ETHIOPIAN COMMENCES MOMBASA FLIGHTS

From Prof. Wolfgang Thome
As mentioned a few weeks ago in this column, when ET was in the final stage of planning their scheduled flights from Addis Ababa to Mombasa, linking the Kenyan Indian Ocean port city with Ethiopian's global network, this has over the last weekend materialised. The inaugural flight took place last Sunday and received the usual fanfare greetings, with traditional dancers reportedly greeting the passengers, crew and official airline delegation from Addis.

Mombasa has for long only seen Kenya Airways and other domestic airlines operate scheduled flights from Nairobi while inclusive tour charters from predominantly European gateways brought the bulk of the holiday makers to the Kenyan resorts and hotels along the white Indian Ocean beaches. The entry of Ethiopian will now hopefully also turn the attention of other scheduled airlines to the opportunities which direct or nonstop flights to Mombasa may bring to them and serve as a trigger for more such developments. Mombasa would certainly deserve it and Kenya tourism would undoubtedly get a boost out of it. (see original press release below)