Ethiopia’s flag carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, plans to expand its long distance flight network during the current year. The expansion program will see destinations to Asia and North America included in the airline’s routes.

The route expansion will take place after the airline takes delivery of the first batch of A350-900s and Boeing 787-8s, which have 343 seats and 270 seats respectively.

Ethiopian is aiming to launch a flight to New York by June 2016, making it the fourth destination in North America. The other 3 are Toronto, Washington Dulles and Los Angeles. In addition to this, Ethiopian plans to launch flights to Chicago and Houston by 2017.

In regards to Asia route expansion, the airline plans to start flights to Chengdu, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta and Singapore.

According to Daily News, East Asia has been the engine of Ethiopian’s rapid expansion in the recent years. In 2015 alone the airline added 2 destinations taking it to a total of 9.

This year Ethiopian Airlines is celebrating its 70th anniversary. In the aim of meeting growing demands, Ethiopian is said to have equipped itself with modern fleet.

Source: Daily News