Ethiopian Airlines will shortly be changing where it does its middle-of-the-night refueling on select flights to North America…
In this post:
Ethiopian Airlines flights to North America need to refuel
For some background, Ethiopian Airlines can’t operate any of its flights from Ethiopia to North America nonstop (at least not without majorly restricting passengers or cargo). Many people are confused by that, because some of Ethiopian’s destinations in North America are only 7,000 or so miles from Addis Ababa, which would ordinarily be within range for an Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 (both of which the airline operates).
The reason that a stop is required is because Addis Ababa Airport (ADD) is at an altitude of around 7,700 feet, so it’s one of the highest altitude airport hubs in the world. Altitude can impact takeoff performance, so planes have a lot more operational restrictions that they would if departing from an airport at sea level.
Ethiopian Airlines deals with this situation by taking one of two approaches with its routes to North America:
- Some flights just have a refueling stop on the westbound sector, and then operate nonstop on the eastbound sector; in these situations, the westbound stop is purely technical, so no one gets on or off
- Some flights operate as fifth freedom services, where Ethiopian Airlines stops somewhere on both the eastbound and westbound sector, to serve yet another market; Ethiopian operates some flights via Lome, Togo (LFW), and some via Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (ABJ)
Ethiopian Airlines refueling stop moves to Rome
As of the start of the winter 2023 schedule (which kicks in as of late October), Ethiopian will be changing where North America flights with a technical stop on the westbound sector refuel. Specifically, the airline will be changing this refueling stop from Dublin Airport (DUB) to Rome Airport (FCO). This impacts the carrier’s services to Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), Toronto, (YYZ), and Washington (IAD).
Between 2AM and 4AM most mornings, you’ll now find four Ethiopian Airlines jets taking off and landing at Rome Airport, rather than Dublin Airport. Interestingly in 2015, Ethiopian switched its refueling stop from Rome to Dublin, and now the airline is returning.
So, why is Ethiopian switching where it refuels? Well, Dublin Airport is currently being forced to reduce the number of night flights. Specifically, between 11PM and 7AM, the airport is restricted to a total of 65 flights. As you’d expect, simple refueling stops are probably the lowest priority for the airport, since this doesn’t actually serve the local community or bring more air travelers to the airport. So that’s why the airline is moving to Rome.
Bottom line
In the coming days, Ethiopian Airlines will be moving its refueling stop for select North America flights from Dublin to Rome. The stop is needed due to the altitude of Addis Ababa. The stop in Dublin is no longer possible due to a new limit on nighttime flights, so the airline is instead moving to Rome.
So if you happen to be plane spotting at Rome Airport between 2AM and 4AM (as one does) and notice a procession of Ethiopian Airlines jets landing there, now you know why…
I just took a flight from ADD-YYZ last week with the stop in Dublin. It does stop at an ungodly hour. The FCO stop will have the benefit of being much earlier in the flight and will allow for better sleep. We did not need to get off the plane. I was one row from the door, so it was rather cold, but it could not have been any easier.
We are flying ET to/from CPT for safari. We received notice about 2 weeks ago about the change.
I along with my 3 college age children and with my sister took Ethiopian Airlines for the first time back in May on their maiden voyage out of Atlanta. My final destination was Johannesburg. As an African American, I've traveled to Africa a few times before on European Airlines (British & France), but I was pleased with the plane, movie selection, service and flight food with flavor :0). Yes the flight food with flavor is...
I along with my 3 college age children and with my sister took Ethiopian Airlines for the first time back in May on their maiden voyage out of Atlanta. My final destination was Johannesburg. As an African American, I've traveled to Africa a few times before on European Airlines (British & France), but I was pleased with the plane, movie selection, service and flight food with flavor :0). Yes the flight food with flavor is absolutely worth mentioning because we like flavor. Lol We did unfortunately miss our Joburg connection due to the Atlanta media hype and other logistics associated with being their maiden voyage, but it was still an overall good experience. The return did involve an early morning refuel stop in DUBLIN at sunrise. Beautiful sunrise picture taken and it was quick and painless. I believe the flight crew also changed at that time and the bathrooms were out of service for a portion of that time as well but again otherwise quick and painless. I definitely plan to fly EA again but Addis Ababa will be my final destination as I have a few places in Ethiopia that I'm looking forward to visiting. I opted to also squeeze in Cape Town during my May trip to Joburg otherwise I would've extended my layover in Addis Ababa! Hopefully the refueling in Rome is also quick and painless as Dublin.
Wonder if they might try 5th freedoms again, as FCO is a huge market
At that time of day? Who wants to arrive at 3am? Or leave around that time?
I agree that arriving to FCO at 3 am is less than desirable, but departing at 3 am and arriving in the US in the wee hours of the morning? Sign me up! Saves a hotel night and gives you a whole day at your destination.
I wonder if Lyon, Charleroi, or Barcelona would be cheaper to technical stops?
IKR, can’t imagine why they didn’t survey OMAAT commenters before making this important change!
Don't laugh. I have directly caused laws to be changed.
Long ago they used to refuel in Jeddah. I wonder why they moved to Europe. I suppose fuel is cheaper in Saudi. Also the stop will be early in the flight, before anyone is asleep.
Please look up the history of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Lately I have seen multiple ET flights leave Dublin late in spite of getting there on time more or less through radar24. I guess the curfew was the last straw.
I was scheduled on this to Atlanta on Nov 2nd to ATL. I booked business class for 85k UA miles.
I randomly checked the United app and saw about a week ago that the stop was FCO. Caused me to cancel the flight as I don’t want a 4 hour redeye and have to get off the plane at 3am or whatever.
I rebooked on Brussels EVB-BRU direct for 45k Etihad miles.
You don't get off the plane during the transit stops.
I remember South African made us get up and unfasten our seatbelts during refueling in Sal though. Effective the same thing. Does Ethiopian do that too?
I took the service from Addis to Chicago, with a refuelling stop in Dublin. The stop was very quick, just to refuel and change crew. We were not required to leave our seats. It was painless.
No Ethiopian doesn’t because they not boarding extra passengers
The South African Airways service was one in which additional people board and some passengers disembark. So a different case
I've done these refueling stops with Ethiopian.. 45 min on the ground, no one gets off or gets on. It's not a big deal. Too bad you cancelled your trip, not knowing any of the information
I think you ended up rebooking for no reason. ET doesn't make passengers get off the plane during fuel stops, and it only takes 45 minutes to put enough fuel in to get to ATL from FCO.
Question to the community: why are these not necessary to GRU? I have been on LFW-GRU on the past with ET, but now they seem to operate it direct from Addis.
ADD-GRU = 5362nm
ADD-IAD = 6251nm
ADD-YYZ = 6217nm
ADD-ATL = 6694nm
ADD-ORD = 6584nm
That's why.
Wasn't FCO replacing DUB as the stopover previously announced?
Of course ET has a "partner" (Asky) in Lome. I use the term "partner" loosely, since it's just a division of ET in all but name. Giving Lome the prestige of nonstop service to North America, and giving ET connecting traffic from West Africa. A good way of turning what might otherwise be a strategic disadvantage (i.e. a technical stop) into a strategic advantage.