Biruk Girma
24 February 2008
Addis Abeba — BMI, now the sole British carrier operating flights between Addis Ababa and UK, on Thursday celebrated its recent launch of five weekly flights from Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport to London - Heathrow Terminal 1.
Bmi said the new five-days-a week route to Addis Ababa on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays-forms part of the airline's expansion strategy.
With the launch of flights to and from Addis, bmi has a new addition to its flight network which now includes 17 new destinations throughout Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, bmi officials told reporters on Thursday.
Colin Carter, the airline group's Divisional Manager said bmi's entrance into the Ethiopian market will allow the customers to avail of many other destinations to Europe and US besides letting them explore London and UK.
"This not only allows the bmi customers to explore London and the UK for business or pleasure but also allows them to avail of the many other destinations that bmi connects to in Europe and the US," he told a press conference at the Sheraton Addis.
"bmi is extremely enthusiastic about what it can bring to the Ethiopian market," he added.
The bmi group comprises of three business units: bmi, operating a fleet of 34 Airbuses; bmi regional, operating domestic and European business routes from UK regional airports with a fleet of 17 Embraer jets; and bmibaby, the low-cost arm of the group, operating 19 Boeing 737s within the UK and Europe. The group has over 5,000 employees (as at Jan 08) in the UK.
In February 2007, bmi bought up the independent franchise BMED resulting in the acquisition of 17 new medium to long haul destinations including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Georgia, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, Syria, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
It is the second largest airline at London-Heathrow, one of the world's busiest and best connected international airports.
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