Ethiopian Resumes Flight to Mogadishu after 41 Years

Addis Ababa October 09/2018 Ethiopian Airlines has resumed commercial flights to Mogadishu, Somalia, after 41 years today. Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said the “flight to Mogadshu is our 117 destination after over 40 years…that is achieved because of the peace and friendship prevailing in the Horn of Africa.” Ethiopian will fly three times in a week to the Somali capital, it was learned. According to the CEO, the flights will play a big role in strengthening people-to-people and economic ties between Ethiopia and Somalia, enabling Somalis in Americas, Europe, Asia, Middle East and other parts of Africa to fly to their homelands through Addis Ababa. “This direct commercial flight to Somalia promotes tourism, trade and investment,” Tewolde said, adding that “we are planning to start cargo flight and increase the flight frequencies to daily and double daily.” The cargo flight will help accelerate trade exchange between the counties, he noted. Commenting on the security issues in Mogadshu, the CEO said “we have already checked that Mogadshu is peaceful and secured now.” The resumption of service to Somalia came after Prime Minister Abiy and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed agreed to strengthen relations between the countries in June.