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Ethiopian Airlines in Talks for Stake in Eritrean Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam speaks during the ceremony as they resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara at the Bole international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam speaks during the ceremony as they resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara at the Bole international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
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Ethiopian Airlines in Talks for Stake in Eritrean Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam speaks during the ceremony as they resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara at the Bole international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam speaks during the ceremony as they resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara at the Bole international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Ethiopian Airlines is in talks to take a stake in Eritrean Airlines and a study will be conducted to determine the size of the acquisition, the Ethiopian carrier’s chief executive said on Thursday.

In an interview with Reuters during a visit to the Eritrean capital Asmara, Tewolde GebreMariam said: “We are assessing the situation of Eritrean Airlines right now.

“I spoke with the CEO yesterday. They have one leased airplane - a (Boeing) 737. We have started discussions.”

Tewolde traveled to Asmara on Wednesday with an Ethiopian delegation on the first commercial flight from Ethiopia to Eritrea in 20 years - cementing a historical rapprochement that has ended a generation of hostility between the neighboring Horn of Africa countries in a matter of days.

The two 90-minute flights put the icing on the cake of a peace push by new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. His first three months in office have turned politics in his country - Africa’s most populous after Nigeria - and the wider East African region on its head.

“It is beyond opening routes. This one is different because politically, economically and socially, the flight we flew yesterday is going to make radical changes between the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is a game changer,” Tewolde said.

The CEO said that based on the demand and bookings he had seen, starting in a couple of weeks Ethiopian Airlines would fly twice daily to Asmara.

“We plan (also) to fly to Massawa and Assab. We have not assessed the market (in the two towns), so we will send market research people,” he said.

“The demand is heavy not only because of Eritrea and Ethiopia but also demand from Eritreans living in Europe, America and so on who are eager to visit friends and relatives in Asmara,” he added.

“Connections were (previously) not smooth for them to come back home. They have (had) to go through Dubai or Istanbul and it is not convenient. Now they will have direct flights from the US, Canada and Europe.”

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Tropical Storm Adds to Philippines’ Weather Toll with 25 Dead and 278,000 Evacuated This Week 

Emergency responders retrieve the body of a worker a day after a landslide hit a construction site following days of typhoon-driven rains, in Cavite province, south of Manila, Philippines, 25 July 2025. (EPA)
Emergency responders retrieve the body of a worker a day after a landslide hit a construction site following days of typhoon-driven rains, in Cavite province, south of Manila, Philippines, 25 July 2025. (EPA)
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Tropical Storm Adds to Philippines’ Weather Toll with 25 Dead and 278,000 Evacuated This Week 

Emergency responders retrieve the body of a worker a day after a landslide hit a construction site following days of typhoon-driven rains, in Cavite province, south of Manila, Philippines, 25 July 2025. (EPA)
Emergency responders retrieve the body of a worker a day after a landslide hit a construction site following days of typhoon-driven rains, in Cavite province, south of Manila, Philippines, 25 July 2025. (EPA)

A tropical storm was blowing across the Philippines' mountainous north Friday, worsening more than a week of bad weather that has caused at least 25 deaths and prompted evacuations in villages hit by flooding and landslides.

The storm was Typhoon Co-may when it blew Thursday night into the town of Agno in Pangasinan province with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 165 kph (102 mph). It was weakening as it advanced northeastward and had sustained winds of 85 kph (53 mph) Friday afternoon.

Co-may was intensifying seasonal monsoon rains that had swamped a large swath of the country for more than a week.

Disaster-response officials have received reports of at least 25 deaths since last weekend, mostly due to flash floods, toppled trees, landslides and electrocution. Eight other people were reported missing, they said.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries directly caused by Co-may, locally called Emong, the fifth weather disturbance to hit the Philippines since the rainy season started in last month. More than a dozen more tropical storms were expected to batter the Southeast Asian country the rest of the year, forecasters said.

The government shut down schools in metropolitan Manila for the third day Friday and suspended classes in 35 provinces in the main northern region of Luzon. More than 80 towns and cities, mostly in Luzon, have declared a state of calamity, a designation that speeds emergency funds and freezes the prices of commodities, including rice.

The days of stormy weather have forced 278,000 people to leave their homes for safety in emergency shelters or relatives’ homes. Nearly 3,000 houses have been damaged, the government’s disaster response agency said.

Travel by sea and air has been restricted in northern provinces being pounded or in the typhoon’s path.

Thousands of army forces, police, coast guard personnel. firefighters and civilian volunteers have been deployed to help rescue people in villages swamped in floodwaters or isolated due to roads blocked by landslides, fallen trees and boulders.

The United States said it will provide $250,000 in funding to the UN World Food Program to help the Philippine government's response. “We are tracking the devastation caused by the storms and floods and are deeply concerned for all those affected,” US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said.

After returning from his White House meeting with US President Donald Trump, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited emergency shelters Thursday in Rizal province to help distribute food packs to displaced residents.

He later convened an emergency meeting with disaster-response officials, where he underscored the need for the government and the people to adapt to and brace for climate change and the larger number of and more unpredictable natural calamities it’s setting off.

“Everything has changed,” Marcos said. “Let’s not say, ‘The storm may come, what will happen?’ because the storm will really come.”

The United States, Manila’s longtime treaty ally, has pledged to provide military aircraft to airlift food and other aid to remote island provinces and the countryside if the calamity worsens, the Philippines military said.

The Philippines, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Seas, is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. It’s often hit by earthquakes and has about two dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.