Ethiopian Airlines is primarily a hub-and-spoke airline offering connecting flights via Ethiopia at its main airport Addis Ababa ADD.

When to book flights

The best value for money is to buy your tickets directly on the carrier’s website, ethiopian.com.

Generally speaking, it’s best to buy your tickets around 3–5 months before departure. Last-minute tickets with Ethiopian are usually the most expensive.

Special offers appear about 1–2 times a year. You’ll always have the best chance of finding a cheap fare on newly launched routes or on off-peak flights.

As Ethiopian is the only airline, or one of very few, flying to many destinations (particularly in Africa), prices are often high and there are no special offers at all.

So-called ‘Fifth Freedom’ tickets

Compared with other airlines, Ethiopian Airlines’ network features an above-average number of routes with stopovers where you do not leave the aircraft during the stopover. Some passengers disembark and some board.

On most of these routes, Ethiopian exercises what is known as ‘Fifth Freedom’ rights, which allow airlines to sell tickets on routes outside their home country.

You can therefore fly with Ethiopian on routes outside Ethiopia, for example:

• Vienna – Copenhagen
• Kuala Lumpur – Singapore
• Bangkok – Jakarta
• Bangkok – Hong Kong
• Oslo – Stockholm
• São Paulo – Buenos Aires
• Tokyo – Seoul
• and more

On these routes, ticket prices are around 150 usd and they are popular, amongst others, with aviation enthusiasts, as they offer the chance to fly on a large long-haul aircraft at a low price.

Check flight prices at ethiopian.com

Fare classes

Ethiopian Airlines offers Economy and Business Class, known as Cloud 9.

When purchasing tickets, these classes are further divided into several different fare categories, each offering various benefits.

Both hand luggage and checked-in luggage are included in the price of all fares; see details.

With all fares, you can also choose a specific seat on the plane free of charge; see details.

Economy Class Fares

• Economy Promo
  • Date change fee – 100 usd (+ fare difference)
  • Flight cancellation fee – non-refundable ticket, cannot be cancelled
• Economy Semi Flex
  • Date change fee – 50 usd (+ fare difference)
  • Flight cancellation fee – 100 usd
• Economy Flex
  • Date change fee – 50 usd (+ fare difference)
  • Flight cancellation fee – 50 usd

Business class fares

• Cloud 9 Restricted
  • Date change fee – 100 usd (+ fare difference)
  • Flight cancellation fee – 150 usd
• Economy Flex
  • Date change fee – 50 usd (+ fare difference)
  • Flight cancellation fee – 50 usd

Ethiopian Airlines destinations

Africa’s largest airline flies to around 150 destinations on every continent except Australia. You can find the current list of destinations on theethiopianairlines.com website.

The vast majority of flights depart from Ethiopia’s largest airport Addis Ababa ADD.

You’ll see Ethiopian Airlines aircraft at these airports, which they fly to from Addis Ababa:

Africa

• Angola– Luanda
• Benin– Cotonou
• Botswana– Gaborone
• Burkina Faso– Ouagadougou
• Burundi– Bujumbura
• Cameroon– Douala (you can also buy a flight from Douala to Malabo), Yaoundé (you can also buy a flight from Yaoundé to Libreville)
• Central African Republic– Bangui
• Chad– N’Djamena
• Comoros– Moroni
• Democratic Republic of the Congo– Goma, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi
• Republic of the Congo– Brazzaville, Pointe Noire
• Ivory Coast– Abidjan (you can also buy a flight from Abidjan to Conakry and New York)
• Djibouti– Djibouti (as well as from Addis Ababa, there are also direct flights from Dire Dawa)
• Egypt– Cairo
• Equatorial Guinea– Malabo (you can also buy a ticket from Malabo to Douala)
• Ethiopia– Arba Minch, Asosa, Axum, Awasa, Bahir Dar, Dembidolo, Dessie, Dire Dawa, Gambela, Goba, Gode, Humera, Jijiga, Jimma, Kebri Dahar, Mekele, Semera
• Gabon– Libreville (you can also buy a flight between Libreville and Yaoundé)
• Ghana– Accra
• Guinea– Conakry (flights between Conakry and Abidjan are also available)
• Kenya– Mombasa, Nairobi
• Liberia– Monrovia
• Madagascar– Antananarivo, Nosy Be
• Malawi– Blantyre, Lilongwe
• Mali– Bamako (you can also buy a flight from Bamako to Dakar)
• Mozambique– Beira, Maputo
• Namibia– Windhoek
• Niger– Niamey
• Nigeria– Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Lagos
• Rwanda– Kigali
• Senegal– Dakar (you can also buy a ticket between Dakar and Bamako
• Seychelles – Victoria
• Somalia– Bosaso, Garowe, Hargeisa, Mogadishu
• South Africa– Cape Town, Johannesburg
• South Sudan– Juba
• Sudan– Khartoum, Port Sudan
• Tanzania– Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar
• Togo– Lomé (you can also buy a flight ticket between Lomé and New York)
• Uganda– Entebbe
• Zambia– Lusaka, Ndola
• Zimbabwe– Bulawayo, Harare, Victoria Falls

Search for flights to Africa on ethiopian.com

Asia

• Bangladesh– Dhaka
• Bahrain– Bahrain International
• China– Beijing PEK, Chengdu Tianfu, Guangzhou, Shanghai
• Hong Kong– Hong Kong International (you can also buy a ticket between Hong Kong and Bangkok)
• India– Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai
• Indonesia– Jakarta (you can also buy a ticket between Jakarta and Bangkok)
• Israel –Tel Aviv
• Japan– Tokyo (you can also buy a ticket between Tokyo and Seoul)
• Jordan– Amman
• Kuwait– Kuwait City
• Lebanon– Beirut
• Malaysia– Kuala Lumpur (you can also buy a ticket between KL and Singapore)
• Oman– Muscat
• Pakistan– Karachi
• Philippines– Manila
• Qatar– Doha
• Saudi Arabia– Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh
• Singapore– Singapore Changi (you can also buy a ticket between Singapore and KL)
• South Korea– Seoul (you can also buy a ticket between Seoul and Tokyo)
• Thailand– Bangkok (you can also buy a ticket between Bangkok and Jakarta or Hong Kong)
• Vietnam– Hanoi
• United Arab Emirates– Dubai DXB

Europe

• Austria– Vienna (you can also buy a ticket between Vienna and Copenhagen)
• Belgium– Brussels
• Denmark– Copenhagen (you can also buy a flight between Copenhagen and Vienna)
• France– Marseille, Paris CDG
• Germany– Frankfurt
• Greece– Athens
• Italy– Milan (you can also buy a ticket between Milan and Zurich), Rome
• Norway– Oslo (you can also buy a ticket between Oslo and Stockholm)
• Poland– Warsaw
• Portugal– Porto
• Portugal– Lisbon
• Russia– Moscow DME
• Spain– Madrid
• Sweden– Stockholm (you can also buy a ticket between Stockholm and Oslo)
• Switzerland– Geneva (you can also buy a ticket between Geneva and Manchester), Zurich (you can also buy a ticket between Zurich and Milan)
• Turkey– Istanbul
• United Kingdom– London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester (you can also buy a ticket between Manchester and Geneva)

North America

• Canada– Toronto
• USA– Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, New York (you can also buy a ticket between New York and Abidjan or Lomé), Washington

South America

• Argentina– Buenos Aires Ezeiza (stopover in São Paulo)
• Brazil– São Paulo (you can also buy a ticket between São Paulo and Buenos Aires)