Ethiopia’s flag carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, disclosed it has completed preparations to launch a double daily flight to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

According to a press release by the Airline, the service is going to commence by March 2015. However, the very first time the airline started flying to Mumbai was 43 years ago on December 1971. Currently it flies to Mumbai and New Delhi daily.

The new double flight to Mumbai is going to be carried out using the ultra-modern B787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The commencement of the service is said to give optimal connectivity options for passengers traveling between India and Ethiopian Airline’s 49 destinations in Africa.

The press release stated there is significant rise in Africa-India traffic which is attributable to the economic growth of the two regions and their increasing trade, investment and tourism ties in addition to the travel demand of the large Indian community in various African countries.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, commenting on the development said, We are very bullish on the prospects of Africa-India market. By increasing our frequency to double daily to Mumbai and expanding our codeshare agreement with Air India, fellow Star Alliance partner with the inclusion of domestic points in India and major destinations in Africa, we aim to become the airline of choice for travel between Africa and India by offering seamless and convenient connections thru our main hub in Addis. Going forward, we plan to increase our current frequency to New Delhi and start operations to additional destinations in southern India."

Ethiopian Airlines currently has 84 international destinations across five continents.

Source: Ethiopian Airlines Press Release