I have always wanted to fly Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine and on my latest trip to Australia, I decided to book with them. Since frequent flyer points are no longer a factor for me, I went for a fare I could handle on an airline I admire.
After flying in to Cairo on Iberia, I spent time in the Egyptair Gienah lounge before heading off for boarding. This meant doing security at the gate and then proceeding onto the aircraft. Much of business class had already boarded before I arrived, so no pictures were possible until later.
ET453 – Cairo to Addis Ababa (CAI-ADD)
16 April 2025
Boeing 777-200LR – ET-ANQ
Seat: Cloud Nine Business Class 3A
Departure: 02:20 Arrival: 07:15
At the seat were a thick blanket and pillow and I moved them off the seat before sitting down. The cabin is laid out two by two in an older style of business class as you can see on the seat map here.
Cloud Nine Cabin
I quite like these seats as they are quite spacious, though they are angled lie flat. Many airlines have long since gone fully flat, but not at Ethiopian. This of course was just fine for a four hour sector.
Breakfast Time
After the safety demonstration we headed off into the early morning sky and set course for Addis Ababa. I had a look at the inflight entertainment options, but elected not to watch anything. Breakfast was soon served.
Flying Along
After the lights were dimmed, it was a quiet and relaxing flight and I laid down for a bit. Within quite a short space of time, the lights came back up as we were on descent to Addis Ababa. As the city is about 8,000 feet (2,355 metres) above sea level, it all happened rather quickly.
Overall Thoughts
Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine is quite a nice way to fly. I have to say it can be summed up as uneventful, with nothing particularly bad and nothing particularly outstanding. I did like the offer of a top up so close to landing though, that made me smile.
It’s rather strange eating breakfast at around 3:30am or so, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Business class was quite busy and I was mildly amused as the guy beside me had no idea where his headphones plugged in. He also didn’t ask, so he gave up and sat there in silence for the flight.
What do you think of Ethiopian Airlines? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Allen Zhao on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
I always recommended people to travel via Ethiopian Airlines. Those guys, what they are doing is phenomenal, phenomenal. Their staff crew and their hygiene, the way they organize all things, to be honest, it’s just something amazing. Just something beyond description. Not just because they are my neighbor as I am a Sudanese who live in the United States or in the UK. I’ve been traveling over and over, but the best airline that I ever fly through to the Ethiopian Airlines, I tried British Airlines, Lufthansa, Moroccan Airlines, Egyptian Airlines, all those lines, including Turkish Airlines, Pegasus. So I had no experience that is same as the experience that I had through Ethiopian Airlines. And not just because they are my neighbor, but absolutely I love the way they organize and I love their staff, the way they deal with people. They are very nice and they are very humorous. They are very kind and they are very helpful. They take their job seriously. So I put them up and I encourage everyone who wants to travel to anywhere around the world to choose the Ethiopian Airlines. Not only the business classes, even the economic classes. The service are the same. The differences are very little, but absolutely.
I agree, they are a lovely world class airline. A couple of small niggles for me (mainly around the food) but overall I was very happy with my flights with them. There will be some flight reviews coming soon, so keep an eye out. Thank you for your comment!