Ethiopian Airlines will return its wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner to the Addis Ababa-Moscow route this winter. However, the increased comfort comes at a price: to fill the larger aircraft, the company has added a stopover in Athens, according to a Travel.ru correspondent.
As a reminder, the Boeing 787 has only operated a few flights on this route so far—during the New Year holidays, immediately after the launch of flights to Moscow. Unable to fill the Moscow route on a regular basis, Ethiopian Airlines deployed a narrowbody Boeing 737 MAX 8 in January. However, following the grounding of this type in the spring, the carrier was forced to replace it with a previous-generation model, the Boeing 737-800, which currently serves the route.
However, seven and a half hours on a narrowbody jet isn't exactly a fun experience, and Ethiopian Airlines has been looking for a solution for some time. Starting December 13, the Boeing 787 will return to Moscow, but this time with a stopover in Athens, increasing the overall travel time by two hours. Flight frequency will remain the same—three times a week.
Starting December 13th, flights from Addis Ababa depart on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11:45 p.m., landing in Athens between 3:45 a.m. and 4:50 a.m., arriving in Moscow (Domodedovo Airport) at 9:05 a.m. Return flights depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 7:05 p.m., landing in Athens between 9:20 p.m. and 10:20 p.m., arriving in Addis Ababa at 5:20 a.m. The lowest fare found is from 34,992 rubles roundtrip. Competitive connecting fares to various African countries with a transfer in Addis Ababa are also available.
This is at least the ninth iteration of flights on this route, which opened less than a year ago. As a reminder, in its initial plans last year, the carrier planned to operate the route four times a week using Boeing 787s via Istanbul. The company then reduced the planned frequency to three flights per week. Then, instead of November 15th, the route's launch was moved to December 5th. Then, the arrival airport in Moscow was changed (from Sheremetyevo to Domodedovo), and the departure and arrival times were shifted by 1-2 hours. The next step was the elimination of the stopover in Istanbul, and arrival and departure times in Moscow were changed again. Then, the flight launch date was again shifted to December 17th (from Moscow to December 18th). Finally, the two aircraft type changes described above followed.
The Athens option may prove more viable than all the previous options. It's worth keeping in mind that the company cannot sell tickets between Moscow and Athens, meaning the plane on this leg will be half-empty: even economy class passengers will have a good chance of sleeping on several seats.
Source: travel.ru