ETHIOPIAN RETURNS TO OSLO
By Rune Engstrom, Owner and Managing Director of Destination Africa
(Posted 29th April 2020)
As of today, April 29th, will Ethiopian Airlines resume flights from Oslo Airport in
Norway. The company believes it has the potential to slowly resume its flights and will initially
introduce two weekly flights to Ethiopian Airlines; hub, Bole International Airport, in Addis
Ababa.
From Addis Abeba, passengers can connect to several African, Asian, and American
destinations.
Ethiopian Airlines established itself in Oslo in 2017 and has in line with the rest of the airline
industry, felt the effect of Covid-19 strongly. All flights out of Oslo were canceled last month
when the traffic base was lost due to lack of traffic, and the travel restrictions introduced by
authorities around the world. Now that more countries around the world are slowly opening
again for travelers, Ethiopian Airlines wants to offer an opportunity for essential travel to and
from Oslo.
With two weekly flights, you will be able to reach Africa, Asia, South America and the US via
Addis Ababa. The flights will have departure time from Oslo Airport at 8 pm on Wednesdays
and at 10 am on Saturdays. The evening departure on Wednesday has connections to the
company’s African and South American destinations and day flights on Saturdays have good
connections to destinations in Asia and the United States.
In addition to passengers, Ethiopian Airlines also has capacity to carry cargo. This capacity
will make it easier to ship goods to and from Norway from Africa and the rest of the world
with Ethiopian Airlines cargo network. Not many people know that Ethiopian Airlines has for
some time been operating a cargo flight between Norway and China, transporting Norwegian
salmon.
The company has been selected by WHO as the distributor of necessary contamination
equipment and medical equipment appliances for all 54 countries in Africa. In addition,
important medical equipment is shipped to selected countries outside Africa if needed. The
company also tries to think new and has, among other things, transformed parts of their
service and Addis Ababa Aircraft Maintenance Department to a medical respirator
maintenance center.
‘By turning quickly, being flexible and constantly adapting to the new challenges and
opportunities that comes with the current situation we hope to come out on the other side of
this pandemic stronger and ready to continue the fine growth we saw in Norway before
Covid-19‘, says Thomas C. Hellem, Sales Manager for Ethiopian Airlines in Norway.
So far there is only a few destinations open, but the company promises to be in the frontline
by reopening other closed destinations as soon as possible in a safe and workable manner.
Much of Asia has already eased its restrictions and although it is a long way to go, the
company hopes to get as many planes back in the air as quickly as possible.
