Ethiopian Airlines plans 8 more Boeing 737 MAX routes
A few weeks after scheduling the return of the B737 MAX, Ethiopian Airlines has added the type on eight more routes in February. They’ll mainly be used on a one-off basis as the carrier increasingly brings the type back online. Most destinations will be in Africa while venturing to Athens, Moscow, and Istanbul. However, two routes announced last year will no longer see it.
Ethiopian adds the MAX on eight routes
Ethiopian Airlines will use the B737 MAX from February 2nd, almost three years after the accident in March 2019 that resulted in the type’s grounding. Ethiopian is Africa’s largest operator and has five 160-seat MAX 8s, all presently stored at its Addis Ababa hub.
Around Christmastime, Ethiopian revealed that eight routes would see the MAX in February. According to the carrier’s latest schedule upload and reflected in booking engines, eight additional routes (and 11 airports) will see the type next month, as shown below ordered by state date:
Addis Ababa (ADD) to Goma (GOM); February 3rd, 7th, 9th Blantyre (BLW) and onto Beira (BEW); February 5th only N’Djamena (NDJ); February 6th only Athens (ATH) and onto Moscow Domodedovo (DME); February 7th only Nairobi (NBO); February 7th only Lubumbashi (FBM); February 10th, 16th, 17th, 24th Maputo (MPM); February 15th only Victoria Falls (VFA) and onto Gaborone (GBE); February 19th and 26th
As you’d expect, the specific flights on which the MAX is scheduled will typically replace the next-gen B737-800. Exceptions include N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, which will primarily see the smaller B737-700.
No MAX to Dar Es Salaam or Moroni
Of previously scheduled MAX routes, Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) and Moroni (Comoros Islands) will no longer see the type. The link to Comoros will remain fully by the B787-8. It has, in recent weeks, changed from non-stop to operating via Dar Es Salaam in both directions, but will revert to non-stop from March 27th.
In contrast, Entebbe (EBB) and Mombasa (MBA) now have more MAX flights in February than previously planned, while Cairo (CAI), Enugu (ENU), and Istanbul (IST) are unchanged. Khartoum (KRT) is down slightly.
February 7th has the most MAX departures
February 7th has more MAX departures than any other day that month, according to OAG data. There will be seven outbound flights, as shown below in order of departure time from Addis. Those leaving 23:00-23:15 will mainly be fed by arrivals across the vast African continent, while those going after 10:00 will primarily have passengers from across Europe, North America, and Asia.
01:25, ET342 from Addis Ababa to Khartoum 10:10, ET322 to Mombasa 10:45, ET831 to Goma 11:45, ET334 to Entebbe 23:00, ET760 to Athens and onto Moscow 23:05, ET720 to Istanbul 23:15, ET308 to Nairobi
