ADDIS ABABA, Aug.4 (Xinhua) -- Eritrea's flag carrier Eritrean Airlines (EA) made its maiden flight to Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa on Saturday as diplomatic thaw between the two former bitter rivals deepens.
This development follows Ethiopia's flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines (ET) resumption of flights to Eritrea's capital, Asmara on July 18, the first flights to the city in 20 years.
The EA flight to Ethiopia headed by a delegation comprising of Tesfaselassie Berhane, Eritrean Minister of Transport and Communications, and Paul Khasai, Director General of Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority, was welcomed by Hirut Zemene, Deputy Ethiopian Foreign Minister, and other high-level Ethiopian government officials.
Speaking at the flight ceremony, Zemene said the two countries have already established a flight commission, re-established diplomatic relations and had their leaders visit their respective countries over the last one month.
She further said the commencement of flights between the two countries will further boost business, tourism and people to people ties.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000, that killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides. The war was ended by a December 2000 Algiers peace agreement, but it left the two countries in a state of bitter armed standoff.
The mutual hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea came to an end last June after Ethiopia's ruling coalition Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), said it unconditionally accepts the results of the Algiers peace agreement.
The decision sent off a chain of fast-paced diplomatic moves between the two countries, which saw the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia visit their respective countries after two decades of diplomatic freeze.
