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The Ethiopian Airlines announced that it would restart flights to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, today after they were temporarily suspended as a result of ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Eritrea.

The ash cloud is expected to clear soon, allowing flights to destinations in eastern and northern Ethiopia to reopen, Ethiopian Airlines, sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest carrier by passenger numbers, revealed in a statement.

The volcanic eruption which caused the temporary suspension of flights to destinations in northern Ethiopia occurred early Monday morning at Dubbi, 350 km north of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.

Source: Bloomberg

Ethiopia to be part of the free trade zone

African trade officials met this week in Johannesburg to launch negotiations for a free trade area (FTA) which would embrace more than 26 countries, and about a trillion dollars of economic output.

The proposed deal would unite three existing trade blocs in central, eastern and southern Africa. It is believed that the free trade area will do away with most trade barriers between participating countries. African leaders said that the Free Trade Area (FTA) would be practical within three years.

Two of the blocs, the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC), have already been enjoying tariff- and quota-free trade.

In the mean time, the third bloc, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), only has levies on 15 percent of goods and should be removing those by January.

When the negotiations are concluded, the enlarged FTA would include Ethiopia, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Commerce within Africa is limited with not more than 10 percent of the continent's trade being conducted between African countries, while the balance goes overseas.
After its formation is complete, the free trade area will be hopefully open to regions throughout the whole continent, Diouf of the African Agency for Trade and Development said.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, Reuters

Company plans to purchase an aircraft

Amibara General Aviation services announced that it was poised to spray anti-pesticide chemicals on 70,000 to 80,000 hectares of farmland for the summer season, Biniam Hirabo, aviation director, said yesterday.

Biniam said that the company would buy one more chemical spray aircraft for 450,000 dollars in addition to the five it bought three years back to reinforce its services.

Amibara General Aviation services, a subsidiary of Amibara Agricultural Development Plc, took over chemical spray service from Ethiopian Airlines a few years back. The company provides the same service to Sudan and is planning to expand it to other countries in East Africa, the director said.

Biniam said that the company was planning to start other services such as fighting wild fire and aerial photography.

Source: Walta Information Centre

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Ethiopian Airlines said that it started again flights to neighbouring Djibouti which had been temporarily suspended because of ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Eritrea. The ash cloud has cleared. 

Flights to some cities in northern Ethiopia like Mekele, Gonder, Axum and Bahir Dar, and Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, remain suspended, the airlines said today.
The volcanic eruption which caused the temporary suspension of flights to destinations in northern Ethiopia occurred early Monday morning at Dubbi, 350 km north of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.

Ethiopian Airlines had to cancel flights as reported here due to the volcanic ash.

Source: Bloomberg