Yesterday, Jazeera Airways announced that it will be launching a new route to
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The new route, which starts today, March 16th, will be the airline’s second new service this year after it announced flights to Colombo (Sri Lanka) last month.
The new twice-weekly service
This brand new Jazeera Airways service will connect Kuwait and Addis Ababa twice a week, offering connections to the rest of the airline’s network across the Middle East and west-southwest Asia.
According to the airline’s CEO, the route will not only target Ethiopians looking to travel east, but it will also serve the Ethiopian community living in Kuwait.
“We are pleased to continue with our network expansion plans. There is a significant Ethiopian expatriate population living in Kuwait and the across the region and opening this new route will provide them with a great value option.” -Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways
The details for the new route, which operates on Tuesdays and Saturdays, are as follows:
- Kuwait to Addis Ababa: Departs at 09:35 and arrives at 13:35 as J9781.
- Addis Ababa to Kuwait: Departs at 14:20 and arrives at 18:10 as J9782.
All times listed are local.
At the time of publication, all passengers that arrive in Ethiopia must be in possession of a negative ‘RT PCR test certificate’ for COVID-19. Arrivals must also self-isolate for 14 days on arrival, either at their home or at a hotel.
Up against full-service Ethiopian Airlines
At this time, the only other competitor on this route offering direct flights is full-service carrier Ethiopian Airlines. The airline also appears to be operating a twice-weekly service- although the frequency of this long-established route was higher outside of the current health crisis.
While we might expect the airlines to compete a fair bit for direct point-to-point passengers, the two airlines’ networks are fairly different. Aside from some overlap with a few Indian cities, the two airlines serve different destinations.
There are also some shared cities across the Middle East. However, with the geography of the region and the location of hubs, we would imagine Ethiopians choosing to go with a direct flight with their home airline with the same for residents of Kuwait.
More network expansion coming
In a statement, Jazeera Airways’ CEO says that his airline has plans to launch a number of new routes during the year “as travel gradually returns around the world thanks to vaccinations rolling out.”
As with many of the carrier’s services, flights to Addis Ababa will utilize Jazeera’s expanding fleet of new Airbus A320neo aircraft. The airline notes that all of its jets are equipped with “hospital-grade HEPA air filters.”
What other routes do you think Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways will launch this year? Which routes would you like to see? Let us know in the comments.
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