Ethiopian, Qatar commence Durban services

December 16, 2015 in Business, Companies, Transport, Travel & Tourism by Editor

KAMPALA DECEMBER 16 – Pan African carrier Ethiopian Airlines and its Middle Eastern rival Qatar have announced new services to Durban from their respective hubs in Addis and Doha.

Flight ET 0845 touched down in Durban at 13.40 local time on December16; a day ahead of Qatar which launches a service between Doha and Durban on December 17.

Unlike Ethiopian whose Durban service will be separate from its existing services to Cape Town and Johannesburg, Qatar’s Durban services will be linked to flights to Johannesburg.

Durban becomes Ethiopians 53^rd destination in Africa and 90^th globally. Ethiopian Group CEO, “As a Pan-African airline working to bring Africa together and closer to the entire world, we are bullish on the prospects of continuous expansion of our reach in our home market Africa and beyond,” Ethiopian Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam, said at the launch of the new service.

Ethiopian will initially serve Durban every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday while Qatar will offer four flights a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“Qatar is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and we are proud to strengthen this business relationship with the launch of our new route connecting Durban directly to Doha. With its excellent aviation infrastructure and the development of the Dube TradePort, we expect the number of business and employment opportunities in Durban to increase,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, who will travel on board the inaugural Qatar Airways Boeing 787-Dreamliner on 17 December 2015.