Toronto Celebrates Its First Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350 Flight

Toronto Celebrates Its First Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350 Flight

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The Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350 arrived in Toronto for the first time. Photo: Airbus

It was a cold and cloudy day at Toronto Pearson International Airport but spirits were high and the mood was celebratory in Terminal 1 as Ethiopian Airlines celebrated the first arrival of its new Airbus A350 to the city and country. The November 10 launch event was marked by a media tour of the interior followed by a cake-cutting, champagne, speeches, and interviews. Here’s a detailed recap of the day.

The special day began with some traditional Ethiopian dancers showing off their moves at the Ethiopian Airlines check-in desks in Terminal 1. Shortly after this, the media was whisked away airside to cover the main event.

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Ethiopian dancers celebrating the A350 arrival event. Photo: Chris Loh/Simple Flying.
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O
pening speeches


“Today is a very special day for us with this new aircraft which we’ve flown to Toronto and the Canadian market…a very important market for us.” -Samson Arega, Ethiopian Airlines Canada Country Manager


Arega continued by saying that Toronto is the airline’s first North American route to open with this A350, adding that it was a result of the airline’s decision to diversify its fleet as it was highly dependent on Boeing. The addition of the Airbus A350 was a strategic decision for the carrier’s expansion as it looked to diversify its fleet.

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The flight crew preparing for departure as media circulated through the aircraft. Photo: Chris Loh/Simple Flying.

First impressions

My A350 experience is somewhat limited, to be honest. Currently, I have only flown in economy class with Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines and had great experiences in both. I think as far as decor is concerned, I would have preferred the look of these airlines over Ethiopian.

This is purely a subjective opinion but I wasn’t a total fan of the color choice in the economy. The various shades of green and yellow gave it a dated (but not quite retro or vintage) vibe. The red for the business class seats looked a little better but I think my preference would be for neutral-colored seats with small hints of color as accents. But again – it’s a personal opinion.

The IFE, even in economy, offered large screens that were fast and responsive to the touch. Legroom between the seats felt ample even with me standing almost six feet tall. Business class offers to lie flat seating in a 2-2-2 configuration.

I have no doubt that a long-haul service with Ethiopian would be a pleasant and enjoyable experience. I hope I can experience this one day but for today it’s just looking at the cabin while on the ground.

Cake cutting and interviews

The exclusive tour of the A350 was followed by a short cake-cutting ceremony and the opening of a bottle of champagne. I had the privilege of speaking with two representatives of Ethiopian Airlines. My first question had to do with connecting/onward travel once Toronto passengers arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Here’s a snippet of the response:

“Connections are over 60% of our passenger traffic with passengers transiting via Bole Airport, onwards to South Africa, Central Africa, West Africa. We are the fastest from Toronto to Johannesburg at 18 hours. No longer do people have to go through Europe to Africa. They can go to Africa, through Africa.” -R David Timmins, Senior Sales Representative, Ethiopian Airlines

Question: Do you see any other Canadian cities? Vancouver one day?

We are working on Montreal, but yes, definitely: There are investment opportunities on the African continent. There are so many mining companies in Africa. Canada has an excellent mining sector with a wealth of expertise and capital in mining and resource extraction. We would hope to support the connectivity in this field and hope Transport Canada will allow us to make these future connections. -Samson Arega, Ethiopian Airlines Canada Country Manager

Our interview came to an end with Arega highlighting the unique Ethiopian dining experience onboard its long-haul services – especially in business class.

Conclusion

The bottom line: Ethiopian offers “the fastest and shortest journey to sub-Saharan Africa…With over 60 cities served by the airline, you can have your breakfast in Canada and your dinner in Africa“.

https://simpleflying.com/ethiopian-toronto-first-a350/

Meanwhile, below the civilised Somalis are celebrating the wealth, progress, diversity and their many flags of their clan-enclaves in Toronto. Maashallah.






Waxaan maqli jirey "Addoon iyo niiko".
 

angelplan

2020 CHESS CHAMP
BORAMA, AWDAL
VIP
Wallahi Ethiopia has won the future and will devour us. There is no way of escaping this superpower Next door who will in the future be indoor. We can only blame ourselves for Our shortsighted qabil infightings.
 
Wallahi Ethiopia has won the future and will devour us. There is no way of escaping this superpower Next door who will in the future be indoor. We can only blame ourselves for Our shortsighted qabil infightings.
It baffles me how many here argue about who's tuulo is better:bell:
 

kickz

Engineer of Qandala
SIYAASI
VIP
Wallahi Ethiopia has won the future and will devour us. There is no way of escaping this superpower Next door who will in the future be indoor. We can only blame ourselves for Our shortsighted qabil infightings.

We are more resource rich with a smaller population, we can catch up to them fairly easily.
 

angelplan

2020 CHESS CHAMP
BORAMA, AWDAL
VIP
We are more resource rich with a smaller population, we can catch up to them fairly easily.
Inchallah khair Brother. We need to get out shit togheter and fast or Else we will end up like kurds, palestinians and native americans.
 
We are more resource rich with a smaller population, we can catch up to them fairly easily.

@kickz

Who is "we"? We had vast food resources in our seas (longest coast in Africa) and fertile agricultural lands for thousands of years and yet, we starve and beg the world to feed us every couple of years because of man made droughts, what makes you think that we are capable to utilise and peacefully share these resources?
 

Basra

LOVE is a product of Doqoniimo mixed with lust
Let Them Eat Cake
VIP
I want the White man to colonize Somalia. Look at American Somalis, they are so successful under the tutelage of White american governance.
 
Whites can be such cruel trolls of Ethiopians. Apparently the Ethiopian airlines office still gets calls to this day asking, "Will my flight have food"?
 

Tukraq

VIP
We are more resource rich with a smaller population, we can catch up to them fairly easily.
They can’t even grow there landlocked lol, no country or even state/region makes it while landlocked aka biggest barrier to success, here there out here celebrating state owned airlines:mjlol:embarrasing
 

kickz

Engineer of Qandala
SIYAASI
VIP
@kickz

Who is "we"? We had vast food resources in our seas (longest coast in Africa) and fertile agricultural lands for thousands of years and yet, we starve and beg the world to feed us every couple of years because of man made droughts, what makes you think that we are capable to utilise and peacefully share these resources?

You are forgetting we have been in our current predicament only since 1991, prior to that we were the top nation of Africa and its HQ where meetings and conventions were held to broker treaties between nations.

And we are on our way back.
 

Tukraq

VIP
Sadly Ethiopians are low information and allow this misappropriation of there tax dollars, to fund this airline, meanwhile they have millions in absolute poverty, airlines are rarely profitable and should be utilized by the private sector instead of eating away at a governments budget
 
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