Ethiopian Airlines expands flight offerings between Addis Ababa and Dubai

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Ethiopian Airlines expands flight offerings between Addis Ababa and Dubai

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Airbus A380 | Airbus

By Sky Industry News

Nov 27, 2024

Addis Ababa to Dubai is recognized as Africa's 16th largest intercontinental passenger market, and notably the second largest within the sub-Saharan region, surpassed only by London Heathrow-Lagos. In 2023, combined airline data revealed that Addis Ababa saw 401,000 point-to-point passengers traveling exclusively between the two cities. This translated to an average of 549 passengers daily each way, with most travelers identified as laborers and traders. The traffic volume increased by 6% compared to 2019 and by 155% compared to 2014.

The market is directly served by Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates, and flydubai. While these airlines collectively offered five daily flights in 2023 and much of 2024, this frequency is set to increase to six daily flights starting December 2024 into 2025.

Ethiopian Airlines operates triple daily flights primarily using its widebody fleet. In December, flights are mainly operated on the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which is the carrier's highest-capacity equipment. Other aircraft such as the Boeing 777-200LR, Airbus A350-900, Boeing 787-8, and occasionally the new Airbus A350-1000 will also be used. Flydubai will operate double daily services using Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from December onwards. Emirates has recently returned to offering a daily service using a Boeing 777-300ER after previously operating six times weekly.

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Ethiopian Airlines is noted as the primary carrier for point-to-point travel between Addis Ababa and Dubai, carrying nearly six out of ten passengers (58%), equating to approximately 318 passengers each way daily.

Despite Ethiopian Airlines being a major player in this segment, less than half of its Dubai-bound passengers are point-to-point travelers; most connect onward from Addis Ababa. Conversely, over half of Emirates' and flydubai's traffic on this route consists of local travelers.

In December, Ethiopian Airlines' schedule includes three departures from Addis Ababa: at 10:30 AM (777-300ER), at 9:45 PM (using various aircraft), and at 10:50 PM (using various aircraft). Return flights from Dubai depart at various times early morning and evening.

Ethiopian Airlines aims to maximize connections across Africa with these flight timings. Notably absent is a service that aligns with its growing third wave in the afternoon.

In terms of transit markets through Addis Ababa in 2023, approximately 310,000 roundtrip passengers connected onto another Ethiopian flight. Most traveled to or from Western and Central Africa followed by Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. The most popular origin-destination pair was Dubai-Kinshasa with around 37,000 passengers despite Kinshasa lacking direct Dubai service since flydubai ceased operations there in 2019.