Ethiopian Airlines to Reinstate 3 Weekly Flights to Washington Dulles International Airport via Lomé, Togo

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (23 April 2022)

While the coronavirus pandemic has caused a two-year slump in business, international travel has begun to recover in recent months. Noting this, Simple Flying, which provides a one-stop hub for all the key stories on commercial aviation, conducted an interview with Ethiopian Airlines’ USA Regional Director, Samson Arega, in April to understand the future prospects of the company in the Atlantic region.

Pre-pandemic, Ethiopians flew to Houston four times a week from Addis Ababa via Lomé, Togo. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was deployed on these operations is keen to restart services, but a timeline has not been established yet. According to what Samson told Simple Flying in, the airline plans to reinstate three weekly flights to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) via Lomé, Togo in June, with a focus on corporate and business travel.  

All in all, Ethiopian now has four passenger routes to the US, all operating outbound via Dublin or Lomé. Already, 21 weekly bookable departures from the US to Africa get scheduled in a typical month. In Samson’s words, “Ethiopian Airlines was the third-largest Airline between North America and Africa in 2019… behind Delta Air Lines and Royal Air Maroc. Now, in 2022, we have the highest capacity planned to date.” As such, the Airline hopes to exploit all growth opportunities available to reverse the setback it faced and eclipse its previous performance.