Ethiopian Airlines is restarting connections between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADD) and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL) with a stopover in Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). Ethiopian will use its Boeing 787s to fly the route, with the 3,774 nmi (6 989 km) direct route well within the capability of the 787’s range of 7,355 nmi (13,620 km).
Flight schedule
The flight schedule for the four-times-a-week Boeing 787 route starting March 25 is as follows:
Flight Number |
Frequency |
Departure Airport |
Departure Time |
Arrival Airport |
Arrival Time |
ET 0638 |
Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat |
ADD |
23:20 |
SIN |
14:50 |
Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun |
SIN |
15:50 |
KUL |
17:10 |
|
ET 0639 |
Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun |
KUL |
23:15 |
SIN |
00:35 |
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat |
SIN |
02:00 |
KUL |
05:50 |
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The route will only be served by Ethiopian Airlines, just as only Ethiopian Airlines will continue to provide the only direct ADD-SIN route. However, seven airlines provide connections between SIN and KUL.
The route existed before with a three-times-a-week service at some points, but was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key connection between Asia and Africa
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Mesfin Tasew shared the airline is...
“...excited to bring our Kuala Lumpur flights back to service. The resumption of the flights reopens convenient and seamless travel options between Kuala Lumpur and more than 60 African destinations. Kuala Lumpur is a destination of choice for both business and leisure travelers, and we are proud to provide a convenient travel option that is suitable for passengers traveling for either of the purposes.”
Ethiopian Airlines has a vision for growth
Ethiopian Airlines connects many Asian cities such as Bangkok, Thailand; Delhi, India; Seoul, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan for instance. Most of these flights are conducted by Boeing 777s or 787s, but a few, such as Karachi, do use the Boeing 737 MAX 8.
This is congruent with the airline’s Vision 2035. As Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tassew shared with ENA, the Ethiopian News Agency,
“In vision 2035, we have aimed to nearly double the number of destinations that we will be flying by increasing the number of destinations from 131 today to 207; and to cover this expansion, we have planned again to double the number of aircraft in our flight from 140 to 271. We have planned to carry 65 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo. We aim to generate 25 billion USD revenue by 2035.”
Such goals are made easier by the acquisition of efficient long-haul aircraft such as the aforementioned Boeing 787 and also now the Airbus A350. Nonetheless, it’ll be the Boeing 787 flying this route so let’s take a look at its capabilities.
The Boeing 787 in Ethiopian Airlines service
According to ch-aviation.com, Ethiopian Airlines has 18 active Boeing 787-8s with 1 (ET-AOT) in maintenance. Ethiopian Airlines also has 8 active Boeing 787-9s and 2 on order. The Boeing 787 family was designed to efficiently serve point-to-point flights instead of feed hubs, hence the use of composites and long-range capability.
What are your thoughts? Please share with civility in the comments.
Source: ENA