The fastest growing airline in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines, on Tuesday launched a thrice weekly flight to Tokyo, Narita International Airport.
The only direct connection between Africa and Japan is operated through Hong Kong with a state-of-the-art ultra modern aircraft, B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. At a cocktail reception held to mark the inaugural flight on Tuesday at the VIP saloon in the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport a moment of silence was observed for Ethiopian citizens massacred in Libya by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. There was no cake cutting ceremony and champagne opening ceremony, the usual routine ceremony at inaugural flights.
The original plan for the launch of the Tokyo flight was in December 2014. It was postponed to April due to low flight demand in relation to the outbreak of Ebola pandemic in West Africa. As the pandemic is now under control and Ethiopia is far from the epicenter of the outbreak passengers’ confidence is restored.
Tokyo is one of the world’s most populous metropolises and serves as Japan’s political, economic and cultural hub. Japan is the world’s third largest economy and one of the main financial and economic centers with growing investment
, trade and tourism ties with Africa. The diplomatic relation between Ethiopia and Japan dates back to the 1930s. Ethiopian opened consular office in Tokyo six decades ago.
In his welcoming remark Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said that Ethiopian has been trying to open route to Japan in the past 20 years. However, this was not materialized due to various challenges including high operational cost. A direct flight from Addis Ababa to Tokyo takes 12 hours. It is a long flight that consumes a huge amount of fuel. The landing fee at Narita International Airport is also expensive.
Tewolde said his company overcame all these challenges and succeeded in opening the first direct flight between Africa and Japan. “Twenty years of hard work resulted in today’s inaugural flight,” Tewolde said.
Japan is strengthening its diplomatic and trade relations with Africa. Last year Japan mounted a new initiative of trade and investment in Africa. During his visit to Africa the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged a USD 20 billion investment in Africa.
“Japan is an industrialized country focused on Africa,” Tewolde said. “This direct flight facilitates trade, investment and tourism between Africa and Japan. Japanese tourists like visiting Ethiopia with ancient history and rich culture.”
Ethiopian took three gifts to the people of Japan on the inaugural flight to Tokyo–Ethiopian roses, fine coffee and the son of Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian marathon legend, Nathnael Abebe.
Abebe Bekila won the marathon gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This has left a lasting memory about Ethiopia among the people of Japan.
Japanese ambassador to Ethiopia, Kazuhiro Suzuki, said that airlines were the most effective tool to promote business and trade relations between countries. “Ethiopian has a strong flight network in China. It flies to Korea. But there was a missing link between Japan and Africa. Now the flight between Tokyo and Addis Ababa connects Japan with Africa. It will be a gateway to Africa for Japan and Asian people,” Ambassador Suzuki said. The ambassador said African passengers now can access Japan with Ethiopian Airlines convenient flight between Addis Ababa and Tokyo.
CEO of Ethiopian Tourism Organization, Solomon Tadesse, told The Reporter that his organization is trying to attract more tourists from Japan. Twelve Ethiopian travel agents travelled to Tokyo with Solomon and Ethiopian Airlines marketing team to promote Ethiopia in Japan. “We will have the first road-show in Tokyo,” Solomon said.
In a related news, Ethiopian is finalizing preparations to launch five new international destinations in June 2015. Ethiopian will commence new flights to Dublin, Los Angeles, Manila, Gaborone and Cape Town. Tewolde told The Reporter that his company was undertaking a study that will enable it to start new flights to Istanbul and Moscow. “We will soon start flight to Istanbul. But we need to work more on the Moscow route.”
Tokyo is Ethiopian 85th international destinations. Under the Vision 2025, Ethiopian 15 year growth road-map, Ethiopian plans to carry 18 million passengers to over 92 destinations.
[TheReporterEthiopia]