Ethiopian Airlines recently announced expansion of its network to Chengdu, the capital city of southwestern Sichuan province, marking the fifth Chinese city in the airline's expanding map.

The new flight is due to start on June 5 and will fly between Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and Chengdu. It will be the Chinese city's first direct flight to Africa.

The flights will operate three times a week by Boeing 787-800, cutting flight time to nine and a half hours, the airline said.

Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, said he is very much looking forward to the launch of the new route.

"Since we flew to China for the first time 43 years ago, we have seen China as the most important market," he said.

The addition of the new route will increase the airline's weekly flights to China to 34. Currently it operates daily flights to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and also 10 weekly flights to Guangzhou.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn, January 10, 2017)