The airline Ethiopian Airlines has launched as many flights to Paris or Marseille but also Brussels and Geneva. It has also signed a code-sharing agreement with the Brazilian low cost GOL.
The Ethiopian national airline maintains a daily flight between its base in Addis Ababa-Bole and Paris-CDG airport, still operated by Airbus A350-900 that can accommodate 30 passengers in Business class and 318 in Economy according to the GDS consulted by Airlineroute. Marseille-Provence, which was to find live flights, will be entitled to three weekly rotations via Geneva-Cointrin, operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliner / As for Brussels-Zaventem airport, it will still be served by Ethiopian Airlines every day, with four flights via Vienna and three continuing to Manchester.
The Star Alliance company also plans to serve Moscow next winter via Athens, Frankfurt, London-Heathrow as well as Rome and Milan or Stockholm and Oslo via two combined lines.
In Brazil, Ethiopian Airlines currently offers four flights a week to Sao Paulo-Guarulhos, where it has just announced a sharing agreement with the low-cost GOL Linhas Aereas, covering this route but promising “to connect all the cities of their networks” . Their respective loyalty programs, Sheba and Smiles, should also get closer, but the press release is sparse with details.
“Now, thanks to the synergy between our networks, we can offer our customers the best connectivity between South America and Africa, the Middle East and Asia,” said Busera Awel, Vice President of strategic planning and alliances – Ethiopian Airlines Group; “The partnership will also pave the way for improved investment, trade and tourism between Africa, South America and other regions served.”
According to Randall Saenz Aguero, director of alliances, international expansion and distribution at GOL, customers “will have an extensive network and convenient schedules for their trips. GOL is Brazil’s leading airline and, together with Ethiopian, we will expand the possibilities of connections between South America and Africa, increasing the offer for business travelers and leisure customers, taking into account the different attractions of destinations where both companies make it feasible”.