Ethiopian airline has decided to commence flight between Addis Ababa and Dhaka from March 8 next as Bangladesh and Ethiopia, known as African aviation hub, signed an air service agreement (ASA) last week to establish direct air link.
"The Airline has chosen March 8, the International Women Day, to commence the Addis Ababa-Dhaka-Addis Ababa direct flight. Initially it will operate five weekly flights," Managing Director of Rhythm Group, the airline's General Sales Agent (GSA) in Bangladesh, Shohag Hossain told BSS on Tuesday.
He said Ethiopian transport minister and Ethiopian airlines group CEO will visit Bangladesh on boarding the inaugural flight of the African airline giant.
"The route will offer various connecting flight in compatible fare to the Bangladeshi expatriates as the airline, the biggest network in Africa, connects all major cities of Europe and North America from Addis Ababa, the base of the Ethiopian airlines" he said.
Hossain said the Ethiopian airline that operates to 10 destination of the US has the plan to conduct daily flight to Dhaka with its Boing Dreamliner 787 soon after initiating the operation of commercial schedule flights in Bangladesh.
After a series of consultations in line with diplomatic efforts of the two countries the civil aviation authorities of Ethiopia and Bangladesh signed the air service agreement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 6.
The deal was inked during the ICAO Air Services Negotiation Event 2023 (ICAN2023), the largest event related to aviation negotiations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on 3-7 December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice Marshal Mafidur Rahman led a five-member delegation at the event.
Ethiopia's flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines has been operating freight flights through third country for 31 years from Bangladesh.
Noting that currently, the Ethiopian airline operates three weekly non-scheduled freighter flights offline to and from Dhaka, Shohag said the ASA will also allow commencing scheduled direct freighter flights to and from Bangladesh.
Ethiopian Airlines, with 147 aircraft, is Africa's largest airline in terms of carrying passengers, destinations, fleet size, and revenue while it is ranked as world's fourth-largest airline by the number of countries served.
Officials concerned said Bangladesh signed the new Air Service Agreement (ASA) with Ethiopian Airlines during the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Air Services Negotiation Event 2023 (ICAN2023) in view of aviation expansion.
With this agreement, people in the country will now have more options to visit many parts of the world via Addis Ababa, as this airliner is known as the Emirates of Africa.
ICAN2023, the largest event related to aviation negotiations, had been recently held at Riyadh of Saudi Arabia, and the agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Ethiopia, CAAB Deputy Director of Public Relations SohelKamruzzaman confirmed to Bangladesh Post.
A 5-member delegation including representatives of the concerned ministry, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and different Airlines representatives led by CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman attended the biggest event related to aviation negotiations.
As a result of this agreement, the designated airlines of the two countries have created an opportunity to operate direct flights between the two countries.
Shohag Hossain, the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Ethiopian Airlines, has announced that flight operations between the two countries will commence from March 8. Initially, the airline plans to operate five flights per week, offering passengers a top-notch experience at a more affordable cost.
During ICAN2023, the country had fruitful discussions with 13 other countries on bilateral aviation agreements.
Apart from the signing of this new agreement, Agreed Minutes was signed between Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain for the purpose of expanding the existing facilities related to air traffic under the existing bilateral air traffic agreements with Bangladesh.
On the other hand, a Record of Discussion was signed with Jordan, Algeria, Oman, Thailand, Canada, Uzbekistan while another Record of Discussion has been signed with the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom to modernize existing bilateral aviation agreements.
In the discussion, priority has been given to increasing commercial cooperation with foreign airlines including code share with Biman Bangladesh and other local airlines.
Moreover, the delegation led by the CAAB Chairman held important and fruitful meetings with the United States, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in various fields related to Bangladesh aviation.
In addition, formal meetings and exchange of views were held with many other state ministers and senior officials at this event.