Ethiopian's new route will begin in just six weeks, with very little advanced notice for any route, let alone long-haul. It will, of course, begin and end in Addis Ababa, the Star Alliance carrier's hub, although full traffic rights exist between Lomé, the capital of Togo, and Washington.

Ethiopian ups Washington flights

Operating 3x weekly, Addis Ababa-Lomé-Washington will begin on June 1st. It'll use 270-seat B787-8s. The schedule is as follows, with all times local:

  • Addis Ababa to Lomé: ET516, 08:50-11:20
  • Lomé to Washington: ET516, 12:35-19:20
  • Washington to Lomé: ET517, 21:15-11:55+1
  • Lomé to Addis Ababa: ET517, 12:55-21:20

It'll supplement the carrier's existing 1x daily Addis Ababa-Washington service, which operates outbound via Dublin (with a 45-minute tech stop for refueling), mainly using B777-300ERs. It leaves Ethiopia at 22:40 and arrives in Washington at 08:25. It has a block time to the US of 16h 45m; 45 minutes less than via Lomé.

Ethiopian Airlines' outbound services need to stop en route to North America to refuel. This is because of Addis Ababa's high elevation: the airport is 7,657 feet (2,334m) and more than a mile high. Despite long runways, this limits aircraft takeoff performance.

Ethiopian Airlines B787
Ethiopian also serves JFK and Newark (seen here) from Lomé. The addition of Washington means that Addis-Lomé rises to 10x weekly, with flights leaving Ethiopia at 08:50 and 09:00. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

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Hang on: why Lomé?

It seems that Ethiopian was planning to increase Washington service from March 2023, so plans have been brought forward significantly. It was expected to operate via Abidjan, the Côte d'Ivoire capital, some 362 miles (582km) west of Lomé.

Sensibly, it was changed to Lomé, with passengers able to transit over the airport to/from West Africa routes operated by Ethiopian's partner, ASKY. This is no different from Ethiopian's existing services from Addis Ababa via Lomé to JFK and Newark.

Passengers can quickly connect in two directions between Washington to multiple destinations over Togo's capital. Lagos, Accra, Abuja, and Douala are probably the most important.

For example, after arriving from Washington at 11:55, they'd connect to Accra at 14:15. Returning, they'd arrive in Togo at 11:00 and leave for the US at 12:35. It's no different for its JFK/Newark flights.

Ethiopian Airlines' new Addis-Lome-Washington
Example destinations passengers can connect to/from over Lomé and Addis Ababa. Of course, it'd be a lot quicker for passengers to access the places over Addis using Ethiopian's non-stop from Washington. Image: OAG.

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Washington: Ethiopian's main US market

The Washington D.C. metro area has the largest Ethiopian diaspora outside of Ethiopia, totaling over 35,000, although the real figure could be much higher.

As such, there is significant point-to-point passenger traffic, exceeding 80,000 in 2019, booking data indicates. That is much more than on its other North America routes.

In the first week of June, Ethiopian will have 28 weekly (4x daily) departures to North America, as shown below:

  1. Washington: 10x weekly. 1x daily via Dublin out, non-stop back (B777-300ER); 3x weekly via Lomé (B787-8)
  2. Chicago: 1x daily via Dublin out, non-stop back (B787-8)
  3. Toronto: 5x weekly via Dublin out, non-stop back (A350-900)
  4. Newark: 3x weekly via Lomé (B787-8)
  5. JFK: 3x weekly via Lomé (B787-8)

Have you ever flown Ethiopian? If so, share your experiences in the comments.