Reaching Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, will be a little more complicated in East Africa. At a time when relations with Ethiopia are once again very tense, the Eritrean authorities have decided to ban flights fromEthiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Flights between Ethiopia and Eritrea resumed in 2018 after two decades, following a peace agreement between the two neighbours. " Ethiopian Airlines has received a notice from the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority by way of a letter (...) stating the suspension of all our flights to Eritreafrom 30 September 2024 "said the airline in a statement on its official Facebook page. Ethiopian Airlines operated up to two daily services to Asmara with Boeing 737-800s.
For travellers to Eritrea from Europe, but there are alternatives. Egyptair operates three weekly flights by Airbus A330 from Cairo, as does Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. Flydubai connects Asmara to Dubai with two daily flights by Boeing 737. Finally, Asmara is linked to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia by three weekly flights operated by Flynas, a low-cost carrier.
There are no flights from the national carrier Eritrean Airlines, which has been banned from flying in the European Union since 2012 due to a disastrous safety record. The carrier, which has a single Boeing 737, has suspended operations since June 2023.
More Ethiopian Airlines flights in Africa
However, the suspension of Ethiopian Airlines flights to Asmara in no way hinders the company's development, the largest in Africa. On the continent, Ethiopian Airlines has just extended its network with new routes. Freetown in Sierra Leone has been served three times a week via Ouagadougou since the end of May. In June, the carrier launched services to Maun in Botswana, with three flights a week.
Between the end of May and July, the company alsointensified its connections to the rest of Africa. It offers several daily flights to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Conakry (Guinea), Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar (Tanzania), Kigali (Rwanda) and Douala (Cameroon). Finally, in Europe, Ethiopian has been landing in Warsaw since 1 January.er July.
