Ethiopian Airlines says it will resume commercial flights to the war-torn area of Tigray on Wednesday after an 18-month hiatus.
The declaration comes after an Ethiopian delegation visited the rebel-held zone for the first time since a peace deal was signed last month.
The airline, Africa’s largest, announced daily flights from Addis Abeba, the national capital, to Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital.
According to the organization, the frequency of the schedule will rise based on demand.
Ethiopia’s national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, has announced that it will resume operations,” Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew stated.
“These flights will allow families to reconnect, will help the restoration of business activity, will encourage tourist flow, and will bring many more chances that will benefit society.”
Aid has started trickling back into Tigray since the peace deal was signed on 2 November, going some way to alleviating chronic shortages of food, fuel, cash and drugs.
But the region of six million is still largely without electricity and phone lines, while internet and banking services have only partly been restored.
Mekelle was hooked up to the national electricity grid on 6 December, and the country’s biggest bank, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, announced on 19 December that financial operations had resumed in some towns.
The war began in November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops after accusing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the region’s ruling party, of attacking army bases.
Estimates of fatalities vary widely, with the United States saying that as many as half a million people have died. More than two million people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.
Access to northern Ethopia is severely restricted and Tigray has been under a communications blackout for more than a year, making it impossible for journalists to independently verify the situation on the ground.
