Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing international airlines, is gearing up for the launch of its thrice-a-week service to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. The Dubai-based airline will start operations to Addis Ababa on Monday.

Ethiopia’s predominantly agricultural economy can take advantage of Emirates’ 80 global destination network to boost its exports of coffee, cereal, pulses and oilseeds. Likewise, the airline’s services will also provide increased connectivity to international tourists keen to explore the East African country and its seven Unesco World Heritage sites.

Addressing a press conference in Addis Ababa, Emirates’ senior vice-president commercial operations Africa, Nasser Bin Kherbash said: “Emirates teams, both here in Ethiopia and Dubai are working diligently to ensure a smooth and seamless start of our local operations.”

Sudhir Sreedharan, Emirates’ manager Ethiopia stated: “With Emirates’ well-established reputation for superior customer service both in the air and on the ground, I am confident that we will meet and exceed the expectations of our valued Ethiopian customers.”

Emirates currently serves East Africa with double-daily flights to Nairobi and daily flights to Entebbe and Dar-es-Salaam. With the addition of Addis Ababa, Emirates’ East Africa network will be boosted to four destinations served by 31 weekly flights. From 1 December 2006, Emirates will step up its services to Addis Ababa to include daily flights.

Emirates operates four flights a week from Malta to Dubai with a stopover in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on A330-200.