ET - few questions
 

Hi, we are the planning stages of a trip to South Africa next year and are thinking of Ethiopian Airlines as they seem to offer the best connections. We would start in Victoria Falls for a couple of days and then head off to South Africa. I see that ET has a direct flight from ADD to VFA and Google flights indicates the plane which is currently a 737 with recliner seats will be upgraded to a 787 Dreamliner with flat seats in J by next May.

My question is - in your experience, would ET be more likely to assign a new 787 to the route, or are we more likely to get one of the older Dreamliners with the angled flat seats?

Also - how are they progressing with the ADD airport expansion? I understand the current lounge is not so great. Thanks!

1) Don't assume you will get any specific aircraft type with ET until you actually board the aircraft, especially on intra-Africa routes. You are just as likely to get a 737 as a 787, regardless of what the originally listed equipment may have been.

2) Assuming you get a 787, there is no particular reason why you would get an older or newer 787 on this route. It is only the long haul routes where the older 787s are used instead of the newer ones.

3) ADD airport expansion (first phase) should be ready well before May. It looks largely complete from the outside already as of last weekend, but no idea how well the interior testing has progressed.

Great, thanks! I had no idea the plane swaps were so frequent. Our other flights are all originating from or going to destinations outside Africa so I take some comfort in that. And if the plane to VFA does get swapped, at least it's only a 4.5 hour flight and I'm sure we will be fine.

I'm relieved to hear the airport expansion is well underway. I had read some horror reviews as to how bad the old airport is, not so great lounge, etc. Hopefully the new terminal will be more up to global standards.