Ethiopian Air to fly from L.A. to Dublin, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines plans to add Boeing 787 Dreamliner service to Los Angeles, opening a route to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa that would have a two-hour stopover in Dublin.
The carrier would sell tickets not only on its one-stop route from L.A. to Addis Ababa, but also separately on each of the L.A.-Dublin and Dublin-Addis Ababa legs. Ethiopian Airlines says the flights will be the only direct service connecting Africa with Ireland and the West Coast of the United States.
Ethiopian Airlines plans to fly the Addis Ababa-Dublin-Los Angeles route three times a week using its Boeing 787 aircraft.
"Our new flights connecting Addis Ababa, Dublin and Los Angeles will play a critical role in the expansion of trade and tourism investment between the fast-growing continent of Africa, the United States and Ireland," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam says in a statement.
"Our flights to Dublin and Los Angeles will be operated with the B787 Dreamliner, which offers unmatched on-board comfort through unique features such as greatly reduced noise, higher cabin air humidity, the biggest windows in the sky and spacious cabin interior, making this long-haul route more comfortable for our passengers," Gebremariam added.
The route is not a surprise; Gebremariam told Today in the Sky in August that the carrier hoped to begin flying between Los Angeles and Addis Ababa via Dublin.
The Irish Times suggests the route was officially announced after Ethiopia negotiated with Ireland for so-called "fifth freedom" rights in the nations' bilateral aviation agreement. In layman's terms, such rights allow an airline to sell tickets for the portion of the flight between the stopover city and final destination of a one-stop route. At least one leg of the journey must begin or end in the carrier's home country.
The carrier expects to launch the route June 15, according to the Times. Tickets are not yet on sale and flight times not yet determined as Ethiopian seeks to finalize the details.
While it might seem unusual that Ethiopian Airlines will sell tickets for nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Dublin, there are a number of foreign carriers that already offer such routes in the United States.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, for example, sells nonstop tickets between Vancouver, Canada, and New York JFK. The leg is part of a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to New York that makes a stopover in Vancouver.
And there are others. Air New Zealand flies — and sells seats on — a leg from Los Angeles to London, the continuation of a flight from Auckland that stops in Los Angeles.
Among other fifth freedom routes touching the USA: Korean Air's route from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo; Singapore Airlines' flights from Houston to Moscow; and a Kuwait Airways flight from New York JFK to London.
The routes are perhaps more common in other parts of the world. In South America, for example, two of the big Middle East carriers — Emirates and Qatar Airways — each sell nonstop flights between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. And, among such routes on U.S. carriers, Delta flies nonstop from Amsterdam to Mumbai.
As for Ethiopian, Los Angeles will become its second U.S. destination, joining Washington Dulles. The carrier also flies to Toronto in Canada.
As one would expect, the new route was lauded by Dublin airport officials.
"We are delighted to welcome Ethiopian Airlines to Ireland," Dublin Airport Authority CEO Kevin Toland says to The Irish Times. "This new service will reconnect Dublin with Los Angeles and also brings unrivaled connectivity into Africa, as Ethiopian has the largest number of African destinations of any airline."