How and why did Ethiopian Airlines become such a successful hub connecting Africa to the rest of the world?
Posted by Independent-Dish6355@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 227 comments
DifficultRecipe2966@reddit
Amazing truly. Recently took a 4 hour flight and with them and they fed me 2 lunches:) https://youtu.be/lb1PcMghsRE?si=e2WZUwhFFk2OAVNr
anandonaqui@reddit
It’s interesting that they have no destinations in North Africa aside from Cairo. I would have expected some in Morocco, maybe Tunis and Algiers too.
Yassine_Maghri@reddit
I'm from Morocco and same thing here no flight to Ethiopia the furthest place Royal Air Maroc goes to is Angola, because it seem like it won't be a profitable route since there aren't many Ethiopians in Morocco unlike people from west Africa Senegal and Cameroon
agha0013@reddit
Same reason why the UAE has mega hubs, and Istanbul as well. Pretty much in the middle of all the action, and a stable airline that has a good long term reputation
Starman68@reddit
I was in Istanbul airport last week. It’s a shopping mall with 8 runways.
zzay@reddit
Ten not eight
Starman68@reddit
That’s a lot more than most airports. Amazing place. Best airport I’ve been through.
devman0@reddit
IST has five runways unless you're counting both compass points as two runways.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
Here is an updated map:
igorekcz@reddit
This is also missing Warsaw, they fly to WAW via Vienna
hungry_chipmunk2003@reddit
They don’t fly directly to Addis Ababa from Manchester though. I’m sure they stop in Geneva. As I planned to go Geneva and Ethiopian airlines was on the flight. It’s like how Singapore airlines used to fly from Manchester, UK to Houston, USA.
hamhors@reddit
r//mapswithoutaustralia
747ER@reddit
Considering their history it’s probably better if Ethiopian Airlines prints maps without Australia on them…
olivertowedtoad@reddit
I don't think it was a map just an advertisement on the range of the aircraft.
sherero@reddit
Who?
dredeth@reddit
If you never fly to a location does it really exist? /s
SteO153@reddit
Zurich is missing, they fly ADD - MXP - ZRH.
rafelo001@reddit
They are missing Athens in this map
anupshokhwal@reddit
EA is such a good and comfortable airline, better then the airline across the same continent, EGYPT AIRLINES being the worst ever I flew in.
carl816@reddit
And to think Ethiopian and Egyptair are both members of Star Alliance😛
AccountNumber0004@reddit
https://simpleflying.com/ethiopian-airlines-incredible-success/
This is a good article on it.
TLDR:
-The government letting it operate commercially (very unusual in Africa) -The effectiveness of its management (unusual in Africa) -Its geographic position -Lack of suitable competitors within Africa -Generally strict approach of keeping competitors out
flyermiles_dot_ca@reddit
The timely collapse of South African as a competing Star Alliance partner also let Ethiopian pick up a whole bunch of Europe -> JNB/CPT traffic.
sherero@reddit
Don’t even. South African has many others to blame before you get to Ethiopian. Count the number of daily Emirates flights into JNB/CPT, add other Arab airlines as well as European and North American ones that ET does not have an upper hand over. If anything ET might be a bottom feeder to South Africa, or one with excellent connectivity and price point for India.
flyermiles_dot_ca@reddit
That's not anywhere close to what I said.
SAA collapsing DID leave Ethiopian positioned to pick up a lot of passengers connecting on other Star Alliance routes, as well as a good portion of the Europe-JNB/CPT traffic previously served by SAA.
Sonny1x@reddit
You're not really accurate.
For one, he just pointed at the fact that Ethiopian just got more customers,
And second, there's been massive price increases between EU-SA since the collapse of South African.
It's quite telling that there's not enough airlines competing for this route so they're hiking prices.
It was very efficient to book with Star Alliance to a hub in Europe, and fly down with South African at a decent price.
Slow_Grapefruit5214@reddit
I live in Canada but fly to Africa pretty often. I only started flying Ethiopian after SAA collapsed. It’s not just Europe —> JNB/CPT traffic Ethiopian has taken from SAA; it’s Europe and North America connecting to many locations across Africa. Ethiopian has strong intra-African connectivity, whereas SAA losing a large portion of its fleet during its restructuring (and having to significantly cut its route network) means that it has much less capacity than Ethiopian to connect travellers from outside of Africa to countries inside the continent.
kennedon@reddit
I'm confident this isn't the only reason at all - those other five are good - but it is notable that their steady upswing started when they joined Star Alliance in Dec 2011. That would have unlocked an increase in codeshares and connecting traffic, which would have helped propel route and service growth, ease of booking, etc.
kennedon@reddit
(A counterpoint to my own argument is that other alliance players, like ROM , Egypt Air, and Kenya don't show the same growth. So, again, I'm not arguing this is the only or the driving factor, but it could play a role in the broader context.)
Sabian491@reddit
I really appreciate you offering counterpoint to your own argument/point of discussion
beepbeepboopbeep1977@reddit
Ethiopian’s base is a single flight from many Star Alliance hubs, so they can long haul to the hub and leverage the alliance for the last mile at either end.
sherero@reddit
It so happens that most star alliance hubs are cities that generate ample traffic on their own. The odd one out is Addis Ababa.
beepbeepboopbeep1977@reddit
Yes, but, as an example, Ethiopian can service south east Asia, Australia and New Zealand to Europe by flying SIN-ADD-destination and leveraging Air New Zealand, Singapore or Thai for the first sector, and possibly Lufthansa for the last sector if they don’t have a direct service of their own (so leverage the LH hub at FRA).
Emirates and Qatar don’t have this reach (although both have a side hustle going on with Qantas despite Qantas being in oneworld).
sherero@reddit
In this day and age if someone is intentionally flying SYD-SIN-ADD-LHR it’s because they either belong to this subreddit or the price is right. Or a mileage run.
beepbeepboopbeep1977@reddit
I don’t understand your comment. The only two sector options are Emirates or Qatar, possibly Thai. It’s not uncommon to have 3 sectors to get to places in Europe. I used to live in Wellington (New Zealand) and many routes are 4 sectors.
Price and points accumulation are usually the drivers, if the price is the same then the number of sectors can come into play, but SIN is quite a pleasant transit airport. They all take a day and a half-ish, so end to end time isn’t important. Sometimes arrival time is a factor.
But this chat, while interesting, is a bit of a side quest from “is being in the Star Alliance a benefit to Ethiopian’s passenger volumes”. I guess my point in my earlier comment was that ADD isn’t often the destination so their best volume play is transit, and Star Alliance extends their reach so will add passenger numbers. Unless I’ve missed the point in your reply?
sherero@reddit
You have convenient and reqeonable one stop service from large cities in Australia to Europe through many convenient hubs in Asia. We don’t have to recreate the kangaroo or in this case a (pick African animal that hops) route when in this day and age we are seeing nonstop service from Australia to Europe.
beepbeepboopbeep1977@reddit
I agree that there’s more and more point to point service, and more airlines with decent coverage from a single hub, but the days of direct from somewhere useful in NZ/AU to Europe are still a wee way off. The Sydney-London route will hop through Perth, and Perth is an 8 hour flight from Auckland, so it might as well be SIN. Just like the SYD-JFK stops in Auckland to refuel. The current point of those services is so you stay on Qantas tin, and Qantas can fly from airports they can offer services from without costly agreements (NZ/AU have a bilateral airspace agreement called the Open Skies Agreement).
When you live at the bottom of the world multiple transits will be a reality for a while longer.
Future_Burrito@reddit
The Addis Ababa airport is dope now. I first visited it in \~2014 when it was getting an overhaul and wow what a difference. Maybe the fact that they were never colonized also has something to do with it? I wish more western airports had the lounge chair thing going on.
thewend@reddit
love comments like these. rare someone trying to just think instead of arguing about an absolute truth
cheers, mate
ghjm@reddit
It could also be that the graph is functioning as a trailing indicator, and whatever factors led to the growth were also visible to codeshare partners, who then approved Star Alliance membership on that basis. In other words, the alliance membership and the sustained growth may both be caused by some common underlying factor. Did Ethiopian sign some order for newer better airplanes six months to a year before the elbow in the graph, for example?
kennedon@reddit
My understanding is also that alliance membership is a LONG process, including mentorship by an existing airline partner, etc. So, absolutely, it's not going to be a one-directional thing. My guess is it's mutually reinforcing: the conditions for growth led to membership, and membership also sustained growth (e.g., Star Alliance travellers beginning to prefer them over other options).
sherero@reddit
It’s a fallacy to attribute growth to joining Star Alliance. It’s merely one of the factors which supports a strategy of growth.
Star Alliance as with any other alliance does not give an airline out of the box codeshare abilities. Each airline still has to negotiate with the other. And boy do I have things to say.
Notably the founding Star Alliance partners are protective of their cartel within the alliance. Air Canada, Lufthansa and United have control built on their partnership that enjoys immunity. No others from within the alliance benefit from that nor are they invited into it.
Ethiopian long before joining the alliance code shared with Lufthansa. Its growth in Europe has not been dependent on Lufthansa, rather it has a pursuit for as many destinations as it can get to on its own metal, while still leaning on some Star hubs like Vienna that offer connectivity to secondary markets. Lufthansa in fact may have impeded Ethiopian’s growth into Germany, having allegedly road blocked access to Munich for example.
Speaking of roadblocks, Canada protects Air Canada and its aforementioned cartel by restricting access by Ethiopian into additional destinations such as Montreal. Ethiopian flights to Toronto are almost always full. We have yet to see Ethiopian code on Air Canada flights within Canada. Their codeshare has been limited to/from Heathrow. And Air Canada in addition to its cartel prefers to put its code on Emirates into Africa! Alliance be damned!
I am not done with the cartel. Because Lufthansa owns Brussels Airlines. The cartel has a strategy to use Brussels as the connection point for its African conquest (yes it’s harsh!) something they announced in the last couple of years. Ethiopian flies to Brussels daily with no codeshare partnership with that city’s home grown but German owned airline. This is a cartel that’s organizing to compete against one of their own alliance members.
United has long placed its code on ET flights out of Washington DC. And beyond out of Addis Ababa. Ethiopian has also pursued growth into the USA with United hubs as the logical targets. And ET code are on UA flights on and off again, and you’re likely to get ET ticketed on a UA originating flight into ORD/IAD/EWR before heading to ADD. But not exclusively, as you will learn when looking at ET fare constructs, for they include flying Alaska or JetBlue into UA hubs.
One still hopes that ETs rumoured courting of DL as a possible feeder materializes, its foray into Atlanta never made sense but has miraculously stuck in an environment where aircraft availability is scarce. Minneapolis is expected next but government policy changes has doused some ice water on things.
Star Alliance partnership, if considered a propeller, has not served EgyptAir nor South African well despite Egypt having a large population and the kind of traffic it commands, and South Africa being Africa’s strongest economy.
Alliance brings you into a league. But there’s still hierarchy within. You can’t bank on that. Ask Kenya Airways how it fared with KLM tutelage.
MyWholeTeamsDead@reddit
Singapore Airlines has been the only one to break that OG hierarchy, imo. And only because their success is too big to ignore.
IllustriousWedding94@reddit
Fascinating post!
PowwowPuffer@reddit
Star Alliance would help with brand recognition as well. As an American, I've literally never heard of the other airlines listed in that graph.
jockel37@reddit
You haven't heard of South African Airways? They fly to New York and Washington.
PowwowPuffer@reddit
They fly to two cities in the entire US? Yeah super recognizable.
monkeyshoulder22@reddit
Do you recognize American Airlines? They fly to zero cities in the entire continent of Africa.
michuneo@reddit
Seriously? That’s rather laughable; isn’t it?
jmlinden7@reddit
https://www.flightconnections.com/route-map-american-airlines-aa
US based airlines tend not to fly that many international routes, but AA is the worst offender and basically refuses to fly any international route outside of a joint venture.
BobbyLupo1979@reddit
AA flies a ton to Latin America, I thought.
nogr8mischief@reddit
The most of the US based airlines
PowwowPuffer@reddit
Cool
Irrelevance351@reddit
Used to. South African Airways haven't flown to the United States in over five years now.
Several_Leader_7140@reddit
Yh you’re also American
usersub1@reddit
Egyptair is also a member of Star Alliance so it is not the reason I’d guess
pestoster0ne@reddit
You may be the first person in the history of ever to describe Egyptair as "good". Locals call it Misery Air, and that's not just because Egypt is "Misr" in Arabic.
Also note that Egyptair is also in Star Alliance, but this hasn't helped them one bit.
Moonlight_Brawl@reddit
I hope its a joke cuz the locals’ English here aint good enough to call it Misery Air.
kennedon@reddit
(I described the reasons Ethiopian has been successful as good, not the other airlines. I haven't flown any of them, so not weighing in either way :p)
Gusearth@reddit
Aren’t South African Airways and Egyptair likewise in Star Alliance?
TooEZ_OL56@reddit
Now’s a good as a time to ask? What is Star Alliance I see it every time with United but never cared to ask
kennedon@reddit
In ELI5, there are three big "associations" of airlines: Star Alliance, OneWorld, and SkyTeam. Each association has a bunch of airlines that belong to that team.
Typically, each alliance has a bunch of reciprocal benefits that come with joining up to the 'team':
A big part of this is also the experience for frequent flying passengers. I am a mid-level frequent flyer on one airline in my alliance. What that means is that even though my company only allows me to book economy, I get benefits, like free baggage, preferred seats, lounge access, shorter lines, and better handling during disruptions on the other airlines in my alliance. This is a big deal when traveling overseas: I might have a first flight on my airline, but then I'll be on "alliance partners" for connections from there on. So, I will tend to go out of my way to stay on "my alliance" because of getting those reciprocal benefits.
spoiled_eggsII@reddit
It would have also forced them into good, reportable safety standards. Something lacking on that entire continent for most airlines.
CountessAurelia@reddit
Before that, even, they had one of the best networks. I’ve flown direct from Addis to Bangkok, Cairo, Frankfurt, and Joburg all prior to 2011.
maporita@reddit
It was a good network but the service was poor. I worked in Ghana in the nineties and often flew ET within Africa. Service was not good, though they were much better than other local options like Ghana Airways. But usually the best option was flying back to Europe and then a second flight back to your destination.
ZeePM@reddit
Damn, they really took off (pun intended) after 2012! Nearly tripled their traffic in 7 years.
Makkaroni_100@reddit
Should also add (unusual in Africa) to the other points, just for fun.
-Its geographic position (unusual in Africa)
-Lack of suitable competitors within Africa (unusual in Africa)
-Generally strict approach of keeping competitors out (unusual in Africa)
Chuckolator@reddit
I did my own research and confirmed that Ethiopia is the only country in Africa with the same geographical position as Ethiopia. Incredible.
uberklaus15@reddit
Arguably, its geographic position is unusual in Africa. It's literally the only country in that exact portion of Africa.
thesuperunknown@reddit
Electrical-Risk445@reddit
ImGeronimo@reddit
Mr06506@reddit
How can it be both commercially independent, but also benefit from limiting competition?
Has the government picked a winner and is artificially restricting competition?
Robie_John@reddit
The government doesn't tell management how to run the company.
gunfighterak@reddit
You'd be surprised what the airline does for the government.
Robie_John@reddit
Whatever they are doing, it’s working, but keep clapping the negativity.
gunfighterak@reddit
I will, flew the airline many times as they’re one of the few who fly to the forgotten corners of Africa. It’s far from great and even did an unscheduled stop to pickup a minister 😂.
Maintain your low standards.
neotokyo2099@reddit
I'm sorry this is hilarious
Robie_John@reddit
OMG 😳
RamTank@reddit
I don’t know what the internal forces are, but across all of Africa, there’s not too much in the way of competition. That lets it operate as a hub to and from other parts of Africa.
Mr06506@reddit
I guess what I'm asking is could a local Mikael O'Liraye decide to start their own airline and compete against the flag carrier?
pizdobol@reddit
Africa doesn't have the same common market as the EU so I guess it would be hard for anyone to compete against flag carriers.
jeff61813@reddit
In South Korea the government picked winners but they also made them compete with each other. The problem usually comes when you protect the market and they use the protection to not innovate and not manage their product or industry very well.
Similar_Past@reddit
Geographic position is extremely good. Try flying from Asia to south America and compare your options. Nothing comes even remotely close to Ethiopian .
2wicky@reddit
It looks like it is in the middle earth goldilocks zone where it can grow as a connector hub rather than having to depend on it being the first point of departure or the final destination.
And while most airlines in the middle earth goldilocks zone focus on connecting Eurasia, Etheopia has the benefit of also unlocking Africa and adding it to their mix giving them an edge any time anyone wants to fly in or out of Africa.
cat_prophecy@reddit
Ethiopia is also a fairly stable country, especially for the region.
RealPutin@reddit
that is.....not true
Fullfullhar@reddit
What no lol
lighthouse0@reddit
Their 787 orders
Annual-Advisor-7916@reddit
So to translate the points mentioned:
-bribing -smart people who know whom to bribe -smart people who know whom to bribe to get the location -bribing and other crimes -bribing
jello_sweaters@reddit
The timely collapse of South African as a competing Star Alliance partner also let Ethiopian pick up a whole bunch of Europe -> JNB/CPT traffic.
clippervictor@reddit
This in much ways is an approach middle eastern companies take, particularly the last point. Ethiopian has copied the business model
divisionchief@reddit
They are a great airline, I have one of their flights in a few weeks. I think their location with their service to major destinations outside of Africa is their niche. I would love to see them do Houston.
Melodic_Sandwich1112@reddit
I flew with them last week flights were on time but man the plane was in serious need of refresh. A lot of stuff was broken. Chair wouldn’t recline, head phone jack was pushed in and broken, screen was partially broken and wouldn’t accept inputs on volume and brightness, had to push multiple times, hand control was also broken, middle seat next to me was empty but screen was broken wouldn’t switch off and brightness was full, toilet was also not sealing and looking pretty old.
The list of in flight movie Blockbusters was really odd.
wernerwiener@reddit
Also experienced this. Cabin completely worn down, considering the age of their fleet this shows the lack of a repair culture. Frankly speaking a cabin like this does not really make me feel safe on bord.
Melodic_Sandwich1112@reddit
I figured the plane was full of missionaries, so like protected by god in someway
divisionchief@reddit
The 787s have been beat down, I know that one since they are the backbone of their network.
OhanaUnited@reddit
Flew it last week on their A359. Some seats are pretty worn out. Overhead light that randomly turns on and off. Washroom handwash basin is pretty plugged and barely drains
divisionchief@reddit
OmG, I must have been lucky.
Apprehensive_Cod8575@reddit
The planes mostly suck (I flew both the 787 and the 350, and some of the most uncomfortable seats in economy I have ever had with nothing working) and their on board service is not that good (food is especially bad). But it is one of the most efficient airlines that I have experienced. ADD seems very chaotic, but I connected with less than 50min. I get a lot of connections to all Africa and the connection time is maximum around 2hrs which is great.
PozhanPop@reddit
One fact that has always pleasantly surprised me when you compare it to the other enterprises in the continent rife with corruption and tribalism.
Great going Ethiopian ! Beautiful livery and modern aircraft, great administration. Recipe for success .
747ER@reddit
There is certainly still corruption present. The aftermath of ET302 and how the Ethiopian Government handled the investigation showed that pretty clearly.
sherero@reddit
In what particular areas did that show up? Link? Source? I also recall pilot error being blamed to deflect what has now been traced back to Boeing.
747ER@reddit
This source pretty cleanly answers all of those questions you asked. Ethiopia tampered with evidence related to the crash and wrote such a biased final report that multiple acclaimed accident investigation bureaus (the NTSB and BEA being the two main ones) formally rejected their report. Here’s the BEA’s thoughts; pay attention to the “Contributing Factors” section.
This is just simply not true. Both sources I have provided explain why it is not true, but in particular I recommend Section 2 of the NTSB’s letter (first link I attached).
sherero@reddit
That explains why the MAXs were grounded until Boeing fixed its mistake. And where it paid $1.1Billion to avoid prosecution. It helps to have good lawyers and a backing that helps you avoid collapse.
747ER@reddit
Is there a reason you’re trying to lie about the cause of this crash? The investigators made it extremely clear that there were multiple factors that contributed to the accidents. Of course Boeing was a contributing factor, nobody is disagreeing with that.
What’s your reason for trying to hide the fact that the pilots contributed to the crash,
ExplorerBorn5470@reddit
Ethiopia is one of the main "players" of Africa. African Union has hq in Addis Ababa
venom_dreamz@reddit
Having that diplomatic infrastructure already in place makes Addis Ababa a natural hub for international connections across the continent.
Qroth@reddit
And it's like 2500m above sea level, so closer to the sky ;)
InternationalBug9641@reddit
But that comes with certain limitations. Adis Ababa to Chicago has to stopover in Rome for refueling.
BuoyantBear@reddit
Yeah I knew it was in the northeast corner of Africa, but didn't look up the altitude before I flew through there. It was much cooler and wetter than I anticipated.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
Here’s an updated map:
littlechefdoughnuts@reddit
r/mapswithoutaustralia
bwoah_wheresthedrink@reddit
Damn, I felt bad about the route to BLR not shown in this map bur now I feel worse for AUS. Sending hugs :)
DJFisticuffs@reddit
This is definitely not a complete map. I know for sure that there are direct flights between ADD and both ORD and YYZ.
Slow_Grapefruit5214@reddit
I think they fly from Addis to Hanoi now too, via Dhaka.
Werkstadt@reddit
https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-addis-ababa-add
And click airlines button and choose Ethiopian
sherero@reddit
It’s old. Dublin is not used today. Porto is missing. Many more inaccuracies.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
What about this?
throwlol134@reddit
They also fly to DAC for little over a year now!
-wak@reddit
They have a lot of 5th freedom flights
Albertosaurusrex@reddit
They do! I got rebooked onto one from Vienna to Copenhagen. Fun experience trying a very foreign airline on a normal intra-European route.
jello_sweaters@reddit
Largely on routes where this lets one widebody cover two markets - as opposed to thriving as a competitor on, say, ICN-TYO or KUL-SIN.
BrightHovercraft2716@reddit
I like how Houston is just randomly added
reddit-is-tyranical@reddit
Addis Ababa is a badass name for a place
SwampEucalyptus@reddit
it means "new flower" in Amharic
MinusculeDragon@reddit
Is there a OG Ababa that it's named after (like New York)? Or is New Flower the intended name?
SwampEucalyptus@reddit
The story as I recall is that the king decided to build a city there and his wife named it after a beautiful flower she had seen nearby. But this is what was told to me years ago and I don’t know if it’s apocryphal.
reddit-is-tyranical@reddit
Even cooler. Thank you for that nugget of information
Qroth@reddit
And it's like 2500m above sea level, so closer to the sky ;)
rcgmp@reddit
Part of the increase circa early 2000s is that their hub in Addis Ababa got a massive expansion with more slots for more planes and this is when the brought in more long haul planes
yapoyt@reddit
I bless the rains down there
baedling@reddit
ET is playing at a disadvantage because their hub in Addis Ababa is 2300 m / 7600 ft above sea level. The wings generate significantly less lift at that altitude, and their range is handicapped.
If Bole Airport is on sea level then they’d have much less fifth freedom flights, e.g. Addis - Lomé - EWR/IAD, or Addis - FCO - ORD
Appropriate-Offer-35@reddit
It’s been a while since I learned all this stuff, but the height of the runway should only affect takeoff/landing performance and not the entire flight, no? The plane is still going to cruise at 30 or 40 thousand feet for several hours, as are the ones that took off from sea level.
collinsl02@reddit
Correct, but having "hot and high" runways decreases performance on takeoff so you need extra power or a longer runway, and if you're then required to navigate around mountains that makes the situation even worse.
Planes used to be designed specifically for this kind of runway, for example the Vickers VC10. However, the problem was solved more cheaply overall by building longer runways and then using the cheaper and more efficient Boeing 707, at least for BOAC.
Syllabub-Virtual@reddit
Yeah, but it limits fuel and size of aircraft.
Street-Outside6528@reddit
Says who? Shitbag airline and pay the pilots peanuts
sherero@reddit
Yet the pilots still fly for the airline in a world where pilots are in short supply. Go back to pprune.
Street-Outside6528@reddit
Cuz they’re stuck there and can’t get a visa to fly elsewhere.
sherero@reddit
Yet they still fly to several USA and European destinations with a valid visa! No wall to climb.
Street-Outside6528@reddit
Was talking about a work visa not a crew visa dumb ass.
sherero@reddit
How sad.
Street-Outside6528@reddit
I think you belong on pprune
sherero@reddit
You just know why. Clearly I matched your energy.
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Gurneydragger@reddit
My grandfather was a naval aviator and helped start Ethiopian airlines in the 60s. My father spent his childhood in Addis Ababa. We have some heirlooms personally given to my grandad from Haile Sailassi. Moved back to California eventually and flew for United Airlines.
WordsWithWings@reddit
Flew with then once on a fifth freedom route from HK to ICN i think. Economy. Crew dispensed soda, then disappeared for the rest of the flight. Entirely meh experience, that I booked for the (tiny) Star Alliance points accrual.
Good network down south tho.
sherero@reddit
That’s very North American service no?
WordsWithWings@reddit
I wouldn't know.
SkylineFTW97@reddit
They're in a comparable position geographically to the middle eastern airlines like Emirates and Ethihad. They're in an ideal location to ferry people from all corners of the world with Addis Ababa as a hub.
The main downside is that Ethiopia's mountainous terrain limits aircraft performance due to the elevation.
Boggie135@reddit
They looked at South African Airways and said “Let us do the opposite of what they are doing”
OppositeRock4217@reddit
Tbh South African Airways is also hampered by it being located in a southern hemisphere country. There is just way less land mass and population centers in southern hemisphere compared to northern
Boggie135@reddit
I was referring to the mismanagement and corruption
flyermiles_dot_ca@reddit
And also "let's locate our hub 5 hours' flying time closer to Europe and Asia".
Boggie135@reddit
That too
AnnetteBishop@reddit
Check out the relatively recent Economist magazine article on why flying in Africa is so expensive, it covers this.
OppositeRock4217@reddit
In fact flights in Africa tend to cost the equivalent of more than a year’s salary for the average African
onlineidentity@reddit
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/08/07/why-its-a-pain-to-take-a-plane-in-africa
galactical_traveler@reddit
A link maybe?
AnnetteBishop@reddit
Not like it was hard to find: first result if you google the question + economist
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/08/07/why-its-a-pain-to-take-a-plane-in-africa
No-Top-2998@reddit
Ethiopian Airlines is kind of the unicorn of African aviation. While most national airlines on the continent either went bankrupt or got bogged down in corruption and mismanagement, Ethiopian managed to become Africa’s largest and most profitable carrier.
The secret sauce goes way back. They started in 1945 with help from TWA (a big U.S. airline at the time), which gave them a head start in training, safety, and professionalism. They also built their own aviation academy early on, so they could train their own pilots and engineers instead of relying on outsiders.
Another huge factor is politics — or more accurately, the lack of it. The airline is government-owned, but unlike in many other countries, the Ethiopian government didn’t treat it like a political toy. Management had real autonomy to run it like a business, so it avoided the bloat and corruption that killed airlines like Nigeria Airways or Air Afrique.
Addis Ababa’s location also gave them a natural advantage. It’s pretty much in the middle of Africa and not too far from Europe, the Middle East, or Asia. Ethiopian leaned into this by building a proper hub-and-spoke model: funnel traffic from all over Africa into Addis, then connect it to the rest of the world. This way, even small African cities could have viable international connections, because passengers were pooled together at the hub.
On top of that, Ethiopian has always been forward-looking with its fleet. They were the first in Africa to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350, and they’ve kept their planes modern and efficient. Joining Star Alliance in 2011 also plugged them into the global airline network, which made connections smoother for international travelers.
Their strategy has been very “Africa first.” While Middle Eastern giants like Emirates and Qatar Airways focus on connecting the world through their hubs, Ethiopian doubled down on connecting African cities to each other and then to the world. Today, they fly to more African cities than anyone else, which makes them the go-to option if you’re traveling within the continent.
They’ve also diversified like crazy: cargo, aircraft maintenance, catering, training — you name it. That really paid off during COVID. While most airlines were bleeding cash, Ethiopian quickly pivoted to cargo (even loading freight into passenger planes) and stayed profitable.
So basically, Ethiopian Airlines thrived because it was run professionally, avoided political meddling, used Addis as a smart geographic hub, modernized aggressively, and built resilience through diversification. That combo made it the one African airline that not only survived but became a legit global connector.
Accomplished-Toe-468@reddit
Location is a big factor. Same reason the ME3+TK are doing well
pointlesspulcritude@reddit
It’s in a good position to connect east Asia and Europe with east Africa, Southern Africa and (for Asia) west Africa
j00cifer@reddit
Same thing happened about 70k years ago, but without planes
WhytePumpkin@reddit
They fly into YYZ a few times a week if not daily, have booked cargo with them, had no issues
BerryOk1477@reddit
Location
AminoKing@reddit
TLDR: - "Why is this company doing well?" - "It's a well-performing company."
sherero@reddit
This comment was directed by Robert B Weide.
jmlinden7@reddit
They have a significant cargo operation, being strategically located between many African destinations and China/middle east.
sherero@reddit
That’s a whole other category that blows the mind
whiskeytown79@reddit
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya: "please can we have an air route from Addis Ababa"
Ethiopia: "No."
sherero@reddit
Air Algerie tried flying to Addis Ababa last year. I don’t know if it ever made it.
tsrich@reddit
Why are there no flights to north Africa or Spain?
sherero@reddit
They to Madrid nonstop. Also to Porto in Portugal. North Africa doesn’t do them much, where would they take people from there to?
divisionchief@reddit
Egypt but the other northern countries have their own major airline. Plus, they are frequented by Qatar and Emirates which is where they prefer to transit from.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
They recently started flying to spain
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
They recently started flying to spain
ekkidee@reddit
Seems like the flu a lot of fifth freedom flights?
ADD-ARN-OSL for example?
sherero@reddit
The maps you find are mostly inaccurate. Not as many 5th freedom as they used to.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
Yup here’s an updated map
NiftyMittens89@reddit
I had a great deal from LAX to DUB back in 2017 on Ethiopian. One of the early 787s (it needed a bit of a cabin refresh, but that’s neither here nor there). I had the whole middle 3 seats to myself to lay down, and the food was pretty good. It was a lot of people going on to Adis Ababa, but some of us got off in Dublin. Bonus: Star Alliance miles!
sherero@reddit
Ethiopian helped redevelop that route until Ireland pulled the plug on it in advance of Aer Lingus restarting service.
mccusk@reddit
I did that flight a lot, could get biz class for very few point, left about 11pm and got into Dublin about 5pm. Was perfect, gone now though I think.
x_roos@reddit
Other than what was stated above, Ethiopia has a long standing aviation tradition, mostly thanks to this fellow
sherero@reddit
He was a good trusted foreign employee of the then emperor who had a vision for aviation and modernization of Ethiopia.
mdavis2204@reddit
Thank you, I never knew he existed. It’s great to find the antithesis of Finland’s air force’s founder
Rc72@reddit
Funny that you should mention him, considering that his son also had a big role in Ethiopian aviation (and almost certainly crossed paths with Robinson).
Hefty-Highlight5379@reddit
This guy needs a movie, what a story
TheManicPolymath@reddit
Dude, thank you for telling me about this man. More should know his name!
ahirebet@reddit
Fascinating read! It's shameful the way POC have been (and still are) treated in this country. It took incredible dedication to achieve all that he did.
AcidaliaPlanitia@reddit
I'd never heard of him, what a badass.
HausuGeist@reddit
Drugs
Glucksburg@reddit
Question: why are there no flights to Northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc.)?
TumbleWeed75@reddit
Money
Aggressive_Hall755@reddit
Money, probably.
OLLEB2@reddit
They once tried to fly to Australia as well.
RedditZhangHao@reddit
Then, Australia disappeared from the ET map.
OLLEB2@reddit
lol
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
They are about to retry
https://apanews.net/ethiopian-airlines-set-to-launch-first-passenger-flight-to-australia/
Money_Temporary@reddit
I think he is talking about the hijacking that happened in 1996
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
Ahahaha my bad🥲😄
StellarJayZ@reddit
Location. Your own map shows that.
catdad1993@reddit
Flown them from Chicago to India and Chicago to Kenya. They tend to be much more affordable and also have good United points options. Flight attendants are super friendly as well. The Addis Ababa Airport is not my favorite, but it gets the job done. The red eye bank at night is so so busy.
d1v1debyz3r0@reddit
Denver is going to get a nonstop to Addis Ababa I heard
Conscious_Raisin_436@reddit
Lmao poorly placed Reddit banner ad
evollmer89@reddit
They must have gotten their first copies of snes aerobiz a few years ago
thesuperunknown@reddit
I love how the cover art is basically “looks like my aerobiz is about to have a very bad day”
w00t4me@reddit
Basically this in SNES form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k39MKOaoDhc
evollmer89@reddit
and you do if your playing against A.I. on hard.
Yeugwo@reddit
This is one of my "I can't believe this held my interests as a kid" games
evollmer89@reddit
me my dad and brother still have our annual weekend of Aerobiz til this day. break out the SNES and game and watch each other slowly kill our minds trying to win.
CarminSanDiego@reddit
I wonder what percent of their pilots are actually Ethiopian
TheyCallMeSuperChunk@reddit
What makes you wonder?
CountessAurelia@reddit
It’s a significant number!!! And they have better English than a number of smaller airlines in richer countries I’ve been on.
Independent-Dish6355@reddit (OP)
Actually, they have the biggest aviation university in Africa (Ethiopian aviation academy) and train most of their staff there, so a significant number of their pilots are locally trained.
alexvonhumboldt@reddit
Rio to Etiophia
volodymyroquai@reddit
Being slap back in the middle help. It’s exactly why Türkiye’s national airline is the biggest in the world.
NighthawkCP@reddit
That more southern location also is great as they don't get hemmed up with route changes if they have to avoid flying into Russian or Iranian airspace. That can have a bigger impact on airlines like Qatar and Emirates who are located closer to both, but if you are heading to Addis Ababa anyways, then it doesn't really seem to be affected much by Iran/Russian airspace.
phairphair@reddit
Not biggest, but most destination countries.
ThePizzaDeliveryBoy@reddit
They helped kickstart the new Zambia Airways. Growing up in Zambia in 80s and early 90s so was sad to hear that the airline became defunct by mid 90 due to mismanagement and costs. Travelling solo as a teen and with my family, I had great memories of flying on the 707, HS748, 737-200, ATR-42 and their flagship DC10-30. I was happy to see the govt give Ethiopian a stake by letting them take over senior management and with Ethiopian donating a Dash 8 as the very first aircraft. Now a 737 has been added to fly as far as South Africa. They plan to introduce more aircraft as time goes on. Hopefully with Ethiopian at the helm, Zambia Airways can revive what it once lost.
Reaper-fromabove@reddit
I flew Ethiopian on a connecting flight from Djibouti to Addis Ababa and it was kinda scary, it was a shitty airplane with broken seats. The international leg from Addis to Dubai was really nice.
Several-Eagle4141@reddit
Where else would one hub? Largest cities/airports are in Egypt (nope!), South Africa (too far) and Nigeria (another nope)
Fuzzy_Following_2082@reddit
Ethiopian Airlines became a successful hub by combining disciplined management, strategic fleet and route expansion, and major infrastructure investment—positioning itself as a global carrier in Africa amid fragmented regional connectivity. Good read on their recent strengths and weaknesses. https://runway-radar.com/ethiopian-airlines-soars-to-7-6b-revenue-in-fy-2024-25-as-african-aviation-faces-calls-for-greater-connectivity/
passing-by-2024@reddit
very few serious regional (or even continental) competitors + nice location.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
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kingh242@reddit
Probably has something to do with not ever being colonized.
GilfredJonesThe1st@reddit
Not sure that map is 100% accurate - there are two pins in Ireland despite only flying to Dublin, for example.