easing of flight restrictions by the government of China. The increase in flight frequencies will help revive the trade, investment, cultural and bilateral cooperation between Africa and China in the post-COVID-19 era."
In addition to its passenger flights to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, Ethiopian is also operating freighter flights to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Changsha and Wuhan.