On Sunday night as the country was celebrating the July 4th weekend, Ethiopian Airlines touched down at Newark International Airport marking the beginning of new direct service from EWR to ADD via Lome, Togo. The event was attended by over 300 Ethiopian stakeholders including the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Tweolde GebreMariam and Ambassadors from both Togo and Ethiopia (Kbayedo Kokou and Tekeda Alemu respectively). The event also marked the departure of the first flight from EWR which left later that night. The start of this new service marks Newark’s only direct service to the African continent and Ethiopian Airlines return to the New York area after a 14 year absence.