Ethiopian Airlines will next week start flying the B787 Dreamliner on flights to Seoul, South Korea, it said on Thursday, as its CEO was elected to the board of governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Ethiopia, which is Africa’s fastest-growing airline, said it will be the first airline on the continent to operate this route utilising the Dreamliner on June 18 this year.

“With the economic boom of Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular and the growing ties with South Korea, we are pleased to provide the critically essential air connectivity using the 1st African B787 to Seoul”, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam of Ethiopian Airlines, told Ethiopia’s biggest business portal.

The Ethiopian said it will fly four weekly flights to Incheon International Airport in Seoul.

It will also proffer links through its main hub in Addis Ababa to business and leisure passengers traveling between Africa and South Korea.

“As of 18 June 2013, Seoul will be connected to dozens of cities in Africa via Ethiopian main hub in Addis Ababa such as Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos, Accra and Dares-Salaam,” Gebremariam said.

Meanwhile,  Ethiopian Airlines has confirmed Gebremariam’s election into the International Air Transport Association (IATA’s) Board of Governors.

Ethiopian’s CEO was elected during the body’s 69th IATA AGM in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this month.

The Board of Governors is made up of CEOs from about 240 airlines.