Ethiopian Airlines looks west as it announces schedule from Dublin to Addis Ababa and Los Angeles from June 2015

Monday 3rd November 2014

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest airline in Africa, has announced today at this year's World Travel Market, the schedule for its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights linking Dublin with Los Angeles and Addis Ababa. Three flights per week will commence on 20th June 2015 which for the first time will directly connect Ethiopia's capital with Dublin and the West Coast of America. Lead in return fares on the Dublin to Los Angeles sector start from 558 Euros (£437) and on the Dublin to Addis Ababa return fares start from 573 Euros (£448).

The flight schedule is -

Addis Ababa - Dublin - Los Angeles

Sunday, Wednesday, Friday - Depart ADD 23.00 Arrive DUB 05.30
Monday, Thursday, Saturday - Depart DUB 06.30 Arrive LAX 09.30

Los Angeles - Dublin - Addis Ababa

Monday, Thursday, Saturday - Depart LAX 23.30 Arrive DUB 18.30 (next day)
Tuesday, Friday, Sunday  - Depart DUB 19.30 Arrive ADD 06.00 (next day).

The schedule makes Ethiopian Airlines the first of the many transatlantic flights to arrive onto the West Coast from Europe, and one of the last to arrive back into Dublin. The timings from and to Dublin enable business travellers to maximize the opportunity of arriving into LA for a full day of meetings before returning home on the same day.

Ireland is home to bases for a number of American west coast companies including Google and Apple, whilst Los Angeles has a large Ethiopian community. Combined with the tourist attraction of the bright lights of Hollywood, which attracts thousands of Irish tourists, each year, Ethiopian Airlines anticipates the route will fill a valuable gap in flight availability that will appeal to the business, tourism and visiting friends and relatives sectors. The service will also connect the Californian state with the African continent via its Addis Ababa hub that serves 49 African destinations including Kilimanjaro, Accra, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Johannesburg and Lagos.

Significantly the new fifth freedom flight enables Ethiopian Airlines to sell all sectors of the route to passengers from Addis Ababa via Dublin directly onto Los Angeles. This new route will complement the Ethiopian Airlines daily flight to Addis Ababa from London Heathrow.

Ethiopian flights to Dublin and Los Angeles will be flown by the ultra-modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which offers unparalleled on-board comfort to passengers. The Los Angeles destination will be the fifth Americas destination served by the airline in addition to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Toronto and Washington DC and Dublin will be the tenth European city served by Ethiopian as well as Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, and Vienna. All told Ethiopian Airlines serves 85 destinations across five continents.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa. In 2014, IATA ranked Ethiopian as the largest airline in Africa in revenue and profit. In its operations in the past close to seven decades, Ethiopian has been a pioneer of African aviation as an aircraft technology leader providing the first jet service in the continent in 1962, and availing the first African B767 in 1984, the first African B777-200LR in 2010 and the first African and second only to Japan B787 Dreamliner in 2012.

Ethiopian commands the lion share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 83 international destinations across five continents. Ethiopian fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as the Boeing 787, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200LR Freighter and Bombardier Q400 with a double cabin. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft.

Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading airline group in Africa with seven strategic business units: Ethiopian International Passenger Service; Ethiopian Regional Service; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Service and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning, including SKYTRAX and Passenger Choice Awards in 2013 and has been registering an average growth of 25% per annum in the past seven years.

Ethiopian Airlines is exhibiting at the World Travel Market at London's Excel.  November 3-6th.  Stand No AF130.  The airline will host a press briefing on Wednesday, 5th November from 2pm to 3 pm.