This Is Ethiopian’s Longest Route

Most articles that examine the length of flights focus on the maximum block time, which is the approach taken here. The information is from Ethiopian’s schedule submission to OAG for June 2026 to March 2027, and is based on nonstop and one-stop services. Some may not like this combined approach, but it provides a complete picture of the carrier’s passenger operations.

Block time is straightforward. Reflecting slot possession, it includes taxi time at both ends of a route, the flight time, and a short period for delays. It is measured as chocks-off-to-chocks-on, which really means stand-to-stand or gate-to-gate. It balances the need for a competitive schedule with high aircraft productivity and high reliability.

Timed up to 18 hours and 30 minutes, ADD to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) via Lomé–Tokoin International Airport (LFW) is Ethiopian’s longest nonstop passenger service in this sense. Flights operate three times weekly using the 270-seat Boeing 787-8. The carrier also serves IAD with a stop in Rome Fiumicino, but that is not number one for block time.

The purpose of pausing in LFW is to feed is to feed Boeing 737 operating partner ASKY. Passengers may connect from multiple cities in Central and West Africa to/from IAD without backtracking via ADD. Unsurprisingly, booking data shows that most people fly between IAD and the Anglophone cities of Accra and Lagos.

Ethiopian’s 2nd To 5th-Longest Markets

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

Multiple Ethiopian routes are timed at up to 18 hours, as summarized in the following table. They have various other things in common, including the use of the 787-8. All flights are destined for the US, and all stop en route. Most do so in Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO). This is simply due to ADD’s renowned high elevation, which means aircraft cannot depart on very long flights with a high payload. The stopover remedies this. Ethiopia’s new airport will enable nonstop flights in both directions.

Notice Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which is the world’s busiest airport for passengers but not for flights. Ethiopian suspended flights there between early February and May 22. Its return occurred earlier than originally scheduled. Between March 2025 and February 2026, the US Department of Transportation shows that it filled just 58.4% of seats, which made it the carrier’s worst-performing US market in this sense. Perhaps it is surprising that it has returned at all.

Ethopian’s 6th To 10th-Longest Links

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Timed up to 17 hours and 55 minutes, ADD to JFK via LFW is sixth. Operating four times weekly from December using the 787-8, this route will supplement the existing link via Côte d’Ivoire. It’ll thus serve JFK eight times weekly. However, all is not quite as it seems, as ADD-LFW-EWR will not operate during the winter. Instead, it’ll shift to JFK.

In seventh place is ADD to Buenos Aires via São Paulo. A daily service exists, with fifth freedom rights, variously on the Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-200LR. Many passengers continue via ADD to China, Israel, India, Japan, and Thailand.

Then there’s ADD to IAD via FCO (up to 17 hours and 10 minutes; daily, mainly on the A350-1000 and occasionally the A350-900), ADD to Toronto via FCO (up to 17 hours and five minutes; mainly using the A350-900), and finally Tokyo Narita back to ADD via Seoul Incheon (up to 16 hours and 55 minutes; four weekly A350-900).