Indian tourists will soon have direct flights from several Indian metros and tier-two cities to tourist hotspots in Africa, with the Ethiopian Airlines planning to operate regular flights from these places.

Already operating daily flights from New Delhi and Mumbai, the Ethiopian Airlines is all set to deploy its newly acquired luxurious Boeing-787 Dreamliner from India's financial capital to attract business and leisure travellers. 

"So far it (the plans for the new routes) is for Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. Cochin, Trivandrum and Hyderabad are also interesting destinations for the Ethiopian Airlines... We are trying to start from Chennai within a year," Esayas Woldemariam Hailu, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, Ethiopian Airlines, told PTI.

He said Bangalore and other destinations in India's south are currently being explored to start direct flights to the Ethiopian capital.

Going ahead with its plans to tap the Indian tourists, Ethiopian Airlines is also offering stop-over flights to other African countries like Tanzania and Kenya, which are famous for wildlife, safaris and ethnic tourism.

On plans to operate Dreamliner aircraft from Mumbai, Hailu said, "We are planning to put Dreamliner 787 in Mumbai, effectively from later this month, immediately after the restrictions from the Dreamliners are lifted."

Dreamliner aircraft will also increase our tourism volume from India to Ethiopia and rest of Africa, he added.

Planning to compete with European and Asian countries to tap the Indian travellers, the airlines is also planning to offer discounts and package tours to African tourist hotspots.

"We have so many packages for Ethiopian and African tourism which will bring the cost down. A new destination which is yet not explored always comes with a premium, but we may minimise our cost and offer discounts to our customers," Hailu said.

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