Marseille is the second-largest city of France and main city of the historical province.

A statement issued in Accra signed by Mr. Asrat Begashaw, Manager Corporate Communications, Ethiopian Airlines and copied to the Ghana News Agency stated.

The statement quoted Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines as saying, "It gives us great pleasure to launch flights to Marseille, connecting France's second largest city to the over 60 African destinations we serve, through our hub Addis Ababa.

"We have been flying to Paris since 1971, more than 48 years, so we are not new to the market in France, but we are very happy to expand our services closer to the customer in Marseille now".

The statement said the connectivity they were establishing between Europe and Africa was facilitating trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people ties.

The statement said as they forge ahead on the path of growth and success as envisioned in Vision 2025, they would keep on opening new routes to all corners of the world bringing Africa ever closer to the rest of the world.

Marseille marks Ethiopian's 20th destination in Europe.

Ethiopian Airlines is currently serving 120 international destinations across five continents with young aircraft with average fleet age of five years.

It will also bring the number of passenger flights the airline operates to European cities to 61 per week.