With the arrival of Flight ET911, Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday became the first international airline to operate flight into the newly upgraded Kaduna International Airport, Nigeria.

Ethiopian Airlines new Boeing 787-8 with 50 passengers on board touched down at Kaduna International Airport at 11.30am following a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The inaugural flight was personally welcomed by the Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika who shook hands with all the passengers as they alighted from the plane.

In an interview with the media, Sirika expressed his confidence and optimism that other foreign airlines would follow Ethiopian Airlines' example and commence operations into Kaduna airport.

Ethipian Airlines, return flight took off from Kaduna airport at 12.50 pm with 60 passengers enroute Addis Ababa.

With this service, Ethiopian Airlines now flies to four destinations in Nigeria with daily flights to Kaduna and Lagos, twice weekly to Kano and thrice weekly to Enugu.

Following the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on 6 March, 2017 for repairs on the runways, domestic and international airlines now fly into Kaduna airport. The repairs will last for six weeks.