Ethiopian ET500 Dublin - Dulles

ifconfig

I live in Mayo and I tend to wake early during summer months.
We are in the flight path for a fair amount of transatlantic
Air traffic.
ET500 it goes over here quite regularly after 6am.
I use a flight tracker app obviously.

So. It isn't on tomorrow's departures for T1 Dublin.
What is the story here? Are they just refuelling and not taking any passengers at Dublin?
It is scheduled to fly out of Dublin tomorrow Tue 27/4/21 at 5.45am.

ifc

Jacovs

Correct, refuel only. No passengers on or off. Pre-covid they had crew changes and a quick clean to get rid of rubbish, not sure about now. Same goes for ET502 and ET504.

goingnowhere

ET previously operated Addis Ababa Dublin LAX which did pick up/set down at Dublin (aka fifth freedom).

The others are just for a splash and dash as the elevation at Addis Ababa (7500 feet!) limits the weight so they cannot fuel the whole way, no issue on the way back.

They park up down on the apron near the fire station. They don't come anywhere near the terminal in Dublin.

Cloudio9

I flew the lax flight a few times because it was the best value business class ticket in the world, often being available for under €2k return.

The flight times were inconvenient (leaving at 7am on a Sunday). The return left very late and often later then scheduled presumably to reduce the length of time for the eastbound stopover at Dublin when tailwinds were favourable, but for me it was worth it for the comfort on such a long flight. Wouldn’t have bothered if it was Esat coast.

Noxegon

I never had occasion to go to LA while the ET flight was available, but I remember thinking that the timings were great, in that they allowed a full day of activity on the US side in both directions.

Just my ETB 0.02....

Cloudio9

Noxegon wrote: »

I never had occasion to go to LA while the ET flight was available, but I remember thinking that the timings were great, in that they allowed a full day of activity on the US side in both directions.

Just my ETB 0.02....

Yeah fair enough for a holiday but the 7.30am Sunday departure not so much fun when doing it for work.

LiamaDelta

Cloudio9 wrote: »

I flew the lax flight a few times because it was the best value business class ticket in the world, often being available for under €2k return.

The flight times were inconvenient (leaving at 7am on a Sunday). The return left very late and often later then scheduled presumably to reduce the length of time for the eastbound stopover at Dublin when tailwinds were favourable, but for me it was worth it for the comfort on such a long flight. Wouldn’t have bothered if it was Esat coast.

I used it in the opposite direction a few times. Great to be able to get direct to the African continent directly and then onwards but there was generally a 3-4 hour layover in Addis, which was painful as the old airport wasn't particularly comfortable or interesting. Apart from being incredibly cheap it was often more comfortable to go via AMS/LHR/CDG

Noxegon

Cloudio9 wrote: »

Yeah fair enough for a holiday but the 7.30am Sunday departure not so much fun when doing it for work.

When travelling for business my flights are on company time, not personal.

In an ideal world I prefer not to travel on weekends, but if I do then I expect a day off in lieu.

smurfjed

LiamaDelta wrote: »

I 3-4 hour layover in Addis,

Only airport where I have seen metal gates with chains and padlocks in the middle of the air bridge, they were making sure that arriving deportees weren’t able to run into departures.

LiamaDelta

smurfjed wrote: »

Only airport where I have seen metal gates with chains and padlocks in the middle of the air bridge, they were making sure that arriving deportees weren’t able to run into departures.

The only airport where I've had to wake up the staff in the duty-free shops in order to get served!

Cloudio9

smurfjed wrote: »

Only airport where I have seen metal gates with chains and padlocks in the middle of the air bridge, they were making sure that arriving deportees weren’t able to run into departures.

7 passengers claimed asylum in Dublin on the inaugural flight https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/unexpected-turbulence-at-dublin-airport-seven-passengers-on-inaugural-flight-from-ethiopia-claim-asylum-31332090.html

They learnt their lesson as whenever I disembarked in Dublin they had immigration at the door of the plane checking passports.

LiamaDelta

Cloudio9 wrote: »

7 passengers claimed asylum in Dublin on the inaugural flight https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/unexpected-turbulence-at-dublin-airport-seven-passengers-on-inaugural-flight-from-ethiopia-claim-asylum-31332090.html

They learnt their lesson as whenever I disembarked in Dublin they had immigration at the door of the plane checking passports.

Actually just realised your username...the lounge in Addis Airport is/was called the 'cloud 9 lounge'. The name is where any similarity to luxury ended:)