There is a certain romance about departing in the middle of the night. Ethiopian’s Addis Ababa to Cairo service leaves at 10:05pm and while not quite the midnight A310 to Bangkok, it is still late enough to count. For my final flight of the trip, I found myself once again in Cloud Nine business class.
As this was my sixth flight on Ethiopian Airlines, I was becoming comfortable with what to expect on board. In Addis, I spent some time in the Sheba Cloud Nine lounge. This time it wasn’t as busy, so it was quite easy to find a seat and take lots of pictures.
The Complete Trip
A reader asked for this in a comment, so here’s the complete trip with every single flight, lounge and hotel included. For completeness, my thoughts on both Addis Ababa and Cairo Airport are also included.
1. Aer Lingus Dublin to Madrid in AerSpace.
2. Iberia’s Velazquez lounge Madrid.
3. Iberia Express Madrid to Cairo in Business Class.
5. Egyptair Gienah lounge – Cairo Airport Terminal 3
6. Egyptair Alioth lounge – Cairo Airport Terminal 3
7. Ethiopian Airlines from Cairo to Addis Ababa in Cloud Nine business class.
8. Ethiopian Skylight Hotel beside Addis Ababa Airport.
9. Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport.
10. Ethiopian Airlines Sheba Cloud Nine Lounge Addis Ababa.
11. Ethiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore in Cloud Nine business class.
12. Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur to Sydney in business class.
13. The SkyTeam Lounge at Sydney Airport.
14. Malaysia Airlines Sydney to Kuala Lumpur in business class on the A330-900 (coming soon).
15. Ethiopian Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to Addis Ababa in Cloud Nine business class (coming soon).
16. Ethiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa to Cairo in business class (this article).
17. The Ahlein Premium Lounge at Cairo Airport.
18. Cairo International Airport.
19. British Airways from Cairo to London Heathrow in Club Europe.
Hopefully that should give you an idea of the huge amount of travel I did to get to and from Sydney. Hey, anything for a bargain, right?
Boarding Time
Cloud Nine passengers are spoiled at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. Just follow the red carpet and you’ll be fast-tracked everywhere. At boarding time, I went to the special business class bus gate and when my flight was called, we all went to the bus and off to the plane.
ET452 – Addis Ababa to Cairo
02 May 2025
Boeing 777-200LR – ET-ANQ
Seat: Cloud Nine 4A
Departure: 22:05 Arrival: 02:05
Let’s talk about the amenity kits for a moment. Ethiopian have them in green, red and yellow to match their logo. I already had a green one and a red one and at my seat was another red one. Other seats had yellow ones, so as I was first on board I shamelessly swapped mine over so now I have the whole set. I mean, why not?
A Cloud Nine Midnight Meal
Alas, I didn’t get the full Ethiopian meal experience on any of my flights. That’s mainly because virtually every one I was on was an overnight, which is a bit of a shame. It just means I’ll have to fly ET again.
The menu tonight looked interesting, particularly the “Lemony Seafood with Tartare Sauce, Braised Fennell and Micro Greens” starter. Otherwise it was the West African Vegetable Stew that caught my eye. I always try to eat “local” where I can on a flight.
Happily the West Africa Vegetable Stew was decent, though perhaps served a little on the cooler side than I would have liked. Cheese and cake were perfectly fine. Overall, no complaints at all with the meal, though it didn’t wow me at all.
Overall Thoughts
For a four hour flight, the Cloud Nine experience was perfectly fine. The seat is comfortable enough to recline and doze, though it is showing its age, particularly around the seat controls. Still, there is oodles of space, which is always good. The food is passable, not really memorable, but nothing wrong with it.
Ethiopian have lovely cabin crew, who are always happy to assist. They are fairly quiet, but I am guessing that is because English is probably their third or fourth language. That didn’t stop them from wanting to help and trying to please people by offering both desserts and re-aligning the Champagne pour for a photo!
What do you think of Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine? Have you flown with ET before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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How much was the flights(and hotels where needed) in total? Do you have any idea why ET provide the ‘Ethiopian National dishes’ but not all of them?
Well, the Ethiopian Airlines flights were EUR 2,750 from Cairo to Sydney and back, hotel in Cairo was USD 309.00 for two nights (so EUR 270.00), Iberia was EUR 66.00 plus 21,250 Avios, British Airways was EUR 97.21 and 28,100 Avios and Aer Lingus was EUR 180.60. What’s that then… EUR 3,093.81 for the flights, EUR 270.00 for the hotel, and 49,350 Avios. Apparently on the daytime long-haul flights, the Ethiopian crew come out with a trolley of Ethiopian food and you pick and choose what you want and it’s plated in front of you. Very different to the night time flights where it’s more like other airlines. I had hoped to experience that as it sounds great. Royal Jordanian do the same on their long-haul flights, and when I experienced it once, I thought it was very cool.