Earlier this year, I reported Ethiopian Airlines were selling seats between Dublin and Los Angeles. This was because the airline was using Dublin as its en route stop over on the service originating in Addis Ababa.
A nice addition meant that you could also fly non-stop to Ethiopia if you desired. Now that the service has been changed, both flights are no longer available. However, there is a new alternative for heading off to Africa.
Ethiopian Selling Changes
You can still purchase tickets up to 12 December 2018 for LA. After this date you will no longer be able to use the African carrier to get to the west coast. Dublin will still remain a technical stop for the flight, just no-one will get on or off.
Service between Dublin and Addis Ababa is also affected. This was the only direct route to Africa from Ireland, which meant many cities were accessible on the continent with a single stop.
This is not as convenient as the current option, but that’s the market. Service is also not daily, with the off days offering flights via Frankfurt (connecting with Lufthansa), London Heathrow (British Airways) or Stockholm (SAS).
Overall Thoughts
Considering Aer Lingus had re-entered the Dublin to Los Angeles market, I am not really too surprised to see Ethiopian stop selling tickets on the sector. Stopping for fuel without passengers being embarked or disembarked will result in a faster turnaround.
There seems to be enough demand to Africa to warrant the Madrid service continuing to Dublin. While it does make for a two stop transfer to other cities in Africa, the fact it is Star Alliance may woo people over the carriers from the Middle East.
Did you ever fly Ethopian to or from Dublin while they were selling it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Mark Harkin via Wikimedia Commons.
