Ethiopian Airlines eyes Thai base

Ethiopian Airlines has embarked on a service upgrade for its Bangkok-Addis Ababa route by deploying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the city pair. The replacement of the ageing B767-300ER with the new-generation wide-body jet, starting on Aug 3, forms part of a strategy to tap growing traffic opportunities between Africa and Southeast Asia. The upgrade is expected to boost the 70-year-old airline's passenger volumes on the route and strengthen Bangkok as Ethiopian's Southeast Asian hub. The greater appeal of the B787 should enable Ethiopian to regain market leadership in the Thailand-Africa connection after losing momentum to arch rival Kenya Airways, which inaugurated Dreamliner flights from Nairobi to Bangkok in August 2014. Meaza Taye, Ethiopian's manager for Thailand and Southeast Asia, said that the airline will use Bangkok as a springboard to launch new services to several Southeast Asian countries. For starters, the carrier plans to extend the Addis Ababa-Bangkok service to Hanoi next summer, starting by the end of March, with three or four flights a week, Ms Taye said. Ethiopian's daily flight between Addis Ababa and Bangkok has already been extended to Kuala Lumpur with three flights a week and Manila with four flights a week. <br/>