Nairobi: Eritrean Airlines has begun regular flights to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, the Eritrean Information Minister said on Saturday, marking another step in improving relations between the Horn of Africa countries after a generation of hostility.
Last month, an Ethiopian Airways plane became the first commercial flight from Ethiopia to Eritrea to land in Asmara in 20 years.
Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmad offered in June to make peace with Eritrea 20 years after the start of a conflict in which an estimated 80,000 people died.
Since signing an agreement in Asmara on July 9 to restore ties, the Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders have moved swiftly to sweep away the two decades of hostility.
Abiy and Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki have already visited each other’s country.
“#Eritrea/n Airlines has begun regular flights to Addis Ababa today,” the Eritrean minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, wrote on Twitter.
“The new route will expand existing regional flights of the airline to Cairo, Khartoum, Jeddah and Dubai...”
The Ethiopian carrier’s chief executive told Reuters in an interview in July that it was in talks to take a stake in Eritrean Airlines.
