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Ethad Airways will add  the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to its rapidly growing network in November  2012.

The airline will also  start flying to the Indian city of Ahmedabad in the same month. The two new cities  will expand the airline’s reach to 86 passenger and cargo destinations around  the world.

The new routes will each  be served by an Airbus A320 aircraft and support Etihad Airways’ aims to  connect key strategic cities with its home base of Abu Dhabi, enhancing commercial  and leisure travel with the UAE’s capital city.

Flights between Abu  Dhabi and Addis Ababa, its ninth destination in Africa, will initially operate five  times a week, increasing to daily in 2013. Flights will operate daily between  Abu Dhabi and Ahmedabad, the airline’s ninth destination in India.

James Hogan, Etihad  Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We continue to build  strength and depth to our global network and the addition of Addis Ababa, a major  East African hub, and Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India, will make  significant contributions to traffic flows to Abu Dhabi and beyond.

“Addis Ababa and  Ahmedabad are economic centres in their respective countries and daily flights  to Abu Dhabi will build greater ties with the UAE’s capital as it continues to  invest in world-class development projects and attract business and leisure  travellers.”

Ethiopia is the  largest African market that Etihad Airways is yet to serve and the second most  populous country in Africa. It is expected to contribute strong business and  leisure traffic within the airline’s network.

There is also a  growing Ethiopian population living and working in Abu Dhabi and the UAE which  will benefit from the new Abu Dhabi   Addis Ababa service.

Etihad Airways’ new  service to Ahmedabad will offer nearly 1,000 seats a week into the Guajarati  city and the November 2012 launch will coincide with the beginning of the peak  travel season in India.

The airline  anticipates strong traffic flows from Ahmedabad to Abu Dhabi and onto its  European and US destinations. It also underlines Etihad Airways’ commitment to  serve the major population centres across India with direct flights to Abu  Dhabi.

The A320 aircraft  that will serve Addis Ababa and Ahmedabad have two cabins with 16 Pearl Business  Class seats and 120 Coral Economy Class seats.