Ethiopian Airlines increases links with Manchester

Ethiopian airlines become the latest carrier to increase capacity into the UK and in particular Manchester Airport. Operating 4x Weekly flights using a Boeing 787-8 dreamliner it opens up new cargo capacity into Africa.

This new service between Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and Manchester airport opens up Africa to the North of England.

Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Mr Tewolde GebreMariam commented :

It’s a pleasure to be here this evening with you to celebrate an important milestone in our history, the opening of a second city in the UK, Manchester. We’ve been flying to London since 1973, more than 46 years, so we are not new to the UK market. But we are very happy to expand our services closer to the customer in Manchester now.

Ethiopian airlines connections from Addis Ababa stretch across the world but it is it’s local connections into Harare and Mali which will prove the most useful. Freight Forwarders and shippers have supported Ethiopian Airlines through London but this 4x weekly Manchester flight should boost capacity.

Mark Reid – Commercial Manager at Connaught.Global said :

Ethiopian Airlines have been a useful partner for African trade but supporting their Northern customers with this new routing is very welcome. Utilising the gateway of Addis Ababa to link up with their cargo flights into Kinshasa and Abidjan will assist our project cargo customers.

We will see an immediate reduction in prices for Africa which will be passed on to our customers. Without the need to trunk cargo down to our London gateway facility this is certainly an added bonus.

How much extra capacity does this bring.

Ethiopian Airlines currently has flights to 60 destinations across Africa from their main hub in Addis Ababa. From the UK they operate 10 flights ex London Heathrow and now 4 flights from Manchester.

Previously the rates offered to Freight Forwarders were not common rated so trunking charges applied. Without the need to trunk cargo to London Heathrow the cost for Ethiopian Airlines northern cargo customers should reduce.

Ethiopian Airlines in Figures

• In 2017 Ethiopian Airlines operated 89 aircraft to 95 destinations
• Cargo Tonnage exceeded 338,646 tonnes, 10 years earlier that figure was 72,758 tonnes
• Ethiopian Cargo dedicated Freighters number 11
• They have another 3 Cargo freighters on order
• Long range passenger service aircraft number 49 with another 49 on order.
• If you want to view these and more figures on Ethiopian Airlines the fact sheet is available here.