Route: JRO-ADD
Airline: Ethiopian Airlines
Flight Number: ET 814
Aircraft Type: Boeing 787-9
Registration: ET-AUP
Class: Economy
Date: June 26th, 2018Video link:
https://youtu.be/RMdJ_mLFH6UThis is the third part of my round trip journey from Bangalore, India to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania on Ethiopian.
Link to part 1 BOM-ADD:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1427719&p=21534293#p21534293Link to part 2 ADD-JRO:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1450615 After a 10-day safari vacation around Tanzania, it was time to head back home to India on Ethiopian. As I've said in previous trip reports, this is by far the easiest way to travel between India and Africa. The other options were going out of the way through AMS or a 19-hour layover in DOH and considering this was around 35k rupees or $500 roundtrip, I'd say it was a steal.
The day started off at our lodge near the Ngorongoro crater and the drive was around 3.5 hours to reach the airport from there. We left at around noon to make our 6 pm departure. Kilimanjaro airport is fairly small and required a checked bag scan at the entrance so there was a lot of congestion getting In but because of that, check-in and security were done in 10 minutes due to the small size and efficiency of the airport. There are no gates so we walked straight onto the tarmac to board our brand new 6-month old 787-9.
My favorite part about Ethiopians is they operate their widebodies even on their regional flights. This flight is around 2 hours long and we got to fly on a brand new 787 with the new cabin and loads of legroom. The best part about takeoff from Kilimanjaro is the incredible view of the volcano while climbing out. It really was amazing to see this mountain above the clouds in all its glory in the sunset and I'll remember it forever. I posted the full take video here:
https://youtu.be/EN1eHx7RI5k Skip to 7:30 if you just want to see Kilimanjaro.
Afterward, I decided to watch half of the justice league on the screen and it's not very interesting so I looked out the window and I saw Mt. Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa. I decided to just look out the window and appreciate the sunset until dinner. I'm a vegetarian and if you read the last part, you would know that I didn't receive my meal because it wasn't booked. Luckily I got it this time and both the quality and quantity were impressive. The main dish of Daal Makhani(lentil and rice) as well as the side salad and dessert was great and the added extras of cheese and crackers and a bread roll capped off a great meal. I wouldn't expect this kind of meal service on a 2-hour flight anywhere else in the world. They also had passion fruit juice which seems to be a uniquely African thing(I developed a liking to it during my stay in Tanzania).
Time passes by quickly when there's so much to do on a 2-hour flight and we were already descending into Addis Ababa. This was a great flight and I would definitely recommend Ethiopian airlines for flights to and from Africa. There's no competition when it comes to their network, young, modern fleet, and the service you get on these flights and I would pick them in a heartbeat next time I go to Africa.
Thanks for reading/watching! Would love to hear any feedback!
Previous trip reports:Ethiopian Airlines, ADD-JRO:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1450615Air India, BLR-MLE:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1444609&p=22153357#p22153357Ethiopian Airlines, BOM-ADD:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1427719&p=21534293#p21534293Jet Airways, SIN-BLR:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1374593&p=19838559#p19838559Cathay Pacific 747-400, HKG-HND:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1387423&p=20201661#p20201661Emirates, DXB-MUC:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1400239&p=20595919#p20595919Vistara, BLR-DEL:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1411329&p=20954583#p20954583