Ethiopian Airlines has officially launched its second daily flight to Mombasa from the capital Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian flag carrier's decision had already been announced last month, a week after Kenya gave the airline the green light to add frequencies to the Kenyan coastal destination, with the date of the new connection starting in mid-September 2023. This date was respected, as it is already possible to book the new flight, starting on Friday 15.
But not only that, this decision could change the company's choices with respect to connecting flights and connections from Europe, also offering more flight options and less waiting at Bole Airport in the Ethiopian capital.
As for Kenya, however, this decision is expected to intensify competition and could potentially impact Kenya Airways, which has lobbied against approval.
In fact, the increase in flight frequencies for Ethiopian Airlines is part of Kenya's implementation of the open skies policy, aimed at facilitating foreign airlines' access and operating rules at domestic airports.
For us Italians, on the other hand, the move to open up to other flights, as for example happened recently with the low-cost airline Flydubai, from Emirates to Mombasa, could create more competition from Europe and lower prices, and be the decisive push for the return to Mombasa of Turkish Airlines, which for so many years was the most credible alternative to Ethiopian for non-direct flights.
According to the tourism industry, clearly, the initiative should attract more travelers to fill the coastal region's more than 40,000 beds and create job opportunities for thousands of young people, further boosting the economy of Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties.

The second daily aircraft flight will be operated by Boeing 737 MAX 8 for the Addis Ababa - Mombasa route. The new afternoon departures will offer more travel options for passengers.

Here then is the detail of the operations.

- ET322: ADD (Addis Ababa) - MBA (Mombasa) departing at 09:00 and arriving at 11:20, operating daily.

- ET324: ADD (Addis Ababa) to MBA (Mombasa) departing at 15:30 and arriving at 17:50, operating daily.

RETURN

- ET323: MBA (Mombasa) to ADD (Addis Ababa) departing at 12:15 p.m. and arriving at 2:35 p.m., operating daily.

- ET325: MBA (Mombasa) - ADD (Addis Ababa) departing at 18:40 and arriving at 21:00, operating daily.