I recently flew on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-9 from Vienna to Addis Ababa. It’s been 4 years since my last flight with them. Let’s find out what Ethiopian Airline’s latest onboard product in both Business Class (Cloud 9) and Economy class is like.
Video
The flight came from Brussels, and Vienna was an intermediate stop before flying to Addis Ababa.
Flight attendants dressed in Ethiopian traditional dress welcome passengers at the door.
Ethiopian Airlines B787-9 has 30 Business Class and 285 Economy Class seats.
The Ethiopian Business Class on 787 is in a 2-2-2 configuration. So if you’re seated in the window seat you have to hop over your seat neighbor to get out. The seat padding is excellent but the seat felt somewhat narrow.
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Seat Maps. Provided by seatmaps.com
Lombard Champagne is served, along with amenity kit bags.
After takeoff, a 3-course dinner is served. The airline doesn’t use a tray to serve in Business Class anymore. They have tried to upscale the table setting and offerings. Catering is excellent as it comes from Brussels.
I tried out Ethiopian wine (Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon) and Ethiopian Habesha beer.
After the main course, cheese board, dessert, and fruit were served on a cart.
Economy Class has 2 choices between chicken and fish, together with salad and a white chocolate mousse.
As the flight is a short 5 hr 45 mins, the dinner service took more than 2 hours and felt quite slow. I fell asleep after dinner until 30 minutes before landing, I was awoken by a beautiful sunrise. The crew served an express breakfast which was a croissant and drinks.
Although the service at times was slow, I felt my recent Ethiopian Airlines flight experience was better than a few years ago. The dining experience has improved greatly. The service was also attentive. However, the Wi-Fi didn’t work on my flight.
Addis Ababa airport is at 7,625 ft above sea level. We landed on time on runway 07R. Watch the landing in my video.
About my Ethiopian Flight
Pros:
- Improved dining service and quality of food.
- Extensive network and good connectivity.
- Good award seat availability when compared with other carriers.
Cons:
- The 2-2-2 Business Class seating on B787 is underwhelming. The older 777 fleet has 2-3-2 angle flat Business Class seats. Some newly delivered A350 have 1-2-1 individual aisle access seating. The airline is focused on building the fleet and network but with inconsistent hard products.
- Wi-Fi didn’t work on my flight.
The Addis Ababa Hub
After landing, I toured the passenger terminal and up to 10,000 passengers in the morning transit at Addis Ababa Bole Airport making it the busiest hub in Africa. The terminal has been expanded with now 21 gates and 9 airbridges.
Ethiopian Airlines’ biggest strength is its network. Passengers from Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia are connecting at Addis before their final destination in Africa.
Ethiopian Airlines has 3 lounges, one for Premium Business Class passengers, one for Gold frequent flyers and one for Silver frequent flyers. Next week, I will share photos of these lounges.
The B777-300/ERs are usually deployed to Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria.
Many destinations such as Kinshasa, Kano, Moroni, and Windhoek are served by the new B787 and A350.
The morning departure peak was from 9 am to 11 am and then the airport terminal became very quiet. The same thing repeats in the evening with an arrival peak from 8pm to 10pm and a departure peak between 10pm and 12am.
Transit Hotel at Addis Ababa
I also toured the newly opened Transit Hotel – Ethiopian Skylight Hotel at Addis Ababa Bole Int’l. The hotel has rooms available from both the landside and airside.
Video
Next week, I continue to explore Ethiopian Airline lounges at Addis Ababa and fly on their new A350 to Cape Town.
Thanx for a prompt response Sam
This following might be of interest to your followers. I have a trip (in C) planned and bound for MRU via ADD and JNB. However we are stuck with a 19h transit at ADD. I of course saw your video but luckily also looked at the web-report you posted, noting the Skylight terminal hotel (heavily over-priced) with a nifty access also from air-side. As passengers from non-African Union countries are required to buy a (expensive) transit-Visa for a transit beyond 12 hours I asked the hotel if this was required when coming in air-side. This is their (exact) response: “Thank you located inside Addis Ababa Bole International Airport Terminal 02 Departure area. There will be no immigration and customs formalities.”
Hopefully this holds true. Also ET are supposed to offer this service for free to their C-class passengers but I have not been notified by them on that yet. Another matter is if ET will be able to hold our checked in baggage for that amount of time without a fumble.
Cheers
Karl
You should contact ET Ticket office to see they offer free long transit hotel. The hotel has 2 sides, landside and airside. It should be free of immigration and visa.
A nice and different report!
Where did you get the nice (Ethiopian?) from?
I bought it in Addis local market!
I think they are the best in Africa and beyond cuz when I fly with them me and other question how these poor nation could be able to well run an international airline. Best food, Best service,
I flew 3 of their business class flights a couple months ago and the flights, lounge, and Addis airport are all 3rd world at best. I will do all I can to never fly them again. Just miserable in every way.
I’m glad for you. My experience was quite different. I lost my bag on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Paris to Addis Ababa on October 14 2022 and it has never been recovered. When I reported to the Paris Office on my return to France as directed by the Addis office, they told me to address my complain to Addis Ababa. This is so distressing and it makes me wonder about their integrity, respect for customers, and sense of organisation as a corporate body. Is their no coordination among the country offices? Is it not the one Ethiopian Airlines? It is quite disheartening to say the least. I’m planning further actions but in the meantime, I choose to fly anything else but Ethiopian. I wish you continued luck with them anyway. You have a better luck!
“Is there no coordination among the different country-offices?”, it should read. Excuse the error.