It is the carrier’s 12th destination in the Middle East.
Ethiopian Airlines is returning to Medina, its fourth destination in Saudi Arabia and 12th across the Middle East. Launched in 2017, regular flights to Medina – which revolves around pilgrims for Umrah – continued until mid-2020. While flights mainly used Boeing 737-800s, schedules data shows that the A350-900, 737-700, 767-300ER, 777-200LR, 777-300ER, 787-8, and 787-9 were all used at times.
According to OAG/Cirium and now bookable, Africa's largest airline will serve Medina – 1,073 miles (1,726 km) away – from August 2nd. Oddly, there is little lead time from going on sale to taking off.
Served four weekly year-round for Umrah, it is scheduled as follows, with all times local. It will use 154-seat 737-800s, with 16 seats in business and 138 in economy. Given the distance, the block time seems very long:
While the schedule may appear horrendous, it is for one reason: to maximize two-way connectivity across sub-Saharan Africa over the carrier's growing Addis Ababa hub. This is as important for Medina as it is for other routes.
In 2019, Ethiopian had 50,100 available seats to/from Medina, according to Cirium. Relating that to booking data suggests that it sold approximately 44,000, for a seat load factor of 88%. Just over half of the passengers were point-to-point: they only traveled between Addis and Media. The rest transited Addis Ababa.
Given the nature of the market, it is no surprise that Kano-Medina was the most popular: Northern Nigeria is where most of the country's followers of Islam live. Ordered by passengers, others in the top 10 were Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Niamey, Douala, Bamako, N'Djamena, Djibouti, and Lagos.
Relating to August 2023, Ethiopian serves Kano six weekly, variously with the 737-800, 787-8, and 737 MAX 8. Passengers would arrive in Addis at 20:30, leave for Medina at 23:20, return at 07:25, and depart for Kano at 09:10.
The return of Medina means that Ethiopian has 95 weekly Middle East passenger flights in the week starting August 2nd (i.e., when Medina is back). Note that only 11 of the 12 Middle East routes are served then. The 12th, Bahrain, returns on October 31st, having last been served on a passenger basis in May.
Ethiopian from Addis Ababa to…
August 2nd-8th flights
Aircraft that week (ordered by flights)
Find flights
Dubai
Triple daily
A350-900, 787-9, 777-200LR
Click here for Addis-Dubai flights
Beirut
Double daily
737-800, 787-8, 737 MAX 8, 777-200LR
Click here for Addis-Beirut flights
Jeddah
Double daily
737 MAX 8, 777-200LR, A350-900, 787-9
Click here for Addis-Jeddah flights
Tel Aviv
13 weekly
737 MAX 8, 777-200LR, A350-900, 787-9
Click here for Addis-Tel Aviv flights
Kuwait
Daily
737 MAX 8
Click here for Addis-Kuwait flights
Riyadh
Daily
737 MAX 8
Click here for Addis-Riyadh flights
Muscat
Five weekly
737 MAX 8
Click here for Addis-Muscat flights
Amman
Four weekly
737 MAX 8
Click here for Addis-Amman flights
Medina
Four weekly
737-800
Click here for Addis-Medina flights
Doha
Three weekly
737-800, 787-8, 787-9
Click here for Addis-Doha flights
Dammam
Three weekly
737 MAX 8
Click here for Addis-Dammam flights
Where else would you like Ethiopian to serve in the Middle East? Let us know in the comments.
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Route Development Analyst – James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.