Trip Report: Ethiopian Airlines A350 New Business Class + Addis Ababa Premium Lounge

Sam Chui·January 10, 2023

After a behind-the-scenes tour of the Addis Ababa hub of Ethiopian Airlines, I am flying out of Addis in the morning to Cape Town onboard Ethiopian Airlines A350.

Video

Addis Ababa Airport

The airport has a typical setup in Africa, only ticket holders are allowed to go inside the terminal. There is baggage screening outside the terminal at the entrance.

Once inside, there is separate check-in counter for Business Class and Star Alliance Gold.

a sign from a ceiling — Ethiopian Airlines Business Class is called Cloud Nine

There are 2 peaks every day, one in the morning and one in the evening with many arrivals and departures from the world connecting at Addis Ababa.

After check-in and security, I proceed to the Ethiopian Airlines Business Class lounge.

Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine Lounge

a glass door with red carpet and red carpet

The lounge has a max capacity of 600 Business Class passengers. There are separate lounges for Star Alliance Gold and Silver passengers. In the morning peak, the lounge is very busy. These photos were taken after the peak wave of passengers. You can see the crowd during peak hour in my video here.

a group of people sitting in a restaurant

a room with a large white and black planter with flowers

a room with chairs and tables and windows

a woman behind a counter in a room with wine bottles

a man and woman in a room with a teapot and cups — At the entrance of the lounge, you can sample Ethiopian roasted coffee.

a bathroom with a glass shower door and sink — There are 4 shower rooms for males and 4 for females.

Overall, the lounge is decent, with plenty of food on offer. It is an improvement over the older lounge ET has. It has just one problem; during the peak departures, it is very crowded. The rear of the lounge near the buffet is the most crowded area. My recommendation is to find a seat somewhere near the front of the lounge.

ET847 Addis Ababa to Cape Town

The Cape Town flight is the first to depart from the hub as it is a long flight across the African continent with over 6 hours of flying time. It is operated by a 1-year-old A350-900 with Star Alliance livery.

Unlike the B787 I flew from Vienna to Addis, the new A350 has a new Business Class in a 1-2-1 staggered layout. There is a total of 32 seats in Business Class.

The window seat has the best privacy. Row 1 seems have better leg room as the footwell box is bigger.

a woman in a uniform standing in an airplane

a group of people sitting in an airplane with monitors

a hand holding a red bag — Amenity kit, menu were handed out by the crew.

a group of people sitting in an airplane — Economy Class is full. Ethiopian Airlines recently ordered A350-1000 as the traffic increases.

Addis Ababa Airport Hub

a white airplane parked in front of a building

There are 2 peaks every day, one in the morning and one in the evening with many arrivals and departures from the world connecting at Addis Ababa.

We departed runway 07R and made a Southbound turn. The altitude at Addis Ababa is 7,625 ft so this restricted the A350 takeoff weight.

The pilot mentioned the maximum takeoff weight is 251 tons on the A350 instead of the 280 tons MTOW.

Flight time to Cape Town is 6 hours from Addis Ababa, flying through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana before reaching South Africa.

Cabin service starts with just drinks. Instead of serving a meal immediately after takeoff, the meal is served 2 hours before landing. I presume this is because most passengers are from transit and ate breakfast in the lounge or on their previous flight.

a woman sitting in an airplane with a cart full of wine bottles

a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice on a table

I much prefer the A350 1-2-1 business class with aisle access. However, I noticed while the window seat is private, the aisle seat can have a different experience due to the aisle traffic. The new Ethiopian Airlines Business Class seat resembles United Polaris Business Class.

a plate of food with a small tin of food — Lunch starter: Roast chicken

a woman standing in a plane with food on a table — Ethiopian Airlines serves traditional Ethiopian food as the second course on outbound flights from Addis in Business Class.

a man sitting in an airplane with food in bowls

a plate of food on a table — Ethiopian food is quite heavy in taste and spicy to me. They use fermented bread called injera as starch.

a woman standing behind a tray of food and wine — Fruit, dessert, cheese and ports are served by trolley

a group of women wearing green uniforms — A photo of the lovely Ethiopian Airlines crew

a aerial view of a city and a body of water — Approaching Cape Town runway 19 with table mountain in the background.

The landing was uneventful in Cape Town. The flight was on-time. Ethiopian Airlines came a long way since my first time flying them in 2012. Since then, their fleet has almost tripled and the soft product offering in Business Class has improved. The biggest advantage Ethiopian Airlines has over its rival is its vast and strong network in Africa. With its high rate of growth, the airline needs to maintain more consistency in product offering.

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. New. delivered A350 has better 1-2-1 individual aisle access seating. The airline is focused on building the fleet and network but with inconsistent hard products.