Ethiopian Airlines plans to start new non-stop service in June from Addis Ababa to its fifth China destination in Chengdu, a logistics and transportation hub.

Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan province and is the seventh-largest city in China. It is the country’s western center of logistics, commerce, science and technology, and a hub of transportation, manufacturing and communication, Nazret reported.

Ethiopian Airlines already has nonstop flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

With this new flight, African passengers will be able to connect to dozens of cities in China including Shenzhen, Kunming, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Wuhan, Changsha, and Urumqi.

 

Ethiopian Airlines has a new $150 million cargo terminal under construction that is scheduled to be completed by April, according to 2Merkato.

Ethiopia was the world’s fastest growing economy in 2015 at 10.2 percent, The Guardian reported. China has invested heavily Ethiopian infrastructure, funding railways, roads, dams, and sub-Saharan Africa’s first modern tramway in Addis Ababa.

Chinese firms have stepped up engagement in Ethiopian manufacturing and upped the supply of manufactured goods exported from China, according to AfricaPortal.org:

The success of Chinese firms in this area is explained by … low initial bidding price offered by Chinese firms … financing options that they give to the Ethiopian government owing to the support they get from the Chinese government, as well as the relatively lower level of skilled Ethiopian personnel … (and) poor institutional capability of the Ethiopian experts in various ministries who are dealing with the Chinese firms …. Chinese firms’ cost and technological advantages over Ethiopian counterparts are also found to be important for Chinese investment success in Ethiopia.